Wanna see a picture of money burning?
Sure you do – it’s a little chilly out there.
Take a look at this screen shot (left) from the phone of a kindly small money donor. It’s the list of solicitations she received in the days leading to the election.
See the “Spam & blocked” at the top. She didn’t see these texts until she was asked about them – in late November. And when she counted up texts from the last week of the campaign – it was close to 50 separate messages.
Fifty. That’s seven a day.
Here’s another little fire. This is a phone call. See the “Political Call” (right).
That went to voice mail.
Both of these users ignored the political messages that were intended to target them because of their prior interest and support for candidates and causes.
But it didn’t work. And it’s REALLY not going to work next year.
Why? AI. Robots. Whatever you want to call them, it’s technology that allows people to protect themselves from unwanted interruptions.
We are at the beginning of a new environment for targeting and outreach. The old standards – previous donations, demographics, behavioral matching – aren’t going to apply.
Because users can protect themselves. And if you got more than 40 text messages asking you for money you might think that some protections are necessary.
Today’s techniques are pretty kludgy (nerd talk for awkward). But they’re going to get better. And fast. Because every consumer-facing tech company – Google, Microsoft, Apple – is offering some sort of AI robot assistance for mail, writing, and other chores.
So all you folks out there sitting and contemplating the gift of targeting that is AI might want to think again. Because whatever you can think of, chances are it can be blocked, diverted or deleted.
It’s just a matter of time before you can say “Siri, delete all messages, phone calls and texts from candidates asking for money.”
And he will.
