3 Smart Ways to Tie the Knot Between Privacy and Personalization

Up until the recent past, the right to privacy was invisible and intangible to end-users. But when the world witnessed data breaches, customers grew skeptical.

In fact, 86% of customers are concerned about their data privacy and how their data is being used. And now they’re all eyes and ears over how companies collect, store, use, and sell their personal data.

The increasing frequency of high-profile data breaches gave rise to strict data protection laws and regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Today’s customers expect privacy and tailored experiences simultaneously but these stringent regulations have made it difficult to get data leaving marketers in a fix as they can’t create personalized experiences without customer-specific data.

Marketers are stuck in a catch-22 between providing personalized experiences, exercising data privacy, and building consumer trust.

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to walk the ropes between customers’ desires for personalized interactions and data privacy. Let’s get started then.

Importance of Data Privacy on Consumer Trust

The Association of National Advertisers named “Personalization” their Word of the Year in 2019 highlighting its popularity and importance for brands advertising today.

But 48% of customers indicated they’d switch companies or providers because of their data policies/data sharing practices, which is why brands need to actively participate in a two-way exchange, that is, give customers something of value in exchange for the data they share with you. In fact, 83% of consumers are willing to share their data in exchange for a personalized experience only if a business is transparent about how they use data.

To build customer trust as your competitive edge, your organization must first establish a reputation for protecting customer data and privacy. Let’s understand how it’s done.

3 Smart Ways to Balance Privacy and Personalization

Businesses need to re-evaluate their data usage practices and work upon building customer trust. It is possible to include both privacy and personalization in your operations if you balance them right. Here’s how you can make them work hand-in-hand:

1. Build Trust: Start by being transparent and only seek necessary information that will help build personalized messages for customers. Use trust badges on your website to assure customers that their information will be stored carefully and securely. Provide some form of value to customers in exchange for their participation, like:

• personalized offers and recommendations
• exclusive and/or targeted content
• free trials
• exclusive early access to new products/features
• discounts or coupons

Also, place mechanisms that allow consumers to exercise their rights to obtain and delete their information and manage opt-outs.

2. Offer Data Protection: Ensure that all data collection methods are CCPA/GDPR compliant such as landing pages, forms, etc. Check your third-party data sources whether they comply with CCPA/GDPR requirements to ensure data security.

3. Create Campaigns Around Information Customers Prefer Sharing: Include only specific individual data that aligns with improving customer experience, preferences, and interests. Use short progressive forms that when someone signs up for your service or downloads a piece of content, you get the essential information to create targeted campaigns. Create an Email Preference Center and to give customers control when, how, and what they’d like to hear about. Give customers flexibility over the type of data they are comfortable sharing. This makes it far more likely that they will offer up at least some personal information that you can use for personalization. Use double opt-ins to ensure that your subscribers really want to hear from you. This way, you’ll improve the quality of your leads and see an increase in email open rates.

Be sure to follow these smart ways to ace the balance of privacy and personalization to augment your marketing efforts while keeping your consumers engaged.

Are you ready to balance the scales of privacy & personalization? Talk to us!