Love Them Books!

It's 2010, but client research we recently completed revealed some users still prefer print.
Had we simply discovered the last of the Luddites? It doesn't seem that way. In fact, one of the markets in which we conducted research depends very heavily on online systems to do business. We have said many times that different markets get online religion at very different rates. Even so, to find so many enthusiastic fans of print at this late date was surprising.
Here are some of the reasons we heard about why print still retains its appeal:

The Wall of History - There is apparently a sizable population out there who still collect directories. Over the years, they purchased every edition published and have amassed a wall or shelf of them. This group maintains that it's important to have a "history of the industry" as expressed through print products, and don't want the print version to end. It sounds pretty loopy on the surface, but in fact very few data publishers have addressed the issue of archival information, and in fact their online version isn't satisfactory to those who wish to look back for various reasons.

The Traveling Salesman - It's a classic stereotype but there's truth here as well. When a directory is used for prospecting purposes, we regularly hear that salespeople who live on the road like print because they can throw the directory in a briefcase or in a backseat. We may all live on our iPhones, but it's dangerous to assume everyone else does as well. Related to this, we often hear mobile access being dismissed by users - salespeople in particular - because "you can't really browse." Being able to page through a directory to pick your prospects still means a lot to this group.

The Swiss Army Knife - Forget the purpose for which print directories were designed, there are a surprising number of people who turn them into virtual filing cabinets, appending Post-It notes, marginal notations, memory jogs, names of new personnel and more to the pages. We find this particularly pronounced where the print product has a comb binding or otherwise lies fairly flat on the desk. Sure, many online databases allow users to add private notes, but as print users correctly point out, they tend to be an afterthought: often not convenient, not highly visible, not searchable and not customizable. And the nagging thought of losing it all should the user fail to renew a subscription haunts many of these folks.

The Speed Racer - Don't ever contradict a print directory user who says print is faster to use than online. Right or wrong, they believe it, and passionately. And sometimes they are right. Print directories that get used in large part for quick contact information can in fact be faster and easier to use than elaborate online databases that sport lots of bells and whistles and incredible power, but whose designers forgot that fast contact information look-up was important to the user base.

There's more of course, but these are some common examples. More importantly, they point up that while online is better, online isn't automatically better.

Taking the LEad

An interesting article in Search Engine Land reported that Google is offering a sales lead form as an option to its AdWords advertisers. A user will be able to click a special link at the bottom of an AdWords advertisement, and a pop-up form will ask for the user's name, phone and some specifics about what they are looking to buy. After submitting the form, the user is promised a call back from the advertiser.

You can see a screen capture of the form here. It's worth a look.

Implications? At first I thought this was another of what I have come to call the Google Daily Disrupter™, a new product or feature from Google that knocks still another industry on its ear. But perhaps not. Consider the following:

1. This lead gen form comes awfully early in the selling process. Can you really generate this high level of interest from a six word advertisement?

2. Success in lead gen depends on the user getting a quick return call from the advertiser. This can happen, but it's not easy to guarantee, so it is questionable how well this will scale, especially given Google's well-known aversion to talking to either its advertisers or users.

3. As the article notes, the call-back process is a bit convoluted, with Google not releasing the prospect's phone number to the advertiser. I can see where this might appeal to the user, but I don't see any great appeal to the advertiser. Further, there is an implicit "we'll protect you from our untrustworthy advertisers" message here.

4. Google will apparently let its all-powerful algorithms, not you the paying advertiser, determine exactly what will display on your lead gen form.

So is Google's new lead gen feature fatally flawed? I am not sure I would go that far. It's a nicely designed form, and the offering is sure to evolve. What may be more important is that over time an offering like this will help to accustom more users to take advantage of sales inquiry forms, which should be good news for B2B buying guide publishers. Lead gen is a Godsend to B2B data publishers, because not only can they charge stiff premiums for every lead delivered, they can also document the power and efficacy of their products to their advertisers, and that's the essential foundation of every successful buying guide.

News Notes

DATA.GOV GETS A BOOST - In a directive from the Office of Management and Budget, all federal agencies have been ordered to place at least three high-value and not previously available datasets online within the next 45 days, and register them at DATA.GOV. This has the potential to start changing the landscape on public data availability, and it's just the beginning. Read the entire directive here.

GOOGLE TAKES STOCK - Word has it that Google Product Search (formerly Froogle) will soon start offering retail store inventory information, both in online and mobile formats. Find the vendor, find the nearest location, see if the product is in stock - this is powerful stuff. Intriguingly, Google is playing catch-up in the retail inventory space, as a number of fierce competitors roll out similar offerings. And where B2C leads, B2B will surely follow.

THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW - A blogger has unearthed the fascinating fact that the U.S. Department of Justice spends well over $4 million buying public domain court decisions from the federal court system each year, using a creaky online site called PACER. Apparently the federal courts rake in over $50 million annually selling public documents to the public (and those other pesky co-equal branches of government). Don't like it? Tell it to the judge. Of course, being the federal government, there's even more to this story. Since PACER doesn't have comprehensive case coverage, the U.S. Department of Justice also pays legal publishing giant Thomson-West $5 million a year to get access to the rest of those cases.

