Quick Comment on User Registration Data
In response to Adrian Holovaty’s posting on Required User Registation, I wrote a comment that I want to post here.
“In my experience, marketing folks ask for registration information, thinking that they will be able to use the data. However, they really can’t use the data effectively. Most marketing folks haven’t figured out what the data means, how users think about it, how it is valuable, and so forth. It is something they actually don’t understand. Registration data is like a new element on the Periodic Table of Marketing, and it just doesn’t mean anything to them yet. Furthermore, very few marketing departments even have the time to use the data. The reality is that the data is of very low value. Most marketing folks think that the users listed in an opt-in list from a 3rd party has more value than the folks that are registered for their own site. Talk to some folks in *marketing* about this and you’ll see what I mean. Really, it is scary. The bigger the company, the worse this attitude gets.”
I’m trying to make two points. First, marketing folks don’t understand the data, so they don’t need it. Second, they don’t bother to use it, even when they have it.