Finally, the fifth trend to watch in 2012 is concept that encapsulates much of what I discussed in parts one through four – privacy.

#5 – First party and third party

The terms “first party” and “third party” denote something technical and legal in nature. At Knotice we are clearly advocates for a first-party approach in how brands create, access and use data, and how they identify and track consumers and customers. This bias permeates everything we do from a software and services standpoint:

• Profile tracking is performed only on the brand’s domains
• Profiles are identified and recognized by a first party cookie
• Third party data sources are treated as circumspect, with a strategic preference for leveraging explicit data and preferences or implicit and behavioral activity in the first party
• Extending choice and control to consumers across channels including email, mobile, web and online display

The fifth trend to watch in 2012 isn’t the digital marketing universe falling in line with Knotice’s philosophical and strategic position. Rather, the fifth trend to watch in 2012 is the emerging realization that the mechanics and philosophy of how good online business is done may be coalescing within a technical concept: first party vs. third party.

The mechanics and philosophy of doing business in the first party draws important distinctions and has meaningful impact on online business, which I have touched on in previous segments of this series.

Among them:

• Providing a technical framework allowing for more reliable identification, recognition and tracking of profiles, leading to more effective targeting on the front end and more meaningful cross-channel metrics, analysis and attribution on the back end.
• Minimizing reliance on third-party tracking mechanisms, behavioral data aggregation, and data sources which improves an organization’s ability to better embrace transparency with consumer data, privacy and preferences.
• Creating an efficient, effective technical and operational framework for the holistic practice of cross-channel direct digital marketing and communications.
• Consolidating and owning the responsibility for educating consumers, inspiring them to express preferences, capturing and respecting those preferences, and making this dialogue an easily-accessible across channel engagements, from the user’s mobile device to the call center.

If these are trends to watch in 2012, then clearly the shift to a first-party technical and philosophical approach is the encapsulating mega-trend for 2012.

Kendall Rose, born December 26th at 9:47 p.m. to proud parents Amanda and Steve Lehner, weighing in at 7 pounds, 6.4 ounces and 19.5 inches long.

Bailey Elizabeth, born December 27th 11:52 a.m. to proud parents Bridget and Matt Liszewski, weighing in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and 21 inches long.

To quote the late Steve Jobs, “Making the decision to have a child — it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

Our heartfelt congratulations to the Lehner and Liszewski families!

It’s also been a great year here at Knotice: We’re continuing to grow at an amazing rate, we’ve released our highly regarded Mobile Email Opens Reports. (Check out the latest version here and more.

As the year winds down (and in the spirit of countdown lists everywhere) here are the top 5 posts of 2011. Enjoy! (And thanks for reading!)

1. Paying Tribute to Steve Jobs: The passing of Steve Jobs in October sent waves through the industry. In this post, some Knotice folks share the impact Steve Jobs made on their lives, and their favorite stories and memories. Check it out, and be sure to add your thoughts in the comments section.
2. How to Write Better Email Subject Lines: This post from Patti gives you the 5 C’s for compelling subject lines (and some bonus tips.) Remember, no matter how brilliant your email campaign may be, its success hinges on that small string of words with enough zing to inspire an open.
3. Which Code to Use: MS Tag v. QR Code: As mobile adoption continues to soar, so does the debate over which 2D code is best for connecting with your audience. Our resident mobile expert, Dave, breaks down the benefits of the QR Code and MS Tag to help you decide which code to use in your next mobile campaign.
4. Best Practices for Mobile Email Design: As we’ve said before, mobile email optimization must be a priority for marketers (especially going into 2012). Here are two best practices for designing mobile email that will be useful and user-friendly.
5. A Lesson in Email Marketing: I got married this year and with the all the planning and searching for vendors came a flood of bad email marketing practices. In this post I outline some helpful ways to reach brides (or any other industry segment) with your email.

Happy New Year from all of us at Knotice!

