If you promise, you better deliver

Last October, this publication raved about the so-called "knockout punch" marketing strategy being employed by identity theft prevention company LifeLock.

For readers whose residences may be under a rock or whose televisions are usually in the "off" position, a quick refresher: LifeLock's strategy has been to place their CEO, Todd Davis, and his Social Security Number front and center as proof that their service works. After all, if the CEO is willing to publish his SSN, then the service must be foolproof, right?

Not exactly, it turns out.

In fact, Davis himself reports that at least 87 attempts to steal his identity have been made since he started putting his information out there for mass consumption. He even admits that at least one of these attempts has been modestly successful, as a payday loan outfit in Texas was duped out of $500 by someone who walked in with Davis' SSN.

Even worse than that embarrassment, the company is now being sued by customers in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia, by the State of Arizona, and by the Experian Credit Bureau in California for overstating its effectiveness in preventing identity theft.

These lawsuits have surfaced the claim that LifeLock's services actually consist of little more than the company placing a fraud alert on a customer's credit file with the credit reporting bureaus and then renewing that alert when it runs out after 90 days - something that any consumer can do for free.

Plus, while these fraud alerts will trigger a message when a credit bureau is contacted as the result of someone trying to open a line of credit (or increase the size of one), they don't have any impact on the use of a stolen SSN for everything from a job application to obtaining medical care.

Of course, Davis says that the one successful attempt to secure a relatively small loan doesn't constitute actual "identity theft" and that his company provides a valuable service that offers security to its customers. Those filing suit say that LifeLock has overpromised by deceiving customers about just how broad its protection really is.

While the parties fight it out in court and enrich their respective attorneys' 401(k) plans, there are a few lessons for the rest of us to remember from this incident:

• Watch the weasel words. Davis says that LifeLock's claims are valid because they state that the company protects against "virtually all forms of identity theft." While such language may win an argument at the next meeting of Davis' chapter of the Hair Splitters Club (as well as in court), the typical consumer will take such a pledge to mean much more than the company seems to be delivering.
• Emotional sales carry risk. LifeLock's 700,000-strong customer list has been built on the angst associated with horror stories about the trauma of identity theft. Emotional sales are great, so long as you deliver. Fail to do so, and that emotion comes back at you two-fold.
• Neglect PR at your peril. Reading news stories about this situation, it's clear that LifeLock had no crisis communications plan ready for such a situation - even though they had to know that some yahoo would take them up on Davis' dare and that the media would enjoy reporting on such a story.

The message: It's an internet-based, 24-hour-a-day news network, blog-filled world. Put your promises through the wringer before you promote them.