EQUTE — Surprise! Coupons work for e-mail marketing.

OK, maybe it’s not a big surprise, but new research from Experian shows just how much better e-mails featuring a coupon work.

The research showed that e-mails with in-store and online coupons were opened by 25 percent and 24 percent of recipients. Non-coupon in-store and online e-mails comparatively came in at 17 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

The research also showed that:

“For marketers, the data behind our coupon study further validates how email coupons can and should be used to engage customers and drive traffic and sales to other channels,” said Matt Seeley, president of Experian Marketing Services’ Platforms division.

Marketers should try to focus on coupons, especially in this not-so-hot economy with the holiday shopping season upon us.

Tweaking those coupons is key too; 10 percent off is nice, but try leveraging poor performing goods with high selling products. Maybe buy one “New Moon” coffee mug and get a zebra coffee mug half off. These coupons could be a great way to clear out the extra junk in preparation for next year.

EQUTE — A new study from researchers at Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania shows that Americans have quite the distaste for being tracked by advertisers. The research won’t stop tailored advertising, likely nothing will, but it’s interesting to see how those being targeted feel about it.

The study [PDF] says that the more people know and the further they’re tracked, the worse they feel about it.

Contrary to what many marketers claim, most adult Americans (66%) do not want marketers to tailor advertisements to their interests. Moreover, when Americans are informed of three common ways that marketers gather data about people in order to tailor ads, even higher percentages — between 73% and 86% — say they would not want such advertising.

The researchers said their survey also showed that buyers seem to want unbiased information to look through, i.e. news, deals. They also

The survey uncovered other attitudes by Americans toward tailored content and the collection of information about them.

For example:

Even when they are told that the act of following them on websites will take place anonymously, Americans’ aversion to it remains: 68% “definitely” would not allow it, and 19% would “probably” not allow it.

A majority of Americans also does not want discounts or news fashioned specifically for them, though the percentages are smaller than the proportion rejecting ads.

69% of American adults feel there should be a law that gives people the right to know everything that a website knows about them.

92% agree there should be a law that requires “websites and advertising companies to delete all stored information about an individual, if requested to do so.”

63% believe advertisers should be required by law to immediately delete information about their internet activity.

Those last few statistics are especially noteworthy and should be telling to advertisers. Later in the paper, the researchers postulate that Americans are more worried about being “at a monetary or social disadvantage: some people might get more useful or interesting tailored content than others depending on the conclusions marketers draw about them.”

This is especially true in the era that has credit card companies cutting rates for Walmart shoppers because they fit into a stereotype that often misses payments or piles up debt.

The researchers also bring up the very valid point that consumers divide their internet time between shopping, work, play and education. Those advertising targets “may worry that tracking across those contexts may subject them to embarrassment (e.g. while using the computer in the work context, ads may be displayed that are relevant to play).” This is especially true if “play” involves illicit or taboo topics.

This is all interesting to note, but targeted advertising is still the ideal way to reach consumers without wasting a lot of advertising space and money. But these numbers should be a wake-up call to advertisers with obtuse targeted advertisements. They will have to be more subtle about how they advertise, those countless “find a date” ads on Facebook must be getting clicks from someone, but one wonders how much more they could do if they were crafted more subtly. Maybe advertisers will take note and move away from the obvious “you’re single, you like boobs” advertising.

EQUTE — An adviser to the European Union’s top court says Google does not infringe on trade marks by selling trademarked keywords.

Several brands have been in a legal battle with the search and advertising giant because their official ads were forced to compete with any rabble with a higher bid than them.

Louis Vuitton, for example, was fighting to boot manufactures of knockoff designer goods using their brand name out of search advertising.

“Advocate General Poiares Maduro considers that Google has not infringed trade mark rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to registered trademarks,” the European Court of Justice said in a statement.

Though the court has yet to make the ruling, the court’s decisions typically fall in line with their court advisers.

Google’s lawyers said the likely ruling came because consumers are smart enough to know the difference between real and fake ads.

“We believe that selecting a keyword to trigger the display of an ad does not amount to trademark infringement, and that consumers benefit from seeing more relevant information,” said Google lawyer Harjinder Obhi wrote in a statement. “Consumers are smart and are not confused when they see a variety of ads displayed in response to their search queries.”

