Webcast Spotlights Marketers' Use of Customer Information

A free one-hour webcast on Tuesday will spotlight how the marketing industry uses customer purchases and information to boost sales and raise loyalty.

The pre-recorded webcast at 1 p.m. EST on Tuesday features 60 speakers in 60 minutes. It includes executive level professionals and marketing authors discussing how businesses are personalizing their product offerings for individuals and issues arising from that.

A customer's buying history is one key way for businesses to suggest future purchases.

We know everything they buy, says Marc Parrish, Vice President of Retention and Loyalty at Barnes & Noble, and speaker at the conference.

His company personalizes offerings for customers as they search on the company's website for titles for the company's Nook EReader device.

It's a fairly sophisticated task using all the data you know, he says. The company gathers and analyzes the data obtained from previous purchases such as genre, author, or even magazines bought. Success is measured by rising customer loyalty and purchases.

Society will need to debate the ethical issues arising from the use of a customer's information, he says.

There are many things in the gray area, he says.

Earlier this month, Yahoo Inc.'s U.K. business rolled out a system for letting users opt out of allowing websites to collect information on their Internet habits. User information is often tracked by cookies, which are small files linked to web browsers.

In California, a judge ruled in February in a case that has implications for marketing. Retailers in the state do not have the right to ask customers for their postal ZIP code while completing credit card transaction. Doing so violates cardholders' rights to protect their personal information, the judge ruled.

Marketers can use personalization techniques to send potential customers the right messages at the right time and that's worth exploring, says Eric Wholley, a marketing strategist with Thoughtlead, the collaborative organizing the conference.

The conference, entitled Future of Marketing 2: The Personalization Revolution, came together after a previous version which focused on social media last year received an outstanding response, he said.

Participants can register at FutureOfMarketing.com. Wholley says conference sponsors will provide follow-up for attendees.