How is the IT-Driven Concept of
“Permission Marketing” Changing
the Way Companies Establish
Customer Relationships Using
“Old” Media as well as New?
By Janice Williams Donaldson
Major Changes
Technology enables interactivity and relationship
marketing
Technology increases consumer concern and
opportunities to misuse information
Permission decreases consumer concern and
engenders confidence and trust
Permission marketing requires media integration
Interactivity optimization requires organizational
change
What is Permission Marketing?
Consumer volunteers for marketing message
Interactive relationship
Rewards for participation
Anticipated, personal and relevant
How is it Different?
Permission Interruption
– Targeted – Mass
– Interactive – Passive
– Relational – Transactional
Technology Enables Permission
Cost-effective
Targeted
Customized
Dialogue vs. monologue
Frequent
“Today, however, because of interactive
technology, it has become cost-effective
once again to conduct individual dialogues,
even with millions of consumers,
one customer at a time.”
--Don Peppers
Godin, S. (1999). Permission marketing: Turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers. New York, NY: Simon
& Schuster.
Information & Communications
Technology
Database management marketing
The Internet
– Web sites
– E-mail
– Consumer networks or communities
Personal or mobile communications
Technology Increases
Consumer Concerns
Ease of collection, storage and exchange of
personal data
“Cookies” and tracking software
Notice and consent
Taxonomy of Privacy Concerns
Direct mailing Improper acquisition
– Access
Preference tracking
– Collection
Unwanted eavesdrop – Monitoring
No opting-out Improper use
Third-party distribution – Analysis
– Transfer
Privacy invasion
– Unwanted solicitation
Improper storage
Wang, J., Lee, M. & Wang, C. (1998). Consumer privacy concerns about Internet marketing. Communications of the ACM, 41, p.
65.
Reactions
Businesses Consumers
– Standards – Anonymity
– Trust Frameworks – Encryption
– Self Regulation – Access Control
– Infomediaries – Filtering
Permission Decreases Concerns
Clear permission to use personal data
Non-transferable permission
Permission ladder/“permission creep”
Relationship approach focuses on lifetime
customer value
Permission Requires
Media Integration
Role of “old” media and new
Passive vs. interactive
Future implications
Permission Marketing Requires
Organizational Change
Gamma-Level Change
– Technology
– Tasks
– People
– Structure
Outsourcing
– Marketing solution providers
So What?
Advancing technology brings more interactivity
Interruption marketing continues to decline in
effectiveness
Measurable marketing results depend on
targeting, customization and relationship
Access to information denied without consumer
confidence and trust
Challenge to Marketers
“To save relationship marketing, managers will
need to separate rhetoric from reality …
There’s a balance between giving and getting
in a good relationship. But when companies
ask their customers for friendship, loyalty and
respect, too often they don’t give those
customers friendship, loyalty and respect in
return.”
Fournier, S., Dobscha, S., & Mick, D. (1998). Preventing the premature death of relationship marketing. Harvard Business
Review, 76, 42, 46.
In Conclusion
Technology enables interactivity.
Interactivity is fundamentally reshaping marketing
strategy using “old” media and new.
Interactivity requires information.
Information technology leads to privacy concerns.
Permission mitigates consumer distrust.
Interactivity optimization requires organizational
change.
ANY QUESTIONS?