Customer Satisfaction Reflection and Commentary

Customer Satisfaction Reflection and Commentary on: "Consumers on the whole receive more benefits than risk from marketers knowing their personal information" This paper takes an intriguing approach to the issue of marketers knowing personal information about consumer buying habits or hobbies, namely that of a risk management or cost benefit analysis approach to the question. Clearly, there are risks to consumers when marketers know their personal information, but there are also benefits as well. Marketers need consumers, but consumers also need to buy goods.

The process of buying and selling is a mutual agreement, something that can be easily forgotten in an age that has grown very hostile towards advertising and is very anxious about the risks identity theft. But the author argues that the return on the investment (ROI) of knowledge is not equal for consumers. A consumer risks a great deal more than the marketer in this sharing relationship.

The marketer only risks that an investment in tracking consumer buying habits, suggestions, or doing marketing research might not pay off in dollars, while a consumer risks a more substantial thing -- his or her privacy. The only benefit the author sees that accrues to the consumer through various forms of customer tracking by marketers is that customer complaints are dealt with more efficiently, which also creates a higher chance for return traffic for marketers than if the complaints were ignored.

Identity theft can ruin a customer's credit score, and repairing the damage can cost the consumer time and money. Interestingly, the author does not discuss another hidden detriment to the consumer regarding time. Anyone who has ever bought anything over the Internet knows the tendency to receive an increase of 'spam' or marketing promotions from websites that sell similar goods to the ones where the original purchase was made.

Telemarketers who have gotten a consumer's name and number often can target that consumer at the dinner hour because of the fact that he or she unwittingly let a marketer know about a subscription to a local newspaper or the existence of a computer in the household.

and, as the article points out, this is unfair because the company where the good was purchased is making a profit from the consumer twice, first from the actual transaction, and second by selling and sharing the consumer's identity and buying habits -- with other purveyors. This article makes some excellent points, but there are some questions as to the broad brushstrokes with which the author paints the argument.

First of all, it seems like consumers do get some benefit from marketers knowing their information besides customer complaints being answered, otherwise consumers would never volunteer their information. Consumers do often volunteer their opinions through market research, for fun, or also because in their own personal cost-benefit analysis, they feel that the chance to win a gift card or to get a coupon is worth sacrificing a bit of information to the marketer. Also, consumers benefit from having goods and promotions tailored to suit their needs.

Every supermarket shopper who is frustrated that he or she cannot purchase a full order at a single grocery store, because the store is always out of a popular item or because their favorite type of could benefit.