VRM and the AdSpam Ratchet

I was reading Nic Brisbourne's post today on VRM, and I had this diagram at the back of my mind as I clicked through to Iain Henderson's note on hard-resetting the online marketing game:



As Iain notes, behind every "Free to User" service there usually lies a monetisation model that is something like this:

….give us your contact details and consent so we can market to you, and we’ll let you have a look at content ‘for free’ or we’ll give you a discount on something you may buy (both of which, by the way, we may cover the cost of and more by selling your contact details and related data to someone else).....

.....But….guess what….. despite all this trickery, selective interpretation and manipulation, it’s still not working. Opt Out rates continue to climb on internal and external suppression files……, at least until the next work-around or piece of marketing spin makes them dip for a few months, before the inexorable upwards march continues.....and response rates on many direct marketing activities are zero.

And so you dump it into your Digital Detritus (where it may still stay alive, using data you gave it and are perhaps unwittingly still giving it). But the industry now needs to tempt you afresh, and so:.

What’s the direct marketing industry response to this? It’s simple – find new direct channels (e,g, Google Adwords, Facebook) and/ or send more messages. After all, e-mail costs peanuts to send, and on ‘digital’ we can at least pretend we have permission to market’. So, I’m really looking forward to counting how many ‘twelve days of xmas’ e-mail campaigns I get targeted with this year (in fact I got my first this morning); which marketer can turn down the opportunity to send e-messages 12 days in a row?

But with each cycle, we become more resistant, we ratchet up our avoidance. And in the digital world, its an arms race that the marketeers will eventually lose - or at least the cost of winning will make the victory somewhat Pyrrhic - just look at what happened with Facebook Beacon.

And so, fast forward to the endgame, and start from there - make the individual want to give you the relevant data, in a fair exchange. Iain goes on to suggest 4 key principles in his VRM based system:

Cross-Media Suppression File - The first, and most fundamental, the hard re-set itself, is making available a blanket opt out of all direct marketing suppression file.

Persona/ Role Based Opt In Capability - Second - the capability for the individual to establish one or more ‘privacy profiles’ at persona/ role level. The ability to operate at persona level is key in that in different aspects of life an individual may wish to establish different communications preferences.

Articulation of Needs/ Wants (Intentions) in Usable Format - Next - when the blanket opt out is established as a point of principle, the end user then must be enabled to opt back in to specific communications – but on their own terms.

Message Management Capability - Lastly we need a message matching and management capability. The above capabilities, in combination, generate a file of ‘opted in, buying intentions requesting matching offers’. This must then be matched against a file of ‘people/ organisations that want to sell stuff/ provide requested offers or information.

The endgame is for suppliers to be able to reduce the costs of marketings (the 50% that doesn't work, for a start) as well as reduce the costs of the supply chain from uncertain demand - overbuilding/overstocking, stockouts, wrong designs etc - not inconsiderable costs. But to get these benefits they need to share the savings with the users who are prepared to disclose in such a way.