In a move toward creating universal 2D code reader technology, Microsoft Tag has announced that its platform will now be able to be used for QR codes and for Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities. Tag intends to “to help simplify the growing fragmentation currently taking place in the barcode-reader market” with this new capability. The company states: “With this extension, brands have the freedom to choose the format most appropriate for their campaigns and give consumers the ease of one reader to use.”

In other not-so-surprising mobile news, Nielsen reports that 83 percent of apps downloaded during Q3 were for iPhone or Android. Additionally, iPhones and Androids have the most apps downloaded to them with the least number of app downloads going to BlackBerry.

On the privacy front, the Associated Press reports that nearly half of consumers surveyed by the University of Southern California are worried about companies seeing what they do online.

Stay tuned to The Lunch Pail for updates and commentary on industry news!

To keep up with increasing demand for our direct digital marketing software and services, this year we’ve added over 30 more people to our Knotice family – all professional-level jobs across several departments.

We’re also excited to announce the opening of offices in Seattle this month. The new Seattle office will be staffed by a number of talented new hires, ranging from developers to business statisticians to information architects and more. This move reflects our rapid growth and continued self-funded expansion.

The new office will help us better serve our clients headquartered on or near the west coast. “Not only does this continue to extend our national footprint, it also allows for future expansion,” says Brian, our co-founder and CEO. “With access to outstanding technology and marketing talent in the Seattle area, it eliminates any potential bottlenecks on future growth and innovation.”

Among the new additions to the Seattle office is Ajoy Bose, a senior developer formerly with Microsoft. With over 17 years of experience in software development, Bose came to Microsoft through the aQuantive acquisition in 2007, where he hired and managed the team that re-architected the current system for scale and reliability. Welcome Ajoy!

Here’s an inside look at our new digs in Seattle:

Earlier this year, Knotice received a letter from Santa. He was interested in increasing the efficiency of his legendary Christmas Eve campaign. With the growing number of gift requests he gets each year, Santa was interested in a platform to pull together his data so he could best engage each person on an individual basis during his busy season. In addition, he wanted to better understand areas of interest for more relevant giving for his Christmas Eve send.

Even though Santa is gonna find out who’s naughty or nice, the task of updating each list segment in real-time can be challenging. Because of that, he also was looking for ways to automate the status of each individual on his famous list. The team at Knotice was ready to help.

Check out this screencast to see how Santa was able to use Knotice technology to streamline his Christmas Eve campaign.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday from all of us at Knotice!

From Bill:
Best: A gift subscription to Spotify. For a mere $9.99/month, you can have unlimited access to all of the great music from LPs, 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs that you have lost over the years. Build the soundtrack of your life.
Worst/Useless: The ultrasonic anti-bark device…it doesn’t work on yappy high-strung papillions.

From Elizabeth:
Best: The Nest Thermostat. If you’re like me, you’re into technology. It surrounds everything you do each and every day, so why not extend that love towards things in your home. The Nest Thermostat is the sexiest $249 thermostat out there, turning a mundane household object into the centerpiece of any room. Leave it to the former Apple employee who was in charge of developing the Apple iPod to come up with the creation – which is not only sleek in design, but technologically advanced. The thermostat’s amazing features include Wi-Fi (allowing you to make changes to your at-home temperature from just about anywhere) and learning capabilities. Yes, it learns – it contains sensors, which detect if anyone is in the house, adjusting the temperature based on limits you define. Over time, the device “learns” these behaviors, providing you the optimal living environment. So, if you can swallow the initial investment, it could pay for itself in heating/cooling costs.

From Sarah:
Best: (as requested by Nate): IBVA – interactive brainwave visual analyzer (Nate’s wanted this for 10+ years); Multichannel Wireless headphones; A lap desk with cupholders, so you can holder your gigantic laptop and everything else you could possibly need for one evening without ever having to get up.
Worst/Useless: Coffee mugs (they don’t need any more, no matter how cute the saying is); Bargain bin anime series/video games (There’s a reason they’re in there. No one wants them.), AND don’t ever, EVER confuse Star Wars and Star Trek. (They are not the same thing.)

