Juno Online Services, Inc., is looking
to leverage its subscriber base into profit, forming a strategic alliance
Monday with Greenfield Online,
Inc., to harvest subscriber information on customer habits and trends.
With 3.38 million subscribers, Juno is the third largest
Internet service provider in the U.S. That’s a large font of
information for companies looking for specific demographic information.
Leelila Strogov, Juno’s senior vice president for business development,
said the deal combines Juno’s large client base with Greenfield’s online
focus groups.
“Partnering with Greenfield Online will provide Juno and both companies’
customers with valuable business intelligence,” Strogov said. “We are
looking forward to working together with Greenfield to survey our audience
and conduct online focus groups and brainstorming session to take the pulse
of our users on a wide variety of topics.”
Greenfield Online officials are quick to differentiate its services from
other marketing research sites like Harris Interactive, which has
been in the news a lately because of lawsuits filed against the country’s
top ISPs, including America Online, Inc.,
and Microsoft Corp.
According to Harris, the ISPs had submitted the company to the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS),
a non-profit organization that lists the names of known spammers.
Both AOL and MSN
recently added Harris
back to its subscriber access, and Harris subsequently dropped its lawsuit.
Jean Tom, Greenfield Online public relations manager, members can click on
a link at Juno’s home page to participate in the latest surveys.
Customers are then asked if they are sure they want to become a member of
Greenfield’s survey panel. The only drawback is the customer’s automatic
addition to subsequent survey panels, but Tom said it was easy to
unsubscribe from the panel after participating.
“Greenfield is an expert at building online panels,” Tom said, “using the
double opt-in method for all subscribers. We ensure that the aggregate
information is only used by Juno for its own marketing purposes.
Juno hasn’t collected information on its users since 1997, when the ISP
worked with MarketFacts, Inc.,
and 24/7, according to Becky
Yeamans, Juno spokesperson. And just because it is now gathering
information is no reason for subscribers to be alarmed.
“Our customers privacy is our highest concern,” Yeamans said. “We don’t
release specific information about a person and their spending habits, and
we never will. All the information we collect is used to track demographic
habits, and nothing more.”
