There’s a new survey of Web users from the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at the University of California Berkeley School of Law and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. And the findings arn’t all that suprising to me. People don’t want targeted advertising. No matter what advertising agencies and web developers say, they just don’t want to be the recipients of targeted advertising.
It was a fairly huge preponderance of the surveyed too. 86% stated they don’t want their behavior tracked for targeted advertising. The FTC is watching this and a survey last march from eTrust is contradicting this survey. But there is a take on this that neither eTrust nor this survey has thought of, I believe.
People are independent. People don’t want to have things forced or pushed on them. People want to find things they’re interested in on their own and take action on their own. In other words, they’re “hunter gatherers” not lemmings. Customers Want The Thrill of the Hunt.
You know, if eTrust and Berkely/Annenberg would have simply gotten a few good Affiliate Marketers and looked at how they promote and sell products they could have saved a ton of time and trouble taking surveys. We affiliate marketers have always known that in the end, real people hunting down things that they’re interested in and finding quality informative content tend to buy more. Much more in fact. Just take a look at your real numbers and start correlating a little bit.
Where did those site visits come from? How long were they on your site? etc., are questions Affiliate Marketers pay attention to. Why? Because a large percentage come from Google, Bing, Yahoo Search… They view multiple pages before they buy (even with minisites). That’s an indicator to me that customers are hunting, they find, they look at your content. If they get good info and they like it they buy. And by buying, I mean they use your shopping cart, follow your affiliate link, etc. because they have internalized your quality content to the point that they trust you and the message your delivering about the subject they’re interested in.
Just like when deer season rolls around (I’m counting the days now), The Thrill of the Hunt isn’t limited to the Bambi infested woodlands… The Thrill of the Hunt is what our Customers want (and engage in). Help them complete the hunt and take the prize. Your customers will be happy and you’ll be rich.
Talk about this and more… Click the “Discussion” link just to the right and in Red and the AffSpot Forums will give you all the community you can stand.. It’s a “Thrill of the Hunt” thing.
Survey: US residents don’t want targeted ads
Your Rights Online: Americans Don’t Want Targeted Ads
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