Response to the OFT Debt Management Guidance

The OFT (Office of Fair Trading) has invited responses from interested parties to the document, Debt management (and credit repair services) guidance of June 2011 consultation ending September  5th.

As per the scope of the consultation the document represents the OFT's draft guidance for all licensees engaged in the licensable activities of debt counselling and debt adjusting (where the debts arise under consumer credit or hire agreements).....It focuses on unfair and improper business practices for the purposes of section 25(2A)(e) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which, if engaged in, would call into question a person's fitness to retain or be granted a standard consumer credit licence or to operate under cover of a group licence. In addition, it provides a basis against which the OFT can undertake assessments of whether businesses have appropriate skills, knowledge, experience, business practices and procedures, to be licensed by the OFT to operate an ancillary credit business providing debt counselling, debt adjusting or credit information services.

Page 5 of the document available on the OFT website here, expands further: This consultation is aimed at all those with an interest in, or involved in, the provision of regulated debt counselling, debt adjusting and credit information services (including credit repair). This includes debt management companies, not-for-profit advice organisations, creditors and some lead generation and claims management companies......The consultation may also be of interest to trade associations, professional bodies, regulators, enforcement agencies, consumer organisations and credit reference agencies. 

In accordance with the consultation, I as Paul Gailey, in the capacity as a contracted marketing consultant to ClearDebt Ltd, a Consumer Credit License holder nº565479, hereby offer my formal response to the guidance as itemised below.

3.6 f. Examples of unfair or improper business practices with regards to lead generation and direct marketing include: claims or statements regarding 'status'. For example, operating websites which look like and/or are designed to look like the web-site of a charity or a government body.

I note the guidance cites the 2009 OFT press release about this subject. http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2009/26-09

The prevalence of decieving websites, false claims and incomplete debt management information has regretfully continued since 2009 and today still exists. Detection of existence of these sites is a simple exercise in conducting an internet search for popular debt management related terms. Attached is an image of a website, BBCdebts.com which I regard as in violation of the guidance contained in chapter 3 as a minimum.
I broadly welcome the guidance contained in chapter 3, especially with regards to lead generation activities and I am strongly supportive of the guidance sections 3.3, 3.4 and 3.6b.

Advertising and other communications
All marketing, advertising and promotion and other oral or written representations should be clear, accurate and truthful and should not mislead, either expressly or by implication or omission.
This guidance applies to all forms of marketing, advertising and promotion across all media 
types. This includes online marketing such as paid for/sponsored listings and advertisements on 
internet search engines, contextual advertising (targeted advertisements based on the content of 
websites on which the adverts appear) and all marketing content on paid-for and non-paid-for 
online space including new media such as social networking websites, forums and blogs.

I disagree with the statement in the guidance or omission in relation to all forms of marketing, in particular paid for listings, contextual advertisements and non-paid for online space.

I agree that representations should be clear, accurate and truthful and should not mislead however I disagree with the statement in relation to omission because not all forms of accepted marketing permit a full explanation of all the positive and negative aspects of offered debt resolutions.

For example, the display of advertising messages, particularly in online media is in some instances severely limited to short messages or limited display of characters and it is unworkable to expect licensee holders to convey extensive information in all paid and non paid spaces. I do believe licensee holders can abide by the guidance to avoid misleading consumers by explicitly displaying the providence of their advertisement and or displayed message with a further link and/or citation of company details.

By this I refer to the common practise of displaying either a profile link, company website link, company name, terms, contact details of the licensee holder in the communication. 

3.12 Examples of unfair or improper business practices include....
...b. falsely claiming or implying that help and debt advice is provided on a free, impartial or independent basis, where the provider has a profit-seeking incentive

I disagree with the guidance in terms of its definition of help and debt advice and usage of the term free whereby a commercial debt resolution company and licensee holder publishes considerable volumes of debt information for consumers that is free to access, as in no purchase or indeed contract is necessary to consult the information and that this information can be of help to the consumer.

Furthermore, usage of online tools - that contain and display caveats of accuracy - which capture user information and compute debt scenarios and financial options are a valid form of marketing communication.

3.12 f. I agree with the guidance and am strongly supportive that the guidance applies to both the private commercial and creditor funded organisations (i.e charity), whereby particularly in the case of the fees for an IVA (Individual Voluntary Agreement) to be arranged and implemented, that the fees are clearly stipulated and explained how the organisation receives it's fees.

3.13 Licensees who advertise or sell online or by email must comply with the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. Before using internet based and social media  marketing, licensees should consider whether they can exercise adequate control over its content, whether it is an appropriate medium and whether the required information, warnings and caveats, can be included sufficiently prominently. The 
OFT considers that search engine sponsored links and online messaging forums which limit the number of characters are unlikely to be an appropriate means of providing consumers with sufficiently balanced 
and adequate information. 

