Category Archives: Consumer Metrics

How to value personal data?

The Financial Times’ recent exercise to help individuals value their data has caused something of a stir amongst those interested in personal data. It’s unfortunate that, in a world where data is increasingly recognised as a critically important raw material,...

Cheap Energy Club – pointer to the future?

To get a glimpse of the future of consumer empowering services take a look at MoneySavingExpert’s new initiative the Cheap Energy Club – a price comparison service that not only compares prices but understands the behaviours and attitudes that stop...

Reinventing advertising

This week’s issue of Marketing Magazine carries a cover story written by me called ‘Beyond Advertising: Why Consumer Services Is Trumping Traditional Marketing’. The key passage in the article goes like this: “The simplest and most important driver of change...

Competing for customer loyalty

Loyal customers are the bedrock of business and the benefits of loyalty are well understood. But what does customer loyalty actually mean in today’s changing environment, what are the drivers and factors that determine loyalty, and what are the opportunities...

Don’t target me, ask me

We’ve been pondering some mega-trends on this site for some while. 1. The rise in the volumes of data available (so called Big Data). 2. The lack of efficiency in the advertising model. 3. How technology is now literally in the hands...

Identity assurance – the control shifts

Last week we published our report on the key market of identity assurance. We estimate that it is worth more than £280m in 2011 and will grow to £360m in 2014. One of the key drivers of this growth is...

The pricing shift

Interesting! According to an article in the latest edition of Harvard Business Review most companies’ approach to pricing is ‘antagonistic’ to customers. Seeing pricing purely in terms of how to maximise revenues from each transaction, companies routinely put their customers’...

A New Business Model for the Internet

Microsoft’s decision to set ‘do not track’ as the default option is another game changer in the fast moving world of the control shift. It does two things. First, it forces the other browser providers to respond. What will Mozilla...

PDS market worth £1bn

· New tools and services help consumers control their privacy and leverage personal data · Significant commercial opportunity undetected by most businesses · Global scramble for market leadership under way A vibrant new market with a possible UK value of...

5 hot topics at SXSW

If you saw a tweet announcing the five hot topics being discussed at the brand-meets-tech-fest that is SXSW interactive, I’m sure that you’d click on the link. Can anyone more technology literate than those in the Ctrl-Shift team explain why...

February newsletter: Ideas for growth and competitive edge

In this issue we highlight our forthcoming reports each of which delivers fresh insight into emerging markets. Also covered are some suggestions drawn from our recent research about what constitutes best practice in building positive, two-way data sharing customer relationships....

Multi-channel: multi-purpose?

First came ‘pure play’ internet companies like Amazon and eBuy, then ‘bricks and clicks’ came along. Today, in retailing especially, online is about the only bright spot and for most customer facing companies ‘multi-channel’, face to face, phone, online, mobile,...

Retailers’ privacy policies ‘in urgent need of an overhaul’

Phew! It has taken us six months but we got there in the end. Today (27 January), in the lead up to Data Protection Day (28th January) we’ve published new research assessing the privacy policies of the UK’s top 100...

Lean and consumer empowerment

A video of a talk I gave recently to a conference of lean practitioners has just gone up on YouTube. In it I discuss two themes. First I argue that, as individuals emerge as managers of their own data and...

Spring 2012 research schedule

We’re now planning our next research reports and we’d like your input. We’re already committed to two reports (see below) and would like to choose two more from the options list. Feedback very welcome. Privacy comparisons. Which of the top...

Richard Anson to speak at midata event

The countdown to Ctrl-Shift’s midata event, ‘to hoard or to share: midata and the personal data sharing revolution’, which takes place a week tomorrow, has started. We’re delighted that Richard Anson, Founder and CEO of Reevoo, will be taking the...

What a better decision looks like: 2

In my last post on the personal decision-making revolution (sorry for the gap!) I talked about one aspect of what ‘a better decision’ looks like. A better decision leads you to a better outcome. (You might say, Well Duh! except...

Anatomy of a decision

A chat with my Ctrl-Shift colleague Paul about his weekend illustrates much of what I’ve been saying about the market for decisions. His story was pretty familiar: great weekend out in the country, awful traffic on the way...

Autumn 2011 research programme

We’re now planning our Autumn research programme and are looking for input on the top three projects and some suggestions for what we should cover in early 2012. October – PIMS 2 – the personal information management market This report...

The market that changes markets

It really is textbook stuff: when the price of something goes down, effective demand for it goes up. The ‘price’ of decision-making is now plummeting, and demand for decision-support services is soaring. There are countless historical precedents. For example: Within...

Tracking the control shift – the consumer view

We are setting out to track the ‘control shift’ through a tracking survey that will, over time, provide evidence of which changes are unnfolding, where, at what pace, with what impacts and implications. Our initial research is now available and...