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One of the biggest ironies of the web today is that this wonderfully modern entity has a customer base significantly split between the knowledgeable tech buyers and regular folks who see the web as another means of buying goods and services. There are those that understand that credit card fraud on the Net has the same occurrence level as it does in physical transactions, and those that think when they put those 16 numbers on the web they go right to fraud.com. A marketing program that creates brand preference by protecting sensitive customer information is a home run for almost any e-tailer.

I just love alliteration and irony.

My favorite country song is "Your Lyin', Cheatin', Cold, Deadbeatin', Two-timin' and Double Dealin', Mean, Mis-treating, Loving Heart." Things that don't go together naturally intrigue the heck out of me. And one of the biggest ironies of the web today is that this wonderfully modern entity has a customer base significantly split between the knowledgeable tech buyers and regular folks who see the web as another means of buying goods and services. There couldn't be two more different audiences.

As we do research on web buyers, especially the consumer set, the one data trend that pops out at me is that there really are two audiences: those that understand that credit card fraud on the Net has the same occurrence level as it does in physical transactions, and those that think when they put those 16 numbers on the web they go right to fraud.com.

There are those that know to look for a site's personal privacy policies and those that think once you give any data, it goes to johnqpublic.com

They're also on opposite ends of the scale in terms of Internet sophistication, orientation to technology and feelings on e-commerce. You might call them pioneers and settlers.

Currently, there are plenty of pioneers to meet the relatively small revenue and profit expectations of the e-tailing industry. However, the reality is that looking forward even a year or two, the population of pioneering types start to become a small minority, and the settlers take over-just like in the old west. This is one more case of the fundamental market cycle, moving from innovators to the mass market.

This means that Internet marketers that want to increase the numbers of"settlers" using their site have to change. They must add to their communication activities in such a manner that they assuage concerns about doing business on the Net.

In the holiday shopping survey we just concluded, the biggest "web-fear" reasons are the concerns over credit card fraud and the use of personal, transaction-generated information. These two issues are great examples of how the pioneers have been made comfortable, but not the settlers.

Most of us inside the business feel like credit card fraud has become a secondary concern. However, while communication programs about the issue have worked with pioneers, settlers haven't received the message. Should we dumb down the message? Should we say, "Hey! You're still not liable for unauthorized charges-even on the web!"? I'm not sure that's the answer, but we do need to tell this vast audience that they have only as much to fear regarding e-business as traditional business.

The personal information issue is a trickier-because a fair number of pioneers are also worried about this. In our survey of holiday e-buyers, both groups expressed concern over this issue. The key is that the Internet community has done little to ease customer apprehension on this issue. Sure, Lou Gerstner and his cronies have big press releases that tout big ideas, but the reality is that on a personal level, there's nothing.

The major players have to get together to define a standard and set of guidelines on how they'll use personal data, and how widely they'll disseminate it Then they all have to publicize it.

Unless I'm way off, I believe a marketing program that creates brand preference by protecting sensitive customer information is a home run for almost any e-tailer. In fact, if I were Barnes & Noble, and going after Amazon.com, this would be one of my key weapons. After all, Amazon collects a ton of data about you when you buy from them.

Internet marketers have to be aware that there's a fundamental schism in the customer base. Sure, we've done well with the pioneers-technology companies always do. But the reality is that to grow, we've got to entice the settlers as well. That means re-thinking what and how we communicate as we try and create brand preference.