From Mandy:
Best: Surround sound speakers for a different experience when watching movies and TV.

From Dave:
Worst: The Jawbone UP would fit into the currently “unusable technical gadget disaster” category. Amid much hype, this “wear it all the time” activity tracker promises to change your life for the healthy better by encouraging you to track, record, and share your trials and tribulations via an integrated iPhone app. In fact, based on personal and friendly anecdotal experiences, the most common thing this may do for you physically is activate depression, angst, and anger. Very poor user experience, not enough real data, not a great app experience equals a #FAIL for this company – one that built its stock on engineering and design mastery. I’ve heard they are buying them back and are revamping the UX in hopes of playing in the mobile fitness space.
Better: For a product that seems to do everything right- check here with Morotola Mobility.

From Dutch:
Best: The iCADE turns an iPad into a classic arcade game.

From Patti:
Best: Definitely the Geek Ball from Archie McPhee’s (one of my favorite stores). It’s a Magic 8-Ball for techies. Love it.

From Scott:
Best: iPad; iPhone; techie magazine subscription; components to build a new PC; New Laser mouse; external Hard Drive 500+ gigs.
Worst/Useless: Mouse pad; wired ball mouse; any thumb drive under 1 gig.

From Bryce:
Best: You can never beat a true techie to the punch, or try to score for them a technology they don’t already have (or haven’t already turned their nose up at). So buying technology for a techie is impossible. However, tech accessories are optimal. Advancements in design and features of tech accessories like iPad cases or mounts are insane right now. Scoring a super-swank or uber-usable accessory for your techie can show off your bona fides and score them some additional street cred, too.
Worst/Useless: Actual technology (as referenced above). Unless a techie has told you exactly what they want and expects you to buy that item for them, don’t try to acquire technology on their behalf. Any guesses you attempt to make on the very specific and important aspects of technology you and I take for granted but which are critically important minutiae to a techie will undoubtedly backfire.

If providing an email address is a traditional opt-in, this is the equivalent of a super opt-in. You can’t blame yogaglo for asking, but give me a break. They want to turn me and my Facebook account into their little marketing machine, but what do I get in return? Absolutely nothing.

The ability for marketers to be granted this level of permission and access to consumer information truly provides the ingredients to revolutionize (I don’t use that word loosely) how brand relationships work and gain valuable insights into which customers are influencing other customers (at scale). However, the possibilities will be severely hamstrung if marketers don’t start thinking about what they need to give, to get this level of access. What is the value exchange?

Think about an old-fashioned email opt-in. When you request an email address as a brand, it’s important to convey the value the customer will get by providing it (e.g.: special offers, useful tips, etc.).

Not only did yogaglo ask for my email address, but they want my cell phone number, access to posts on my news feed, the ability to post to Facebook as me, and access to my master friends list and my custom friend lists (family, coworkers, etc). What’s the appropriate value exchange that yogaglow should provide?

The simplest way to answer this is in clicks and the value associated to those clicks. Granting the requested access will result in clicks by my friends as I interact with yogaglo (e.g.: access the site, watch videos, rate videos, etc). Those actions will create posts that will show up on my friends’ feeds. Some friends will click, some will click and sign up with yogaglo themselves.

If we were talking paid search, yogaglo would pay approximately $1.00 per click for the keyword “yoga videos.” With the average Facebook user having 130 friends, it’s not unrealistic that over the course of a month, a single yogaglo customer could generate 5 clicks. Here’s how I arrived at that number:

130 Friends
x 15 yogaglow Posts Per Month
= 1950 Monthly Impressions
x .25% Click Through Rate (quarter of 1%)
= 5 Clicks (4.875 to be exact)

If someone has 500 friends, this translates into 18 clicks. Some could argue that the .25% CTR is too low. Others could argue that it’s too high. I argue that it’s reasonable, but definitely should be tested.

