Are abstainers different from voluntary contributors of personal information? Implications for direct marketing practice
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Are abstainers different from voluntary contributors of personal information? Implications for direct marketing practice Gary S. Robertshaw and Norman E. Marr Received (in revised form): 25 May 2005
Keywords: consumer information, customer profiling, segmentation, targeting
Abstract The disclosure of detailed, non-transactional, individual-level consumer information for direct marketing purposes is essentially voluntary in nature. This raises the possibility that those consumers who elect to disclose such information may be atypical of the general population. Using 256 personal interviews and a case study this paper explores demographic and value-system differences between contributors of personal information and abstainers, and provides a phenomenological insight into the reasons underlying the differences. The results of this study reveal that consumers who voluntarily contribute personal information are different to those who abstain, both qualitatively and with respect to values, prompting a reappraisal of current targeting and customer profiling methods.
Background
Gary S. Robertshaw 15 Heron Close Mountain, Queensbury, Bradford West Yorkshire BD13 1NR, UK Tel: þ44 (0)1274 884387 E-mail: [email protected]
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There is an increasing recognition within the literature of the failure of conventional, aggregated consumer classifications systems to segment and define the post-modern market adequately.1–9 In the post-modern era, attempting to match one umbrella positioning strategy to the needs of assumed amorphous consumer groups will inevitably be less successful than developing multiple personalised strategies.10,11 Essentially, the proliferation of splintering market subsegments demands a more precise mode of consumer classification. In tandem, rapidly improving database technology has facilitated the faster storage, processing and modelling of vaster amounts of complex individual-level consumer information.12–19 Market fragmentation and increased consumer eclecticism, coupled with improvements in database technology, have now led to a growing number of companies abandoning mass-marketing techniques in favour of personalised marketing programmes that better meet the needs of the individual.20–22 Over the last decade the shift towards personalised forms of marketing has been accentuated by the advent of digital communication channels, including the internet, interactive television and mobile telephones, allowing the direct marketing industry increasingly to communicate and interact with individual consumers on a real-time basis.23,24 Aggregated
& H E N R Y S T E W A R T P U B L I C AT I O N S 1 4 7 8 - 0 8 4 4 ( 2 0 0 5 ) V O L . 7 N O . 1 PP 18–35.
Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice
Abstainers and contributors of personal information
Increased requirement for individual-level consumer information
systems of analysis, which previously involved a single decision to target one market segment, are now being superseded by millions of independent automated decisions to communicat
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