You Are All Evil…

Online analytics are not as scary as they might seem.

By Eric T. Peterson
Friday, September 10, 2010

You’re not really evil, but I got your attention, didn’t I? I used more or less the same technique that Julia Angwin used at the Wall Street Journal in her piece ‘The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets’. Given the resulting hype around the piece you may have already read what is purported to be the first in a series.

The author’s basic assertion is that audience development specialists, marketers, and business owners are the worst type of people in the world for, gasp!, wanting to better understand their target audience. We’re wrong for profiling consumers all in the name of capitalistic greed and corporate profits.

What’s more, any number of polls have found that, when directly asked about tracking on the Internet, consumers are pro-privacy. Invariably if you ask someone “do you mind companies tracking your activities online without your knowledge” they respond “hell yes I mind.”

Except they don’t. Want proof? Consider Facebook.

Facebook was this year’s poster child for egregious violations of consumer privacy. Earlier this year when the company more-or-less told the world they were selling off their usage data the response was overwhelmingly negative, so much so that a “quit Facebook” movement erupted. People were so angry that 25 percent of respondents to a Mashable poll said they were going to quit the platform.

You would think that if 125 million people suddenly quit Facebook someone would notice...

Evidence suggests that consumers are pro-privacy in theory but far less so in practice. This makes perfect sense since nobody in their right minds wants to be “spied on” online (or off.) When someone like Mrs. Angwin starts a discussion about audience measurement and behavioral targeting it is convenient to compare online traffic analysis to spying because fear gets people’s attention.

The truth regarding the depth of knowledge most sites have about individual visitors is much more banal. Most companies are still struggling to derive meaningful and actionable insights from Web-collected data, much less tie online actions back to named individuals. The idea that business owners are looking “over your shoulder” online would be comical if it wasn’t so frightening to people who don’t understand the Internet.

The vast majority of online businesses are still working out the details of their digital measurement efforts and don’t have the time, resources, or acumen to “spy” on their online visitors. Until such a lobby for the digital measurement industry emerges here are my five recommendations for how to avoid being dragged into stories like Mrs. Angwin’s:

1. Have a rock-solid privacy policy clearly linked to every page on your site. Regardless of what the lawyers tell you to say, make sure this policy declares every bit of tracking code used across your site (and why you use it).

2. Don’t use tracking software you don’t need or don’t understand. Only deploy applications with demonstrable value to your business, especially when cookies and/or personal information is involved.

3. Know what tracking software you have on your site. Some of the examples cited in the WSJ article had tracking applications deployed that management was not aware of. Use a solution like ObservePoint or WASP to audit your site for tracking applications at least once per month.

4. Have a clear answer for “how and why do you track?” Make sure everyone in management knows what your goals are for tracking, how tracking has positively impacted your business, and how your tracking is done with the upmost respect for your visitors and customers.

5. Be transparent if anyone asks what you’re up to. Don’t obfuscate, be truthful and stand your ground. If you’re trying to use technology to sell more products and generate more revenue, just say so.

At the end of the day even the most sophisticated online “spies” have relatively limited insight into individuals, but all of us are working our butts off to turn a profit in ugly financial times. If you’re using digital data to better understand the audience you sell to, say so, and be ready to defend your decision. Smart business is good business, although it may not generate as many headlines.

Eric T. Peterson is a recognized digital analytics thought-leader and founder of Web Analytics Demystified, Inc., a global measurement consulting group with offices in the U.S. and Europe. More information can be found at www.webanalyticsdemystified.com.