At 5 clicks per month and a value of $1 per click (which again, it’s easy to argue it should be higher considering the friend endorsement), that translates into $60 in value over the course of a year from the average Facebook user. Once it’s adjusted to reflect the average lifetime of a yogaglo customer (e.g., 8 months versus 14 months), yogaglo has a pretty good estimate on the base value of someone clicking the “Allow” button.

I say “base value” because our math doesn’t accommodate for two important things. First, even if other Facebook users aren’t clicking, there is still the benefit of awareness advertising. And second, yogaglo now has access to a treasure-trove of information they can use to strengthen their relationship with customers.

So the way I see it, if I use my Facebook account to sign up with yogaglo and grant the requested access, I should get three months free. As we’ve demonstrated, it’s pretty easy to rationalize this value exchange. Equally important, it proactively demonstrates the reciprocal nature of the Facebook-enhanced relationship and the potential good things to come, versus requesting a level of access that simply could be off-putting and not the best way to kick off a new customer relationship.

If anyone has seen great examples of a strong value-exchange for a “Facebook super opt-in,” please share. I’d love to see them.

As a retailer, wouldn’t it make more sense to provide integrated solutions to the customer that both improve the in-store experience and make the environment friendlier?

There have been a couple significant developments recently that can swing some momentum back to retailer’s favor and come back to meet industry innovation where it will matter in the future. This involves several macro-trends and numerous players in the mobile shopping space (so please bear with me on this.)

This remains speculative, but here’s what I am observing.

Recently, industry leader in both mobile and retail, Best Buy, made available nine open APIs to enable developers to tap into their product, store locations, reviews, offers, commerce and other data. This could be interpreted as a magnanimous offering from a brand with deep pockets that is trying to roll out new and interesting things. It is one of the first real steps to fighting fire with fire. Opening up to big data and having a firm place in an ecosystem that will rely on that data to drive consumers (who search, shop, and still do most of their actual purchasing in store) to the store locations that have what they need, where they need it.

Best Buy – by allowing access, filtering, and repurposing of their data – is giving their stores every opportunity to capture what people love about the “instant gratification” of physically touching, holding, and going home with a new purchase.

Specific to the “poaching” references above, Best Buy is also opening up the most up-to-date information to an Amazon competitor, one I refer to as the growing eBay retail syndicate. eBay has made some big moves along the entire mobile shopping chain, complimenting their ownership of PayPal (actually processing payments) with acquisitions of businesses like Milo (store level inventory), RedLaser (barcode scanning, huge install base on iPhone), GSI and Magento commerce (transaction, some marketing and fulfillment), and Where, Inc (local search and recommendations).

It doesn’t take a “rocket surgeon” to connect dots for a pretty large ecosystem where eBay isn’t selling everything (as it seems Amazon might like to do) but instead is “touching” and “enabling” goods to be sold. Amazon could, of course, have access to the data as well to drive pricing, offers, promotions, etc., but there are always going to be two ways to use any publicly available information. Content providers and search providers will also benefit with more accurate search results and more relevant content.

Seems to me that this addresses consumer behavior as it exists currently at scale, as opposed to supporting the development of an alternative consumer experience that requires app downloads, check-ins, and other non-native “learned” experiences. Brands like Best Buy have complete control over the data that is made available. Plus, 100% of the resources and dollars go into their brand – and not someone else’s who is addressing other brand’s needs with Best Buy dollars. Seems to me that they can make their own proprietary experiences work well with the data that comes back to them to capture more business to support their high-overhead physical presence.

I love that all these services are being developed to address specific problems. They do a great job at exploring how technology can help a business thrive in today’s connected world. Maybe brands and vendors chose not to discuss topics like this at the OMMA Mobile Summit because they are working on things behind the scenes, as we are here. I can only hope that is the case.