What Marketers Need to Know About Data Privacy

“Is my phone…listening to me?”

It’s happened to most people before. They talk about a product with their friend, then boom. An advertisement is sitting on their desktop selling the same product.

While companies haven’t become that intrusive into people’s lives, data collection for digital marketing is becoming more sophisticated—and most consumers are becoming increasingly aware (and uncomfortable) with data collection. 

Because of legal initiatives like GDPR, CCPA, and CPRA, it’s becoming more important for marketers to understand data privacy.

In this guide, we’ll explain everything marketers need to know to keep their customers’ data safe and their business out of legal trouble.

What Is Data Privacy in Digital Marketing?

When the internet was created, it introduced a huge and lucrative field: digital marketing. Businesses could easily access thousands of potential prospects without spending large sums on marketing. This was possible through the collection of personal data.

However, this growth has made consumers increasingly aware of companies using their private data. Data privacy refers to the right of consumers to choose how companies handle their data online.

When people shop or use websites, personal, financial, and demographic details are usually collected to help create a more personalized experience. These details also target and retarget advertisements toward consumers who might be more interested in a company’s products.

Nowadays, people are much more concerned with their privacy being violated. There are several ways that personal data can be misused:

• Data can be gathered without the user’s consent
• It can track and monitor user behavior
• It can be sold to third parties for a profit

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This has led to widespread privacy legislation around the world.

Recent Data Privacy Legislation

Data privacy regulators have moved quickly to address consumers’ concerns.

In 2018, the GDPR, a set of privacy regulations, was passed to protect customer data. This allowed users of websites in the EU to agree to have their personal data and PII (personally identifiable information) collected. This law was the first domino to fall, causing many other similar regulations worldwide.

The same year, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was passed, giving new privacy rights to consumers and businesses in California. The CPRA was later passed, with additional protections for consumers in 2020.

Why Is Data Privacy Important for Marketers?

These changes in the business landscape have had a particularly heavy impact on marketers. A whopping 1 out of 5 marketers believes that their main concern moving forward is privacy compliance across marketing platforms.

Why? The increased data privacy protection impacts marketers’ ability to collect valuable data. In fact, some companies have even found that they have invested in marketing tools that are no longer helpful.

Marketers are fighting between consumer opinion on one side and the ability to analyze data correctly on the other.

How Can Marketers Protect Consumer Data?

Here are examples of data protection practices that marketers can begin to adapt to this new world of e-commerce data privacy for their CRM (customer relationship management).

1. Be Transparent

Transparency and honesty are key to building trust in consumers. Make sure that website visitors can easily access privacy policies, terms, and cookies as a pop-up on your website.

You can even include the email address or phone number of the webmaster in charge of your company’s data privacy.

Being transparent with customers is already a legal requirement for the GDPR and other privacy legislation. Moreover, it’s a great way to build a trusting relationship with your customers.

2. Change Your Strategy From Micro to Macro

The recent focus in marketing has been on individual ad experiences. A way to mitigate risk is by moving your digital marketing strategy in a new direction by focusing on macro-level metrics. Find new ways to target consumers without relying on specific, intrusive data.

3. Give Your Customers Something in Return

This pairs with being transparent. Be honest with your customers about what data is being collected, and take it a step further. Offer discount coupons or promo codes in exchange for the collection of data.

4. Phase Out Cookies

Cookies in e-commerce are tracking codes used by third parties like advertisers or social media networks. They are put onto a person’s computer when they visit a website.

These cookies are used to create detailed user profiles that become the basis of targeted ads for the user.

Google has already announced its plans to stop supporting third-party cookies by 2023. Consequently, your business should start planning for a future without cookies.

5. Make It Easy to Opt Out

When users agree to share data, they don’t think that you’ll keep their data forever. Most people don’t even read the agreements.

Make it easy for them to opt out of emails with a clear “unsubscribe” button. Don’t make it harder for them to opt out than opt in.

6. Only Collect Data That You Need

Just because you can collect vast amounts of data legally doesn’t mean you should. Only collect as much data as necessary to run your business efficiently.

Collecting more data than you need and stockpiling it could have legal repercussions in the future as data privacy regulations continue to get stricter.

7. Find New Metrics to Track Success

As laws make it harder to collect data from consumers, it might be time to shift to other ways of measuring success, such as engagement. Valuable engagement metrics that can help you see what works and what doesn’t include:

• Clicks
• Subscribes
• Unsubscribes
• Conversions
• Click-through rate

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None of these are new metrics, but it may be time to start refocusing your strategies to revolve around them.

Key Takeaways

Technology, business, and marketing trends seem to come and go at breakneck speeds. It can be hard to foresee what may happen next, but it is crucial to adapt to any situation.

It’s impossible to know what the future holds for marketers regarding data privacy. However, there are valuable tools like PieEye that allow you to quickly and easily comply with data privacy laws around the world.

If you run a business using Shopify, Demandware, Magento, or BigCommerce and are ready to make your business 100% compliant across the globe get a free demo of PieEye now!