The decision also hinges on the fact that Google doesn’t directly make money from the trademarked name.

Google argued that they make money by Internet users clicking on the keyword, and the decision to click or not belongs to the user.

The decision could end a seven-year fight — Google is appealing a unfavorable decision brought against it by a French court in 2006.

Google’s trademark policy varies across the world. In some countries, mainly in Europe, Google blocks names from being chosen as keywords once it’s received proof that they are protected trademarks — not so in the U.S.

The decision could mean that blocking trademarked keywords could soon end around the world.

EQUTE — The experiment that sought to connect Facebook user’s daily activities directly to marketing failed in spectacular fashion — forcing the social network to cough up $9.5 million to promote Internet privacy.

When Facebook first unveiled Beacon, it looked like a harmless way to turn friends into “trusted referrals” — linking them to their purchases, reviews, etc. Almost immediately, there was a slew of privacy complaints with some users even complaining that the service allowed people to see their gifts in the friend feed long before the holidays.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly apologized for it, and now the service is offline.

A 2008 lawsuit on behalf of 19 users against Facebook, as well as Blockbuster Inc., Fandango, Overstock.com Inc. and other companies that used Beacon, led to the settlement. The suit claimed the defendants disclosed users’ personal information for advertising purposes, without their consent.

But the expensive experiment was not without merit, according to Facebook.

“We learned a great deal from the Beacon experience,” Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in a statement. “For one, it was underscored how critical it is to provide extensive user control over how information is shared. We also learned how to effectively communicate changes that we make to the user experience.”

Out of the experience grew Facebook Connect, which lets Facebook users access other sites using their Facebook log-ins and share with Facebook information on activities elsewhere.

Unlike Beacon, however, Facebook Connect gives users, rather than Facebook and advertisers, control over the information they share.

EQUTE — Well it may sound like a sad story about an unpopular rich kid, businesses are actually buying friends on Facebook.

Australian company uSocial is selling several different packages for Facebook. You can pick up 1,000 buddies for a little under $200 and up to 10,000 for about 1,170. There is some skepticism about their tactics — and Facebook isn’t happy.

“All we do is send them a welcome message or friend request from the client. If they decide to go ahead and add that person as a friend or a fan then they will; if not, then they won’t,” Leon Hill, uSocial CEO said.

While his tactics might be questionable, Hill is right about Facebook.

“Facebook is an extremely effective marketing tool,” said Hill. “The simple fact is that with a large following on Facebook, you have an instant and targeted group of people you can contact and promote whatever it is you want to promote.”

And he says he’s right there to save your workday from Facebook.

“The only problem is that it can be extremely difficult to achieve such a following, which is where we come in,” said Hill.

It’s an interesting idea, and it might work at some level, but the key to Facebook (and any social network) marketing is building repair with customers. Those friends you buy for a couple hundred dollars don’t care what they are clicking on, and in a few days they will notice you in their friend feed and say farewell.

It’s a long road, but you’re probably spending a good chunk of the day on Facebook anyway, may as well spend it helping your company build its brand.

EQUTE — ValueClick is in some hot water over its allegedly shady business practices.

According to a class action lawsuit put forth by investors, ValueClick knowingly hid “the willful and ongoing violations of federal law governing the conduct of the advertising and promotion business that lie at the heart of ValueClick’s business operation.”

The lawsuit comes on top of Oprah and Dr. Oz’ lawsuit against the slew of acai berry advertisements featuring their likenesses and is another blow to the market of affiliate marketing.

ValueClick allegedly violated the CAN-SPAM law and the FTC act by pushing pop-up ads, “free” gift offers and gleaning private information from unsuspecting consumers.

The company also, allegedly, hid all the shady practices from investors despite the fact that they knew they were being or would likely be investigated soon.

ValueClick has offered up a $10 million settlement in response to the lawsuit.

The affiliate marketing industry won’t see a huge upheaval or likely even any immediate results. But this type of bad business does make the industry look unprofessional and keep advertisers — and their money — out of what can be an incredibly valuable and legitimate business.

Advertising networks are at the front lines of these types of shady offers — and if they don’t see what is going on, they are not paying attention.

Big name advertisers and their money will flow toward the professional networks that keep free diet pills and info-mining contest offers out of their business model.

EQUTE — Judging when your key search terms will come up just got a lot easier with Google Insights.

