It used to be that you clipped some coupons from the newspaper, used them at the store, and went on your way with no one the wiser and a few more pennies in your pocket. In today’s age of digital coupons, retailers know more about you than you can imagine.
Digital coupons allow us to save more than ever, and to do it conveniently. The real cost of using digital coupons, however, can be your privacy.
Every time you use a digital coupon, whether you print it or use it on your phone, you provide up to a dozen or so pieces of information to retailers about you. This has been going on for a few years, but a recent article about how one company’s data collection practices allowed them to find out a teen was pregnant before her family did has generated a new wave of interest in the issue of shopping and privacy.
This type of data mining is known as behavioral targeting or tracking, and the FTC is still looking into how it needs to be regulated to protect shoppers. Sure, we’re generally required to agree to terms and conditions about how our data will be collected and used before accepting or printing these coupons, but how many of us really bother?
“Web coupons embedded with bar codes that can identify, and alert retailers to, the search terms you used to find them and, in some cases, even your Facebook information and your name,” says Ariana Eunjung Cha of The Washington Post. Stores combine this data with your age, sex, income, buying histories and other information that they already have to create a detailed profile of you as a shopper. If you’re using your phone, even your cell phone number is fair game. These profiles help them provide precisely targeted personalized offers that can persuade you to buy more.
Are you the mayor of your favorite store or coffee shop on Foursquare? Location-based marketing is hot this year, and companies are coming up with new ways to use it. If you’re using your phone, advertisers use GPS features to tell them where you are at any given time. They know when you’re near or in their store and can send you coupons and tell you about deals using sites like Foursquare. By looking at past behavior, they can track your routine and make predictions about where you’ll be in the future as well. In short, you’re receiving info you may want, but you’re giving some away at the same time.
It’s not just “check in” sites like Foursquare either. Even apps that tell you the weather when you’re out and about provide location to advertisers about where you are. In fact, AdWeek notes that once you opt in to the terms and conditions of some apps, all you have to do to be tracked is have your phone or tablet on. You don’t even need to be using the app.
Many of us feel this is no big deal. We’re more than willing to put up with a little stalking in return for a big discount, and that’s fine. It’s important, however, to know that you’re giving it up. That way you can make an informed decision about which technologies you’re willing to adopt and what information you’re willing to give away. Too many people are clueless about it, and stores don’t mind that a bit.
Even when they’re obeying privacy laws, stores are just as happy for you not to know what they’re up to. As a Target statistician said (as quoted in the Forbes article “How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did”), “…we found out that as long as a pregnant woman thinks she hasn’t been spied on, she’ll use the coupons. She just assumes that everyone else on her block got the same mailer for diapers and cribs. As long as we don’t spook her, it works.”
What about you? Are you bothered by how much companies know about you and how they find out?
Further Reading:
- Shoppers who can’t have secrets at New York Times
- Web Coupons Know Lots About You, and They Tell at New York Times
- Where are You Going Where Have You Been at AdWeek
- Mobile coupons help retailers track customers at The Washington Post
- How Companies Learn your Secrets at New York Times
- How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did at Forbes
Interesting article. I know that I’ve resisted signing up for certain samples & coupons because I don’t want to be on every vendor’s radar, but I hadn’t realized that my purchases were tracked quite that finely. Definitely eye-opening.
Great article. The extent of consumer profiling and the efforts to conceal it are at the same time impressive and disturbing.
It is disturbing that all of our websites practices are being monitored. Trying to save money shouldn’t cost you your privacy, even IF they say that it will help them narrow down advertisements to what you would be interested in. Right now, I have an email address that I use for all of my coupon, free samples, and great deals – completely separate from my email for personal use.
One thing I will NOT do, is to give out my phone number. If a deal or coupon requires my phone number, I get out of that website and move on!