Your Digital Footprint

Opt-in, opt-out, spam. What’s the difference?

You can only opt out of what you opted into. Otherwise, it is spam.

Some of your emails may “feel” like “junk,” but that is just a company sending you information that has no interest to you.

However, a commercial message — one that markets a service or product to the masses or individual — is legal to send if the following are true:

it is sent to email address who has opted into the service
it includes both clear name and contact details of your business
and it provides a clear and free “opt out” link so that users can unsubscribe.

Any “remove from subscription” requests sent back to a business must be honored, and you will be removed from their mailing lists.

When a recipient receives unwanted emails (or text messages), according to the ‘CAN_SPAM’ laws, these are illegal.

By clicking the “spam” button; this information goes back to the Internet Service Providers (ISP), and can get the company sending the spam email in trouble. At worst, if they receive too many spam notices, their IP address is blacklisted from that ISP making it difficult or impossible to send new messages to anyone.

To register on the DO NOT EMAIL list:

Consumers can register at the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) consumer website: www.DMAchoice.org for a processing fee of $2, you can remain on the list for ten years. Registering online is the fastest way to see results. DMAchoice offers consumers a simple, step-by-step process that enables them to decide what mail they do and do not want.

In addition, DMAchoice online offers registration for DMA’s eMail Preference Service (reduce your unsolicited commercial email).

DO NOT CALL REGISTRY list:

The federal government’s National Do Not Call Registry is a free, easy way to reduce the telemarketing calls you receive. To register your phone number or to get information about the registry, visit www.donotcall.gov, or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone number you want to register. You will get fewer telemarketing calls within 31 days. Telephone numbers on the registry will only be removed when they are disconnected and reassigned, or when you choose to remove a number from the registry.

Loyalty verse Rewards – the details are in the program.

I’ve been working in the business of customer programs for 20 years now, and there is still confusion in the difference between a Loyalty program and a Rewards program. Both are used to promote repeat business with customers. For the majority of these programs, you exchange your name, sales data (and sometimes more) in exchange for a benefit such as a discount on your purchase. They make look the same, but you can think of rewards as being friendly and loyalty as being a friend.

Rewards programs tend to be focused selling you more (buy 7 get one free, discounted tickets, or accumulate points by spending). Loyalty gets a bit trickier. Within loyalty there is a deeper exchange and usually a conversation. When you are loyal, you choose that vendor over another, you talk about it with your friends (positively, but not always). Loyalty has a trust factor saying “I like the way you do business.”

A communication channel (such asin-store, in-app, receipt, text messaging, alters, email, direct mail) is not a program. Although you as a customer have to explicitly opt-in to a program or communication channel. Both loyalty and rewards programs relay on a communication channel, a way to reach you directly to you. In most instances you agree to have an open communication to benefit from these programs. This is the loyalty companies are seeking. Whether it offers discounts for usage or free items, it is only a Loyalty Program if it creates a friendship with an individual.

The very best reference is from a friend.

Desktop, tablet, phone, app – whats the difference?

Not every website is built equal. Believe it or not a good looking website may look completely different between a desk top and a mobile device. The code use to build the back end of the website may differ from device to device (desktop to tablet), platform to platform (android to IOS) and each software version may have it’s own features.

This is way a website looks different between a desktop and mobile. A desktop has slider bars to be used with your mouse. On your phone you use your finger to scroll through the site. These both need to be programed for the different viewing devices. There are tools to allow you publish templates that auto format for multiple combinations of devices + platforms + software.

And then there are apps (or applications), there have features and functions completely different from the website. This is depended on the code use to create the tool. which platform it is released on, and software versions.

Mom if you are listening – your Fitbit app and the Fitbit website have different capabilities. Not everything is equal in both places.

Coding can be come complicated the more advanced you are in the features. So when something new is launched, it may not be available across all interactions for that brand. I know it sucks – for the younger people out there – there is a whole industry around customer experiences, journey map (what needs to happen where) and design (making it easy/natural/seamless).

The battle between E-MAIL & ACCOUNT ID & USER NAME

What’s the difference? Are they the same? How do I know which to use when?

As my mom signs up for Echo apps, she is constantly getting tangled in the web of when to an email and when to use (any numerous) account ids.Sorry mom there is no simple answer.

E-MAIL – for this blog post we are going to assume an email belongs to only one person.

E-mail addresses are unique – like a phone number or physical address there is only one destination per address.
E-mail address are NOT case sensitive (PASSWORDS are CASE sensitive.)
E-mails always have 3 parts; username, domain (followed by an actual dot) and the extension. There are more rules to what can be included in a e-mail address and what the computer will not except. Usually your e-mail host provider will send you an email back to your inbox if your e-mail could not be delivered due to technological error. example using a bad character in your email address like a space.
Some e-mails are anonymous. The person who created the email did not have to prove they were JOHN smith to use the email address johnsmith@domain.com. Nor did they have to prove they were ablueclown@surprise.com.
You could have lots of e-mail addresses and use only one e-mail program to read all your new e-mails.
There is no magic look up find all email addresses’ belonging to the same person. Even if the personalization (front part of the @ symbol) is the exact same. In the same manner, there is no validation or look up to connect or join email with mobile numbers.