I disagree with part of the statement above of 3.13. Exercising adequate control over its content. Marketing materials that are shared by consumers can rapidly gain a high number of advertising impacts when the sharing is viralized whereby the original producer of the content may no longer be able to exercise adequate control of it if the message is copied or modified by consumers.

I disagree with the guidance regarding whether it is an appropriate medium whereby social media marketing channels are an accepted mainstream form of communication. 
Recent information published by the Office for National Statistics, in the annual British Internet Habits shows that
  • in 2011, 57% of over-16s in the UK are using the internet for social networking, as opposed to 43% in 2010
  • Internet access from mobile devices is increasing substantially – 45% of UK adults accessing the Internet from mobile devices, up from 31% in 2010
  • 91% of 16-24 year olds use social media. Usage is high for the 25-34 year old (76%) and 35-44 year olds (58%)
I regard social media as a legitimate channel to communicate with users seeking information from debt management organisations.

With regards to the statement: and whether the required information, warnings and caveats, can be included sufficiently prominently I refer to my earlier statement that I agree debt management organisations can abide by the guidance to avoid misleading consumers by explicitly displaying the providence of their advertisement and/or displayed message with a further link and/or citation of company details. In the case of social media, this can be done typically via a biography or profile description, where a link to the company website can be clearly displayed.

With regards to providing consumers with sufficiently balanced and adequate information I believe social media channels can satisfy the need for balance and adequate information because the ability of the licensee holder to send a link in a short message, a tweet or an update to Facebook is possible.

I strongly agree with the guidance 3.14a and 3.14d

Whilst I agree with 3.14b however in exceptional circumstances whereby the licensee may still act in compliance with search engine guidelines to keyword bid in contextual advertising using another organisation's name, respecting trademark law, the licensee - without misleading the consumer - may require to do so. I would like to take this opportunity to stress that I believe it is inadvisable to keyword bid in contextual advertising with another organisations name as a routine matter.

--ends

The above consultation response was also sent by email to dmguidance-consult@oft.gsi.gov.uk as agreed with OFT officer Aaron Berry of the Debt Management Team on September 5th.

The views expressed here are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of ClearDebt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ClearDebt Group plc.

Paul Gailey is supplying this guidance consultation reponse in his capacity as a contracted consultant to ClearDebt Ltd, a debt management company of qualified debt advisors and licensed insolvency practitioners for individuals in debt principally seeking an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) or a debt management plan.

Don't know how to plan an Internet Marketing Strategy?

Yes you do.

But maybe not yet.

That's because the trouble with the internet, is you can never finish reading it.

If like me, you spend your working hours devising an internet marketing strategy for clients and executing it, then such a report from the likes of Econsultancy makes compelling reading.
This document - which is untypically free to download on Econsultancy - outlines some of the latest thinking, case studies and best practices in:
  • User experience
  • Customer experience management
  • Voice of the customer
  • Mobile app vs. mobile web
  • Mobile as the ‘glue’ connecting channels
  • Mobile commerce
  • Measuring the value of social media
  • Social CRM
  • Attribution management
  • Social for search engine optimization
  • Social commerce
  • Social media management
  • From bought media to earned media
  • From impression to expression
  • Enriched content: video, games, apps, metadata etc.
Note that all important etc. at the end - that's the sign of a infovore in EC1,  just like me.

We all learn by knowledge gained ultimately through sharing which is why so many fellow marketers welcome the opportunity to participate in social networks and mix professional with recreational updates.

I have a voracious appetite for information and an perhaps an increasing intolerance for those that don't. 

This manifests itself usually by about 2pm each day when the amount of tabs I simultaneously have open crush all the favicons together whereby they vanish.

On a good day this might not happen till 3pm.

But that really depends how define good. On a bad day this can happen as early as 11pm.

Swap good for bad or vice-versa.

When I say intolerance for those that don't, I refer to the infinite availability of information, yes and even insight that we have at our disposal.

So if you can't Google it successfully, you can ask someone you know, or someone they know, or someone who may know someone who may know...and so on.

And no I don't expect everyone to know everything of course, as I say the trouble with the internet is you can't ever finish it.

However when I hear a "I don't know" professionally uttered as a first reaction to a challenge, I wince just a little and I think a yes you can attitude is called for.

It's all out there, all the time awaiting your investigation and participation.

So next time you are faced with planning your internet marketing strategy don't say you don't know.

Please.

The reason Google+ is not yet available to Apps Users

First off, I don't have the answer. Maybe you do.

Familiar with this message?

If you are a Google Apps user and have tried to access Google Plus, or use the +1 button, that image will have haunted you a plenty.

There are great deal of benefits from being a Google Apps user. It's essentially like having Gmail acount and more but instead of @gmail.com having @mycompany.com

However for many months now, the gap has been widening between the Google services available to Gmail users versus Apps users.

