Jim Sterne writes that marketers can avoid a lot of problems by enticing consumers to turn over data voluntarily in incremental steps:
Simply put, it is up to you to convince people to hand over the keys to their personal data set. No one expects you to convince everybody to hand over all of their data. At least, not all at once. It would be foolish to even try.
Instead, ask them to a provide little at a time…just like in real life:
If you will allow us to serve you a tracking cookie, you can create an anonymous profile where you can pin pictures onto your “boards” and then you can share with friends.
Cool.
If you set some preferences, we can customize the experience for you.
Neat.
If you give us your email address, we will send you discount coupons.
Nice.
Read more on ClickZ.