Google has gotten into the prognostication business with its new Trends tool. They have a quite exhaustive research paper on the topic for anyone who really likes math and graphs. But it boils down to Google using past results and search patterns to determine what people will be searching for in the coming months and years.

Marketers can use the tool as a good way to see what kind of keywords and ads they want to run in the future. For example, pretend we have a Minnesota gardening company staffed with gardeners and stocked with all the gardening tools for a hobbyist.

Google Insights Graph

With Google Insight, it’s easy to see that gardening searches skyrockets in April — one doesn’t even need Google to tell them people are interested in gardening in the spring, but what Insights does well is tell us how the searches have changed. Sure gardening searches will jump in April, but Insights can give us insight into what marketers should be targeting with their articles, keywords and ads.

Google Insights Graph

For instance, this graph shows the search results for gardener. While it’s a subset of gardening and a key part of that gardening business, it seems the grim economy has more people doing their gardening on their own. But insight also gives nice related searches below, vegetable gardening, for example, is up 110 percent from the same time last year and flower gardening has dropped somewhat.

Google Insights Graph

This is where Insight needs some real knowledge to back it up since it’s formula doesn’t factor in other societal issues such as the bad economy. Perhaps Google is predicting the economy will bounce back in 2010 and people will give up on their victory gardens. That’s unlikely, but it still shows when growing veggies will be a popular thing to search for.

All this can really help bring customers to the store or to the Web site efficiently. Marketers can tone down their gardening adds in the winter and get their SEO friendly articles ready for next season. Especially in a down economy, it’s crucial to get some baring on where search will be going. Businesses can tailor their entire business plan to fall in line with how people will soon behave.

For instance, the gardening company could put out articles offering vegetable gardening tips instead of flower gardening tips and put off hiring new gardeners or serve ads that offer the cheapest gardening.

Maybe the gardening shop can serve ads offering a class taught by those gardeners with nothing to do. A “grow your own veggies class” at the store could burn up the local search ads and bring people to the store.

While it’s not a be-all-end all forecasting tool, Google Insight does give a good visual representation of how search volumes will stack up in the future, giving physical stores and online advertisers another piece of their game plan.

As smart phones become smarter and smarter and the internet becomes more available from anywhere, the line between Google’s domain and cell phones is blurring.

Though it remains to be seen what exactly this means for either telephones or the internet, there are near endless possibilities for the future of both mediums.

With 3G already a common feature in cell phones, the internet is always sitting in our pockets, ready for a quick Google search or e-mail. And now with Google Voice, telephone service is at our fingertips in front of a computer. Users can send SMS messages as easily as they send e-mail and make calls without picking up the phone. Google Voice has also effectively turned voicemail into e-mail, allowing users to listen and even read their messages right in their inbox.

The ability for Google Voice users to choose their own numbers in most any area code also does away with the opulence of area codes such as New York’s 212 or Los Angeles’ 818, allowing any John Doe from Kansas to take a swanky number.

But what does this really mean, will it radically change the way people do things, or is it just the pace of progress?

Only time will tell, but it could mean drastic changes to how people do things online and on their phones.

Social networking, for example, has already reached cell phone users with Twitter, but as convergence continues getting a “poke” on Facebook could have cell phones vibrating. Say someone is at a party, hypothetically they could bring up Facebook or MySpace and see who is at the party with phone-based GPS or triangulation (or even Bluetooth) and break the ice with the cute girl or guy across the room.

Social networking could turn from a nightly routine to a constant connection.

Marketing and commerce could change radically as well. Window shoppers could soon search that fancy camera in the window comparison shop and buy right outside.

Mobile marketing will only get more complicated and more targeted. Say that window shopper goes to search for that camera on their smartphone and sees a coupon advertisement for the store or a competitor across the street. The convergence could mean turning online shoppers into brick and mortar traffic. It’s just a matter of marketers finding their way into the cell phone user’s pocket.

Branding could also change quite a bit with the convergence. Already, Google Voice users are inserting their brand into their telephone numbers — (347) 6-EQUTE-9 — for an example close to home. No longer do businesses need to invest in a 1-800 number.

Only time will tell what the confluence of the internet and phones will mean, and Verizon is set to turn the tide with the much talked about 700 MHz band or “C Block.” We may soon see mobile media and advertising turned on its head.