If You Want Customers To Fork Over Private Data, Give Them Something Irresistible In Return

[Commentary] As more of their interactions move to digital platforms, consumers will also leave behind much more data about what they are interested in, since they will be visiting sites and consuming media that captures everything they do. This will give advertisers the opportunity to get to know them much better so we can tailor our offers and products accordingly.

Increased visibility into how consumers interact with your brand will also increase opportunities for interacting with them. We have seen the shift already. Marketing today is a lot less one-way and much more about engaging consumers through conversations, relationships, interactive entertainment, etc. This tends to involve many more interactions between consumer and brand, which again generates a lot more data. The Internet works economically because of the effectiveness of the online ads, and that effectiveness is driven by the data that is collected and used to personalize the messages. No data gathering, no effective ads, no free content. With all this data gathering, the privacy issue is hugely important. And without context, it can seem creepy to know that people are tracking your every move when you shop or interact with digital communications.