ACCOUNT/USER + ID/NAME (or any combination)

An Account ID, is an unique id for a webpage, business, app. You may use the same account/user name across multiple applications or logins. But each business probably doesn’t know that. As companies merged rules around how a customer can access their digital information gets tricky for the customer experience and development teams.
Or account id, may or may not be tied to an email. Usually when creating a new account with a new business, they will ask for contact details, address, email, phone – they would prefer someway to contact you if need be.
If your account id is your email address – they will usually note it on the login screen.
Every website/company creates their own rules for what makes an valid account id. Some allow spaces, some allow numbers. It is all how the site was programmed and there are no set standards for how this should be developed.
Usually account ids are not case sensitive. Off-hand I can’t think of one site that uses a case sensitive account id.
Some businesses will only let you sign up one account to one email. The account id is how you login into their site and the email is how they will contact you.
When you change email addresses, your accounts will need to be updated. Now this is a tricky bit. If a business uses an email account as the login name, if the email address changes, can the individual update their personal details or is the original email locked-in?

When a developer is creating a new system that requires the user to maintain personal and contact details on file, there are multiple facets to consider. Does it require a password? Will it require the user to have an email or phone number to contact them in the future and for what reasonsCan we collect permissions from the user via Terms and Conditions to use cookies and contacts to gather detailed user information?

I’ve come across many website that validate you are you, by sending a text with a code to your phone, to be entered onto the website This provides a double validation/security point for you the user, and provides both your email and phone contact information back to the business.

Think of your EMAIL ADDRESS as physical delivery address for just you for all your incoming e-mails.

Think of you ACCOUNT ID as your unique nickname used by a business.

Not all big companies have it together. I use AT&T in my house; this includes mobile phone, cable, internet and home security. But I have 3 separate accounts with AT&T today. One email address, one physical address, one phone number and 3 account numbers and 3 user names. I have to log into each account site separately to see any billings, account statements, etc. Even with my knowledge of logins and how they work across large systems, I still had no idea what was going on with my accounts, when one was saying ‘everything is fine’ online and the TV keep splashing a ‘time to pay your bill message’. I (thought) I had set up the auto pay (I noticed during the set up conversations that the security system is separated from all the mobile and cable logins) for 2 accounts. But much to my dismay the cable/tv can not be combined with the mobile account, and I have 2 logins for the website to manage 2 accounts both in my name.

NOTE: AT&T and Comcast both assign you an e-mail address within their own domain. example: yourname@att.com. I’m not sure why they do this, it made it complicated on my end, one more e-mail address to manage. And it appears that now that I’m no longer a Comcast customer, I can not access that e-mail account.

ALSO NOTE: The set up of certain apps on Echo has proved to be difficult. Both my mom and myself are using iPad and iPhone with the Amazon Echo (which is integrated with google). So the conversation of email and ids has been a struggle during setup. There are no standards with in the digital world for the user to understand. Only standards for the developers to keep in mind due to back end processes.

Do you manage your own personal data?

We often talk about how the data is used or could be used. We argue about the sensitivity of when data becomes so detailed it becomes ‘stalking’. We hurry to move past the introduction of the ‘terms and conditions’ just to get the app, the game, the connection. We hear a lot about identity hacking and stolen personal information. We talk a lot about keeping your data safe. Your network secured.

So their customer data is your data, data collected about you. Your likes, your behaviors, your preferences, your triggers, your digital footprint. Not only is it used to keep you safe, it is used to predict the future. But what happens when you are ‘done’ with the equipment or vehicle, is your mile by mile driving history in someone else’s hand? I want to talk to you about these things, from our perspective. Not from the perspective of customer data, but from mine and yours – personal information. Who controls it? – you know who controls your finance and money, why not your own personal information.

There are rules and laws that companies must be transparent in their terms and conditions. They have to be clear on how to opt out or into communications. But each channel has different rules and even the largest of companies haven’t figured out how to manage the communications across their business units. Making it necessary for you to manage multiple user ids and passwords. Is a digital wallet easy and safe? I want to have open conversations with you on what information exchange is happening between you and the information about you.

What information is aggregated and what is uniquely tied to you as an individual.

WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE

When you give an email with an online order, what happens to the email information? What are the rules? I think if more individuals know what to expect, and how to turn off ‘unwanted’ emails and exchange or their own contact details, and the companies are forced to oblige then we can really make the system work for us – the individual.

I like to think this is a conversation between my friends and family and myself. I want people to know what options are out there, what to do with personal digital content

Our digital world is running at lightning speed. This change in our ecosystem has us opting in and out, for what? Our digital world gives us wearables, vehicles and smart homes. All the same time it is collecting and measuring inputs and outputs. I want individuals to understand the laws and how these companies are ‘allowed’ to store and use it.

