We've been having many serious discussions lately about how much tracking we want to do of visitors on our site. Of course we don't want to seem like "big brother", but at the same time would like to personalize the experience as much as possible based on what a user has visited before.
What are other people's thoughts on this? Where is the line drawn? Saving Changes...
Senior Advisor to the CEO| PMISterling, Va, United States
The are definitely parallels between your discussions & those that are going on publicly re:Doubleclick. I personally think that you draw the line where people's expectations are set. Documentation, such as privacy policies, certainly help. Saving Changes...
We are dealing with a similar issue. We're about to start development on some alumni tools and we will collect a large amount of data on these people. What can we tell them? To what extent should we ask them for information? I am choosing to allow these people to opt-out of as much information as possible, but we want the data and need the data.
Full disclosure is something that people want, they'd like to know what their data will be used for and who will get it. When we build the site, we are going to sit backand say, "What do we want to experience ourself?" This will define how the site will be built. Saving Changes...
Well, you mentioned personalizing the experience for your user. I believe the key to figuring out how much personal information to ask from your users, is directly related to how you intend to personalize the information.
For example, most sophisticated personlization tools today allow you to personalize what content you display on what pages, depending on what pages your customers have already visited.
In this respect, you don't have to ask our customers for anything, since you're doing all the tracking. (one example is Amazon: they know what pages I've been to and all the following pages that I view are includes content mosr or less related to my viewing habits.
I'm not so upset by this tracking of my habits, since I feel that it adds value to my experience.
Whenever you track your customers or request personal information from them, you have to make sure that any personalized experience you return to to them directly uses whatever information you have requested from them.
It will make no sense to request their address and ZIP code unless you are able to provide a customized list of local product that can only be found in that area (like banks or auto dealers)
You have to first figure out what personalize content you want to offer, then work your way back to figure out exactly want information you need from your viewers to provide that experience. Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Charles, great post. If the personalization is a real person, your website visitors will likely enjoy your commitment to QoS. If your website personalization is in the form of intrusive system generated scripts, triggers, and pop-ups, that might not be as well received. Cheers. -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Bernard GorePortfolio, Programme & Project Professional| NZ PoliceWellington, New Zealand
There is no "line" - what you have to do is decide what gives value to your visitors and above all be very clear to them what is being tracked, and preferably allow an opt-out (with the understanding this will limit how well the site can serve them).
You should be careful to keep in mind the level of comfort and convenience to your customer. When your inquiries become bothersome, and start infringing on your customer's rights, they scream. Saving Changes...
I am personally very satisfied with the level of personalization here. All we do on this site is passively monitored and whenever there is something where the projectmanagement.com team can help, they immediately contact us by personal email and resolve the issue. They do not impose unnecessary and intrusive checks on what a user can and cannot do. This is probably what any user would want. Saving Changes...
Laura CarringtonPortfolio Management Group Leader| Oak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge, Tn, United States
Web platform products do a lot of tracking automatically and some are designed for marketing users. So, for example, when a user clicks on certain content, other related content may be offered automatically. Then, whether they click on it or not is also tracked for other additional content or for future campaigns. Some demographics and behaviors can be gleaned without the user inputting data. It provides the user with a better experience but also allows you to optimize your site, offerings and sales. But, when users also provide information, the user experience is richer and you can reach out to them, better target specific content and marketing campaigns to them. This is pretty standard. You can make additional information optional or mandatory to reach certain content. Often, an email address will be required to access something; or more information on position and company to download a white paper, for example. Users can decide whether it''s worth it. You can track whether they click through or don''t and adjust your site offerings and the required information to access accordingly. Be sure users have access to your privacy policy stating what you will do with any data provided but reality is, they may not read it. Saving Changes...
PMI Team Member
