Why Not Ask Them

Guest Blogger: Chris Lamont, Account Executive, iPerceptions

I spent last week at Ad:Tech NY, going through a maze of exhibitors and listening to well-versed and experienced professionals from a variety of industries and a myriad of companies.

Having grown up on the agency side of things – helping to plan and develop nearly 500 online projects and then entering into the wonderful world of behavioral targeting and persuasion – I now find myself immersed in customer satisfaction. Funny how it took nearly ten years to come back around to thinking that the client is the one we should be focusing on.

As I walked, talked and listened, I continually asked myself the same question: Why not ask them? In the agency world, we used to say (more frequently than I will fully admit) that our clients were ‘too smart’ for their own good. What we meant was that our clients were too close to their own products, too close to their own services, they knew everything too intimately to be able to accurately and effectively know what their customer wanted. They spent much time trying to learn about them so that they could serve their needs. They spent resources trying to understand what was happening. They spent resources scouring data trying to extract meaning and relevancy to what they believed they already knew about their online customer. Interesting though – they never thought to actually ask. We tried to push them to do so. Primarily, we used technology and data to extract information based on our breadth of experience across sectors and business lines. On occasion we would ask: although, we didn’t have the fusion of technology and engagement opportunity that we have today.

Fast forward nearly 10 years and things have not changed much. The difference now is that we are using technology in an attempt to predict what visitors will want. Why not ask them? As I mentioned, there are a number of companies vying for stronghold on the ever-lucrative ad serving and affiliate market. What I refer to as the “this is what someone typed so show them this” technology. There are a number of companies charting a course for search supremacy: the “how many keywords can I fit in your headers” technology. There are still others looking at behavioral targeting and persuasion technologies. What I refer to as the “I know someone from your region who did something similar so this is what you want” type of technology. I was unable to find (although I tried) anyone who was going to actually ask the visitor.

Interestingly though, that is all the speakers wanted to talk about. You can go through the list of conference speakers and virtually everyone one of them (who is a client of these exhibitors I just referred to) was anxious to take it to the next level. They were all looking for a way to gauge customer satisfaction. They wanted someone to actually ask or at least give them the tools to do so. They want to engage their visitors.

Taken from these leaders, it is easy to then say we are in an enviable position at iPerceptions. We do ask. In fact, we have always asked. Users began cooperating years ago. Clients are continually realizing the value. They need to know we are here.

I stood on my chair and tried to shout, but the spinning wheel of chance (ie. what some companies use to identify a target audience) never stopped spinning.

From the trenches,
Chris