Michael Learmonth wrote a brilliant post on Advertising Age about “the pants that stalked me on the Web”. Just as you guess from the title, an ad for the pants followed him around the Web like a stalker. Judging from the comments accompanying the article, the pants had plenty of company stalking people on the Web.

The culprit is  ”re-targeting” technology, in this case offered by Criteo. The marketing concept is to “Re-engage with lost prospects via personalised banners across the Internet.”

The theory goes like this: a person has indicated interest by coming to your site, so the likelihood of converting them to a purchase is higher than someone that hasn’t visited your site.  And there are, of course, studies to back that up.

But I have to wonder: if someone hasn’t engaged in a purchase, what if it is because they didn’t want to purchase? And  following them around will not make them happy, but more than a little irritated.  Not to mention creeped out.

Just as studies show higher conversion rates, legislation shows people do not like being hounded in their personal space. Do not call lists and opt-out lists for mail come to mind.

It gets back to what we’ve always said: “Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.”

Treat your customer with respect. Treat them as a human being – not an analytic point. The golden rule – treat others as you would like to be treated – applies to effective marketing, too.

Later on, I leveraged technology as a competitive advantage. Even with a legal disclaimer as the landing page (I kid you not) we managed to sell a roof within 24 hours of launching a new Web site in 1997!

Today, I am all over social media, online video and slide shows, and effective Web presence for my clients.

So, when I found this test to see if I really am a geek, I couldn’t resist! My score: Total Geek. Not bad. Enough to get this official badge.

What kind of geek are you?