Marketers are split down the middle on whether tracking customers online without their permission is ethical.  According to our most recent survey, 41% of marketers found the practice acceptable while 40% found the practice to be unacceptable.  19% of respondents either did not comment or were unsure about the ethics of the practice.  The survey question did not cover the type of permission that's acceptable for the practice of tracking so one can assume that not all of marketers who indicated the practice as unacceptable require explicit permission.

Source: Determining Perceptions of Marketing Permission Impact Marketing Success

Some marketers at big and small companies have something in common - they both care less about permission marketing than their counterparts at mid-sized and growth companies. Our analysis of the psychology is that some marketers at big companies feel their brand gives them carte blanche to market without permission and some marketers at small companies just don't have as much to lose.  Marketers at mid-sized and growth companies are sometimes paranoid about best practices and therefore strive harder to perform.

Contrary to popular belief, consumers 55 and older feel 18% less strongly than other demographics about companies sharing their personal information for marketing purposes.  Consumers 18 to 24 felt most strongly that companies NOT share their personal information for marketing purposes.  It seems that grandma and grandpa have less to hide from marketers.

Source:  Determining Perceptions of Marketing Permission Impact Marketing Success

Consumers continue to get tired of junkmail however the U.S. mail is rated the lowest channel in its elasticity to permission.  63% of consumers feel very strongly or somewhat strongly that they give their permission before they can be marketed to via the U.S. Postal Service.  18% say no permission is needed.

B2C companies felt 22% less strongly than their B2B counterparts that product information requests constitutes marketing permission.  A deeper analysis reveals that B2C companies have a better understanding of implied permission and rely on it less than B2B companies.   Are you seeing a greater increase of unsolicited email at work?  If so, this is one of the reasons why.

Source:  Determining Perceptions of Marketing Permission Impact Marketing Success