Identity theft

With the use of digital data – we expose ourselves to digital identity theft. And it is not just your financial information. Through a couple of (fairly) easy questions a hacker can access your email. And it not just your email they now have access too, think off how often you have had to retrieve your security password for an account and they sent the link to your email. A password can be just as valuable as a financial account number to a hacker.

HOW MANY TIMES HAS YOUR DIGITAL DATA BEEN EXPOSED?

My corporate credit card number was stolen this week. All is okay, it was a card that only gets used for business expenses and the credit company is issuing me a new number and dealing with the fraudulent charges themselves. Somehow the thief was able to create a new card using my card number. Not total sure how that works, but it happened. That kind of vulnerability got me thinking, time to beef up my own security…

Change your passwords. If you have been using the same passwords for ‘years’ it is time to upgrade. When you are creating your password think bank security – strong and unique.

There are password managers out there. Some store your passwords in a digital safe. Some help you manage your logins across devices.

LEARN ABOUT TWO FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

2. Monitor your accounts online and off line. Be sure to monitor your account statements. Set up text messaging alerts for high risk accounts.

I personally purchase identify theft monitoring systems. I’ve had my house broken into and my personal laptop stolen. Although the computer itself was password protected. I’m sure if you looked hard enough I had one time downloaded a financial statement of two, and my emails accounts were ‘always’ logged-in.’ I get a monthly updated on an activity that uses my identity, such as credit reports.

ON AN ODD NOTE: A friend of mines knows the passwords to her son’s accounts (he is over 21 and graduating from college this spring). I’m guessing he doesn’t know he is being stalked by his own mother. She has access to his Facebook account, both school and personal emails and uses Apple’s Track My iPhone app regularly to know where he is at all times.

It is probably never safe to allow your device to safe your password or auto login. But I have to admit I do it, who has time to re-enter this information every day. If your device is lost/stolen it only takes accessing the device to enter/access private sites.

So take a couple of minutes this week to reconsider how you create and save your password and account information. And then create your password strategy:

Create a couple of different passwords to use.
Use two factor authentication when available.
Update your contact details on old accounts.
Delete old accounts not being used.
Spend some time looking at security applications provided by the products you use today.

Yahoo has a process to create an app password that enables a Second Sign-In Verification. Apple has iCloud Keychain. And there are numerous free apps that provide password management tools.

Now go and create a digitally secure world for yourself.

Whats behind Mobile Opt-In?

Most mobile programs require a ‘double opt-in’.

Here is what it is and why it is there:

In order for someone to start to receive text messaging they must opt in for the communications. This opt in process is different between email on mobile/text messaging. This is due to the cost of text messaging and mobile plans. Remember not all text messaging plans are created equal, there are still mobile phone plans out there that charge per text message. To prevent unnecessary costs to the consumer there is a double opt in rule to ensure the subscriber is aware of what they are signing up for. This also helps prevent spam onto your phone

In order for a company to send you a text messaging or IMs (different than a mobile apps) you must agree to 2 things:

enroll into the mobile program (subscribe)
and validate that the mobile number that was given is in fact your mobile number. Usually the users is required to text ‘Y’ or ‘Yes’ back to the confirmation text – this would be your second opt in.

Mobile communication subscriptions work a little different than email subscriptions. Due to the cost structure when you enroll into a mobile program, you are only enrolling into a single program. Unlike email, when you subscribe to receive emails from retailer – your email is enrolled into all the retailers email programs. *Mobile requires the user to opt into every program individually.

Ideally this mechanism should be sufficient to establish the subscriber’s willingness to participate in the program and possession of the handset/device. The opt-in applies to the specific program and should not be used as a blanket approval to promote other programs, products or services.

When you opt out of the mobile program, the return messaging should reference the specific program the subscriber has opted-out from. No further messages should be sent to the subscriber from this program, including marketing messages for any related or unrelated programs

* email programs – plural, this is what we call in the industry global opt in and local opt out

If it’s free, you are the product. Are you giving it away for free?

I love this TED video. Although it pushes for what the email privacy could look like in the future; it highlights the free point. If you are not buying/paying for the service, you are the product. These free services may not cost you in $$, but there is a value exchange. You get a free service, the provider gets data insight into your interests, and in turn creates/sells targeted advertising based on your data. Innocent – probably. Greedy – definitely.

TED video: Andy Yen: Think your email’s private? Think again

After all email services are still businesses that need to make money to keep the lights on.

The most valuable thing about providing an email service is the analytics data that it has access too. Your email provides (Google, Yahoo, etc) with a vast amount of information about you. Not only do they have the ability to capture your profile information, but your browsing information too. Email has the added benefit of providing information about the people you contact. In other words, gmail learns a lot about non-gmail users by scanning emails sent to & from gmail users. This effectively helps target advertisements to everybody.

Many privacy “agreements’ are yes/no — you’re either in or out — and especially online, it’s not reasonable to expect people to decline them (since use of basic services is often at stake).

If you needed someone else’s thoughts, here is Wikipedia explaining the use of ‘You As A Product’.