Database Marketing: Mining for Gold

The secret, of course, is to avoid coming off like Big Brother. Every Amazon.com customer is familiar with the marketer’s practice of suggesting titles that may correspond to customer preferences with its “customers who bought this book also bought these books …” suggestions. Amazon matches individual consumers’ behavior with other customers to provide the best service. “It’s up to the marketer to present those kinds of things in such a way that won’t threaten consumers,” Barrett says.