The reason the new Google + and the +1 button is unavailable is because those services are dependant on creating a Google Profile and as Apps users and Admins know, Google Profiles are not yet available.

Coming soon?

There is a Google blog post from March 2011, that hinted the functionality would be enabled for Apps users 'soon'. Alas the comments steadily grow.

Since the launch of Google + and +1 button the clamour on other networks from Apps Users has been getting louder:

And the demand is only going to continue.

So why the delay?

The truth is no-one really knows or is not openly saying.

Here is a thread on Quora Why aren't Google Profiles available for Google Apps users? that hint at the extra challenges of Profiles for Apps users and some high profile bloggers have enquired why but don't shed light on the motive for the delay other than caution from Mountain View.

Too important to fail

So Google have a proud record of products that never really exited beta, technologies that we never quite liked (Sidewiki) or understood (Wave) or embraced (Buzz) and the tradition will long continue.

Except this time around, the revised efforts at cracking social for Google are possibly just too important to fail.

Generally speaking the reception to Google+ has been pretty positive and almost universally understood by those who have meddled with it. That bodes well for Google.

The invites window period was brief enough to recruit an enthusiastic army of testers that will implicitly supply enough feedback for Google and publicly appraise or berate the service so it can be refined.

Buzz me not

In contast when Buzz was launched it was quickly exposed at having shortcomings that despite being rectified, created a wave of antipathy against it and a provoked a legal and regulatory headache for Mountain View.

A Federal Trade Commission settlement and compliance for Google has now resulted in a comprehensive privacy program that will be audited for 20 years.

Basically dogfooding Buzz at Google was insufficient to detect the risk that manifested itself in the early public phase.

And this is where I can understand the cautious approach winning at Mountain View over the prevalent Silicon Valley tendency to fail fast and iterate.

Apps users are different

So Apps users are not a homogeneous bunch. From vanity domain personal users to small businesses upto major organisations, corporates with many thousand of users and multinationals, the only aspect that really unites them is not being an individual gmail user.

Not all Apps users pay, but those that do, pay because they earn, and if their earnings can be affected by Google mistakes in their adventures in social, then Google and the rest of the world will soon know about it.

Individual Gmail users engaging in lawsuits against Google because of an obscure loophole in their new social suite? I doubt it.

A corporate or an organisation doing the same with all the reputation consequences? Possibly.

Early adopter dogfooding

So only hours after the window of Google invites is now closed, we already see a frenzy of activity about Google+.

The critical acclaim has been generally good.

People seem to latch on how it works quickly, at least there is not the initial bemusement akin to the welcome of Wave, although bizarrely enough +1's don't display within Google+  as Search Engine Land observed.

More importantly, already there is a sufficient army of testers who can implicitly through their usage, and publically through their blogging and tweeting, supply enough feedback for Google to refine matters.

And refinements are sure to happen.

Already the Financial Times' observation about a privacy flaw have been amplified by the tech press and other issues about Google+ spam bots are gaining attention.

This early phase testing is a protective period for Google as much as it is for Apps organisations.

Because the risk of getting it wrong this time around or not quite getting it absolutely right for Google is just too high.

Ask any Google employee, their salary is now tied to the social success of Google.

The challenges of Profiles for Apps Users

The background to Profiles for Apps Users and other Google services was the legacy around the different infrastructures in place at Google. If you had a Google Profile before setup with an Apps email and now cannot access it, you may have been be one of those who Google has earmarked as having a conflicted account

You might be waiting and wondering what to do next. Wait for Apps to get Profiles and start +1 content out there on the web under that identity? Or succumb to opening a Gmail account to use Google+ instead?

And what happens when Apps Users finally get onboard? Will they have a Profile used in Gmail and another one with their Apps email just add to the confusion.

More importantly will there be some portability function to allow migration of account information between a Gmail and an Apps account including that all valuable digital footprint. What if I join company XYZ and then move on, can I haz my data?

The greater the delay between the launch of Profiles for Apps and now, the more socially messy things will become.

There are probably a lot more issues at stake for Profiles for Apps users. Preventing +1 abuse from same domains or IP ranges so to quash efforts to manipulate computing of SERPs? Surely that's on the agenda.

I'm sure there are more reasons, let me know.

Why do you think Apps Users cannot access Google+ or +1?

Receive Notification of Profiles for Apps
You can receive notice formally from Google once Profiles is launched for Apps users and thus know when your organisation can use Google+ via this official form: https://spreadsheets4.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEc2TjBVanQ4ckNVZGJsTHJYWjBTUWc6MQ&ifq

IFTTT is Automatic for the People

I don't remember a time when I never wondered: How does that work?

Equally I cannot recall a moment when I have not wondered: and what if?

