LETTERS & EVENTS


Letters


T: 0845 686 0125 F: 0845 686 0249


Publishing Director & Managing Editor Antony Begley 0141 222 5380 • abegley@dmarket.co.uk


Consulting Editor James Lawson


Commercial Director T. Paul Begley 0141 222 5382 • pbegley@55north.com


Advertising Manager Stuart Cal


0845 686 0125 • scal@dmarket.co.uk


Senior Designer Richard Chaudhry 0141 222 5303 •


rchaudhry@55north.com Designer


Steven Gladman 0141 222 5389 • sgladman@55north.com


Circulation Manager Cara Thomson 0141 222 5381 • cthomson@55north.com


Database Marketing is published monthly by


55 North Ltd, Waterloo Chambers, 19 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6AY. www.55north.com


Database Marketing is distributed free to qualifying readers. For details on sample copies or subscriptions, visit www.dmarket.co.uk ISSN: 1465-2900


Copyright 55 North Ltd 2012. All rights reserved.


IS SOCIAL LOGIN THE NEXT STEP IN CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT?


The shift towards social login – the ability for consumers to use their social media identity to register and log in to a brand’s website – has taken another step forward, according to the findings of new research we have commissioned. An overwhelming 85% of UK consumers said they would prefer social login over traditional online registration. For us, that means consumers are increasingly disenfranchised with the way brands still present them with irrelevant information and promotions. The research also highlights that, despite the desire for closer and more relevant engagement with brands, most consumers still provide inaccurate information to organisations when registering for a website due to the onerous registration process and security concerns. In contrast, the majority of consumers are keen to use social login, exploiting trusted, familiar Facebook and Google identities, for example, not only for the ease of use and improved security but also to share profile information to enable a better online experience.


Consider that 96% receive irrelevant information or promotions from brands and 68%


are bothered by website registrations and will consequently change their behaviour. Social login exploits the proven security expertise of social networks, removes barriers and, critically, provides a platform for truly effective user engagement. We believe the research indicates a major change in consumers’ preferred engagement model with brands. In the month preceding the research, 78% had come across a website offering social login and 53% had used it.


Brands that successfully engage on this level


are far more likely to benefit from the relationship than those that don’t effectively use digital and social marketing. Consumers want to be engaged – and they are willing to share their profile with to improve the online experience. It is those brands on the leading edge that are innovating and providing a truly engaging consumer experience that are building stronger customer relationships and achieving an increase in market share.


Russell Loarridge, European Sales Director, Janrain


BLACK-BOX SOFTWARE IS NOT A BLACK MAGIC SOLUTION


I read with increasing frustration the article ‘Putting the power to exploit big data in marketers’ hands’ in the April issue of Database Marketing. I took from the article that creativity, thought, analysis and investigation, skills that cannot be programmed, count for nothing and are therefore not required when analysing and modelling data, and that only powerful software is required. If this spurious argument is taken to its logical conclusion, demand for trained statisticians would dry up and companies and organisations only need marketers or people with other skills to press a few buttons to develop models, even complex models as stated in the article (how complex is ‘complex’?). Put simply, analysis and modelling are creative tasks that require the human skills of investigation, understanding and interpretation – skills that cannot be put in a strait-jacket. Preparing the data and making sure that they are in the right form are absolutely essential


prerequisites – it cannot be assumed that data downloaded from a data warehouse have the correct structure for modelling. These tasks cannot be automated because no two sets of the data are the same. The idea that people who do not understand data can perform these tasks is ill-conceived, dangerous and can lead to bad business decisions.


My argument is best summarised by the fact that large data sets have their own story to tell and that


it can be recovered by trained statisticians using well-defined and documented procedures. It is not for us to impose our views on the data. By doing this, we are implicitly defining the answer without regard to all the factors that may influence it.


Dr Atai Winkler, Wintech Associates 10 May 2012 www.dmarket.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32