Independent user survey places nFluence’s app above Internet giant for transparency and control of volunteered personal information
SEATTLE and LONDON – July 24, 2012 – nFluence Media, a Seattle and London leader in consumer driven preference technology, today announced that its dealBoard smartphone app, which uses predictive technologies based on user-volunteered information, has come out on top in a survey conducted by Internet privacy analysts Ctrl-Shift. The survey focused on user perceptions of how brands and services use and disclose VPI – Volunteered Personal Information – as part of the user experience.
nFluence’s dealBoard, an adaptive ‘daily deals’ app that uses a novel ‘brandsorting’ technology to infer each users’ demographic position and consumer interests without requiring the user to disclose any specific personal information, lead the field in terms of user trust and the perception of transparency in terms of how volunteered information would be used. dealBoard beat Internet giants such as Amazon, Facebook and Google in these categories, as well as other user profiling services such as Bluekai, VisualDNA and Hunch.
The key results of the study were as follows:
- Consumers are excited by the idea of getting rid of the noise and removing irrelevant marketing messages.
- Consumers are realistic about their privacy and will reveal information if control is fun and not labor intensive.
- Immediate gratification is key; consumers will enjoy volunteering information through gamified mechanics and / or rewards for their efforts.
- The method of inferring consumers’ interests based on their digital history is outdated; marketers can be forward-looking using consumer input.
dealBoard’s status as a leader in user perception comes from its innovative approach to inferring user interests and demographic status from how they organise brands by ‘swoting’ them – literally moving on-screen icons of major brands up and down from a centerline to express interests and personal affiliations. From this opening mini-game, deals can be recommended to users on an individual basis with high levels of relevancy.
“This is precisely the finding we were hoping to get,” said Henry Lawson, nFluence CEO. “Transparency and user trust is paramount for dealBoard and other technologies we’re spinning out of the core ‘swoting’ inference engine, so to come top in Ctrl-Shift’s report, ahead of some major brands and profiling competitors, is a fantastic result for us.”
To view the entire Ctrl-Shift report, view or download the PDF here: http://ctrl-shift.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Dont-Target-Me-Ask-Me-Report.pdf
dealBoard is available now on the iTunes App Store for free: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dealboard/id487976140?ls=1&mt=8
Assets
About nFluence Media
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington and London, England, nFluence Media is a marketing technology startup that is focused on making marketing work better from a consumer’s point of view. Their patent-pending brand sorter technology allows consumers to create anonymous interest graphs, or “advertars,” for more relevant targeting of deals, offers, ads and messages. Mobile carriers, broadcasters, retailers and media owners can radically enhance the responses to their assets with massively reduced intrusion on uninterested consumers. Founded by Henry Lawson, CEO and Brian Roundtree, CTO, in 2010, nFluence Media puts power back into consumers’ hands when it comes to controlling their digital presence. nFluence Media is venture-backed and launched their first mobile app, dealBoard, in March 2012. Henry Lawson previously spent 20 years running marketing technology companies including Interep and Donovan Data Systems, now MediaOcean. Brian Roundtree is a successful serial entrepreneur, having previously founded SNAPin Software, which sold to Nuance Communications for $224M in 2008. Together, they are focused on delivering messages to those who are interested, when they want it. For more information, visit www.nfluence.com
Media Contact
Sam Dalsimer, TriplePoint for dealBoard
sam@triplepointpr.com
(212) 730-9744
Alyx Evans 
Kaitlyn Red Wing