UNIT 49 INFORMATION AGE

The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to information that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously. The idea is linked to the concept of a digital age or digital revolution, and carries the ramifications of a shift from traditional industry that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on the manipulation of information, i.e., an information society. The Information Age formed by capitalizing on the computer microminiaturization advances, with a transition spanning from the advent of the personal computer in the late 1970s to the internet's reaching a critical mass in the early 1990s, and the adoption of such technology by the public in the two decades after 1990. Bringing about a fast evolution of technology in daily life, as well as of educational life style, the Information Age has allowed rapid global communications and networking to shape modern society.

E-mail marketing: Permission, Privacy, Profiling, Personalization.

Permission Stefan Eyram explains

"Permission is the real key to successful email marketing. If you don’t have explicit permission to send an email to a recipient you are SPAMMING them.." Eyram suggests that if companies send too much spam, lawmakers will come down hard and make regulations forbidding this, and, or people will get so tired of spam they won't take email seriously anymore.. Eyram calls this "email fatigue"

Privacy Eyram wisely advises "In the past, many email marketers have bundled the privacy issue together with permission. But Permission is a request to receive personal information and an invitation to market products or services to individual consumers.

Privacy is what email marketers do with the personal information once they receive it and how they keep it private from prying eyes. With identity theft increasing and the average person more concerned about privacy issues, those organizations that consistently take the privacy high road will endear themselves to customers."

Profiling Eyram suggests

"Keeping profiles simple is often the best rule of thumb. Essentially, marketers want to know who they are, what they want, how they want to be contacted and how often. It’s also prudent to provide end-users with access to view and freely update their profile. Putting control in the hands of the end-user is far better that having them unsubscribe from your emails because you sent them something they did not want to receive.

The smart marketer uses contests, questionnaires and polls to collect information and then aggregates the data with other sources (e.g. point-of-sale, order history, web logs, email metrics, etc.) to create powerful customer and prospect profiles."

Personalization Eyram cautions "Personalization doesn’t mean sending the same message to your entire database and changing the opening line with “Dear ” In email marketing there is no “one size fits all.” Email marketing provides you with the capability to ensure that each person gets “personal” treatment from your organization. Experience has shown us that email marketers using personalization tend to have better open and response rates. They also have an easier time keeping the end user’s permission. In the end, the combination of permission, privacy, profiling and personalization will keep end users “hooked” on your company, your products and services, your messages and your future success."