Death of Spam

The Death of Spam in 1 Infographic

May 21, 2014 

An average human being in the US is exposed to about 5,000 brand messages per day (some estimate that to be as high as 30,000). On a typical day, here is how many of them are relevant to me: 0.

Now, maybe I’m not the typical consumer and perhaps the hit rate goes up around the holidays, but that Relevance Ratio is a stunning indictment of the marketing world. That’s why I love this infographic about ‘Me-commerce’, which really emphasizes the notion that relevancy is currency. When it comes to connecting with customers, this infographic highlights some of the critical trends shaping the landscape and highlights what retailers should think about to become me-commerce players. They are dynamically optimizing the landing pages on their site for me; they are sending me emails that reflect what I really am interested in;they save information about me that makes it easy for me to buy.

Bumping up the Relevance Ratio is about killing off spam – and by spam, I’m referring to any message you as a person sees: billboards, TV ads, radio ads, pop-up ads, email offers. Personalization is not targeting “males between 18 and 34” – that is just not detailed enough to be meaningful. Most marketers know that but in many cases they still don't understand their customers at a granular enough level to understand what motivates them to connect to a brand or purchase a product or service.This isn't just an academic exercise; good personalization drives sales. We know that retailers see a 10% increase in marketing ROI when they personalize ad campaigns. I understand that spam is unlikely to ever go completely away, but that is the goal every company should shoot for.

Marketers clearly have to adhere to privacy concerns and not venture into the “creepy” zone where people feel like they’re being watched. But if people are going to continue to market and advertise, I for one would like that to be much more useful and relevant to me.