Great post over at ask.enquiro where Gordon writes about getting the “willies” over being “behaviorally targeted”. He writes about his “ordeal” and ends with:
Did Orbitz succeed in getting my booking? Well, yes, and no.
The ad certainly caught my attention. In fact, it totally derailed my train of thought, which could be why I forget what it was I went to About.com for in the first place. But I didn’t book, at least, not yet. I’m still sorting out whether I want to or not.
It’s really strange. Intellectually I have totally accepted behavioral targeting and even welcome it as an advertiser, but emotionally and as a prospect, I’m still not sure. I had no idea I would be so prudish about this until it actually happened.
Welcome to Advertising 2.0, where you can hone in on your target customer so precisely, you actually give them the chilly willies about doing business with you.
I recently read that Expedia converts roughly 5% of their visitors into paying customers. I’m sure this campaign launched by Orbitz is an attempt to boost a similar conversion ratio. Looks like in Gordon’s case, it may have backfired. Sometimes, it’s best to leave the psychic readings at the county fair…
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