Steal Smart!

I've always considered the identity theft protection business to be a bit tawdry. After all, the main players in this area, the big credit bureaus, created the problem in the first place by relentlessly pushing the notion that somehow we are all better off with access to instant credit. This has created a state of affairs where an unscrupulous person, with just a few bits of personal information about you, can become you, at least to the extent of tapping your good name for credit purposes, leaving a trail of wreckage that can destroy your credit and seriously disrupt your life. One would think that credit cards would serve ably to deal with impulse purchases; only in America it seems can credit itself become the impulse purchase.

So how have the credit bureaus dealt with this issue of identity theft, which some reports suggest impacts nearly 10 million Americans each year? Rather than addressing the root cause, they've created lucrative paid services that let consumers monitor their credit files for suspicious activity. Yes, not only has the problem been handed off to consumers to deal with, consumers get to pay for the privilege!

Also, to date, there hasn't been much room for commercial data publishers in this market. After all, the dissemination of credit data is regulated, and virtually all of it is the proprietary content of the big three credit bureaus. But that's not enough to stop a determined data entrepreneur, and what's emerged in this case is a breathtakingly ingenious new product.

A company called Lucid Intelligence, working with another firm called TrustedID, have created a website called StolenIDSearch.com. It's a searchable database containing stolen personal information. Yes, the owners of the website visit hacker sites and have compiled a database of stolen personal information being offered for sale online. Now, you can easily check to see if your personal information may have been purloined. Obviously, if information about you is being offered for sale to criminals and others, you've been compromised and need to take defensive action. The database, by the way, contains stolen information on over 42 million people, 95% of whom are Americans.

This venture may sound a little dodgy, but it's not. It's run by former law enforcement officers who work closely with the police and other investigative agencies and simply want to provide individuals with a proactive read on the safety of their personal information.

The business model is simple: a basic search of the database is free. Full details on your stolen information can be had for a small fee. If you determine you have a problem, TrustedID, the identity protection partner in the service, is right there to offer paid support.

You have to admit it: this one is fiendishly clever, beating the bad guys at their own game.

Labels: lucid intelligence, stolenidsearch.com, trustedid

DC09 Keywords

A number of keywords came up repeatedly during the course of last week's Data Content09 conference, and they do a good job of identifying what's going on in the booming business of database content. Herewith, in no particular order, are those words:

Embedment. Getting embedded in your customer's workflow has long been a mantra of InfoCommerce Group, and it is now a well understood concept to most data publishers. One of its strongest benefits was exhibited at DC09: an upbeat audience that has weathered this economic downturn remarkably well, with lots of confidence and new ideas coming to market. When you are truly embedded in the business of your customers, you are embedded in their budgets as well, providing a remarkably stable and durable stream of revenues - in good times and bad.

Aggregation. Surprisingly, aggregation is hot again. That's no small statement given that content aggregators seem to be in natural competition with the all-powerful search engines. But this new view of aggregation focuses on well-organized, well-compiled and extremely deep sets of information on a specialized subject. Mix in some high-value, proprietary datasets and you've got something of high value.

Good Enough. As in, "good enough is good enough." We've wrestled with this proposition for the last several years at the conference. Sentiment seems to be turning in favor of this concept again. Yet it remains at odds with the frequent discussions of data quality and accuracy. The reality of both this business and its customers is that perfection is tough. It's tough because we are trying to pin down a moving target. It's also tough because while our customers welcome perfection, they generally won't pay for the cost of producing it.

Curation. The art and science of selecting what you want your audience to see is back with a vengeance, and it's closely related to what's going on in aggregation. The filtering of content is desirable and valuable. Contrast that with trying to simply deliver the most stuff. Information overload is creating a lucrative role for those who can intelligently select and summarize.

Platforms. There was a lot of discussion at DC09 of the power of platforms. At the very least, participate in one, such as SalesForce.com. At the most, develop your own. Allowing others to build applications based on your content, yields enormous benefits in terms of leveraging your own development capabilities (you can't build everything everybody wants, at least not quickly). Leveraged development can in turn spur viral growth.

Humans. It was reassuring to hear regular references to the continuing value of humans in the data compilation and management process. Computers have come a long way in their ability to mix, match, merge and harvest, but speaker after speaker said really good data can't be untouched by human hands.

There are other keywords that came out of DC09, but, surprisingly, one keyword was barely heard at all:

Google. While anything but irrelevant, Google has ceased to be an existential threat to the industry. Data publishers have largely made their peace with Google, and it doesn't dominate their thoughts the way it once did. Google is a tool that can be profitably leveraged, and Google is no longer the enemy. This is likely due in no small part to Google maturing as a business enterprise, and its recent focus on opportunities far less threatening to those of us in the data business.