Avinash Kaushik just recently launched, or was part of a launch of a product called 4Q. Basically it is permissions based surveying that asks four questions. Surveying is a great way to find out what your users are thinking, because you get the information straight from the horses mouth so to speak. No amount of data can tell you what customers think. It can hint, bolster support for theories, or confound, but it cannot, no matter how hard you try, provide you with what users think.
Well Q4 offers this service to companies who want to do a quick exit poll of their customers. This service is FREE! or is it?
It’s not. While you may not pay any money, you do hand over your information. And in the Internet economy that is worth more than money. iPerceptions will then sell your information. Which, if you are not lucky, will be your competitors. If you look at their terms and conditions you will note:
Data
You remain the sole proprietor of and are solely responsible for Data collected from studies completed through the Service that are deployed and running on your Site. However, you hereby irrevocably authorize iPerceptions to retain and use, aggregate and/or publish Data in a non personally-identifiable manner. Further, you authorize iPerceptions to disclose raw and unmodified Data to third parties in the following manner: (i) to agents and licensors of iPerceptions or its affiliates, such as independent auditors, consultants or attorneys; (ii) to comply with government agency or court orders or requests, or (iii) where otherwise authorized by you.You agree to include the prominent notice Source: 4Q or iPerceptions on any Data derived from your use of the Service that you post, transmit, disseminate or redistribute on any manner whatsoever, along with a functioning link to the Site.
Read that over again if you don’t catch it. “you hereby irrevocably authorize iPerceptions to retain and use, aggregate and/or publish Data in a non personally-identifiable manner”. Well. of course it is non-personal! None of the questions in the survey is “what’s your name?” But I can easily see how iPerceptions can aggregate information, pull quotes and arm your competitors with some pretty solid ammo.
The long and short of it is, protect your data. It is as valuable a commodity or resource as any that your company has.
Dave,
Thanks for your interest in 4Q. Just wanted to clarify a very important point that you raised. The beauty of 4Q is that it will allow companies to benchmark their data against web leaders. In this way, they can gain visibility into how well their sites stack up in the crucial area of customer satisfaction. The purpose of this initiative is absolutely NOT to capture data for one company and then use it to pitch our consultancy services to their competitors (we do not have a consultancy arm). We are approaching this as advocates of customers and end-users. Therefore, we value and protect privacy to the greatest possible extent.
Michael,
It is reassuring to know that individual companies will not be singled out it is crucial to note that if a company was in a niche market anyone purchasing that data would, theoretically, be able to draw conclusions from the customer response data as it pertains to their competition.
I am in no way suggesting that iPerceptions is doing something underhanded, but rather users need to understand it is a trade off. While the 4Q service is free, users need to understand that they will be sharing their data with you and that you will do what you will with that data
Google analytics is free, but Google uses that data, my data, to their own ends which may or may not be in keeping with my personal views. I understand they collect data and accept it as a trade off for using their services.
Dave:
I am late to this party, my apologies.
Google now allows you full control of what happens with your Google Analytics data. You can choose to share as much as you want or none at all.
Check out this post:
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2008/03/benchmarking-now-available-plus.html
and/or
http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=87515
I realize that you will have to trust Google enough to even take their word, but atleast there are clearly outlined information that you can use as input in forming your opinion.
Thanks much.
-Avinash.
Hi Avinash,
Thanks so much for your input.
I noticed the post on Google is dated March 05, 2008. So unfortunately that information wasn’t available when I wrote the post. I am pleased that Google finally allows people to control their own data.
Personally I don’t have an issue with them using mine. I think that it is fair in return for the great service they offer through Google Analytics. I just think companies need to be very upfront about what all parties get out of the deal. Too often they just bury the details in all the legal mumbo-jumbo, because most people don’t bother to take the time to read it.
Thanks again,
Dave