I fondly recall, how avidly as an eleven year old, I read through my first hardback, proudly bought with my own pocket money, entitled 1000 questions and 1000 answers.

Except I was never really satisfied that the answers were the whole story because invariably more queries would arise from tales of science, history, fables of the reconstruction, and assorted factoids.

I've often found the downside to a curious mind is dissatisfaction at the endless pursuit of knowledge because the more you know, the more you know that you don't quite know.

The upside to being mentally wrestless are those times when you can actually exercise your imagination, experiment with stuff, be it physical or virtual and enjoy the results like the admen above or the band below.

So if I rewind back to the time that I was preparing for my final degree exams when the album cover of Green adored my bedroom, I devised a set of weights and pulleys, connected to rope and various pieces of windsurf kit, a kettle, the record player, the duvet and the curtains, that were all wired and set for the daily call of the maid alarm.

The Maid Alarm

Every morning without fail, the maid would knock hard on the door of every student in the dormitory.

Normally I would ignore the loud knock at the door, emit a murmur, continue asleep and typically be late for a lecture, but in an effort to awaken for exam week my convoluted dorm setup worthy of applause by Rube Goldberg, was sensitively set so that the mere stroke of a welsh knuckle at the door would set off a frenzy of interconnected wires, rope and weights that would immediately begin the begin:

  • slam open the door
  • lift the duvet off me at it's four corners to the ceiling
  • start the record player at What's the Frequencey Kenneth at max volume
  • whoosh open the curtains for a full blaze of Gower sun
  • drop a brick onto a switch to boil the kettle at full steam

It was a system, that according to my engineering dorm mates was technically described as "effing brilliant" - I did not major in engineering - but one which my philosophy friends just queried with a dismissive "why effing bother?"

Well, if I had a photo of the contraption now, it might fit somewhere more at home in the pages of the delightful blog post that goes to the soul of the service called IFTTT. Sadly I don't so I'll shamelessly display the modern classic of Cog by Honda. If you like that you'll also like The Making of Cog.

IFTTT to put the internet to work

If this then that, IFTTT is a joyfully created service that allows you to meddle like a mad student in an informational internet kind of way that helps you do stuff.

If IFTTT had a object hero it might probably be a straight bit of wire, bent into a shape that binds paper together - aka the paperclip. (Is it paper clip or paperclip?)

I work with programmers, infact I'm sometimes guiltly of programming myself and often I find they, programming minds, revel when you can articulate what you need to happen when such a such thing is entered, or done here, to make that stuff get sent there and so on.

Be it with a whiteboard stuffed with arrows, an ugly mockup, a set of sentences or a load of yellow posticks on a huge sheet of paper the great thing about working with software developers is not developing the software but developing the ideas that power it.

You see software is not always just task driven steps to addressing functional needs, it should be fun, like this:

IFTTT is a service that allows you to control the input and the output.

Similar to Yahoo Pipes, but with an even more unambivalent interface and simplicity to boot, IFTTT really is Automatic for the People.

IFTTT can really be part of your internet filter. You're only limited by your imagination ma boy.

Want something to happen for you when something else happens on the internet? Yep, step this way.

So maybe that sounds vague? Well how about if you - the decisive non programmer - define the something and the happen?

Want your Dropbox to Tweet you when someone shares or amends a file? You can do that.

Get a text message when it comment is left on a blog you moderate? Yep.

There's a tonne of cool IFTTT ideas out there, some are listed here.

You just start imaging and think out aloud as you point click and paste your wishes on the pigeon step simple web page of IFTTT.com

Given how unfashionable and how repeatedly dead RSS is declared to be, with IFTTT you'll defintely redevelop an orange crush on the sites that sport it because RSS really allows you to weave all sorts of magic together.

And with RSS you don't always need any old monkey to help you, but it can be useful.

You can sign up to use IFTTT by invite only at the moment but as I have a few spare you won't have to lose your religion to get one.

How do I get an IFTTT invite?

Just tell me which musical titles of what band are referenced in this blog post.

I'm all ears. Comments or tweets welcome.

And if you're still not feeling inspired....

Do you misunderstand the pursuit of #linklove ?

Last week I attended the brilliant SEO seminar about Link Building by Distilled otherwise known by #linklove among the 300 or so attendees in London.

Many a blog has already effused and poured over the topics and professional speakers who shared their experiences and expertise.

And since the event, the reaction has been very positive. On the whole.

However there continues to be people who misunderstand SEO.

So allow me to introduce you this video. It propelled my career interest in advertising and open thinking from an early age, and like all timeless communication, it's still relevant now.

More than one hundred of the seminar attendees are unofficially listed on Twitter here http://bit.ly/linklovers.

If you're in the USA you can still attend the imminent New Orleans Link Building Seminar on 25th March or buy the video of the London event. I highly recommend it.