Five data collection practices that benefit both CX and Privacy.
Do you know how after just one search on a browser or a social media site, you get bombarded with numerous ads similar to your search? These so-called suggestions are like data paparazzi hounding you on every page and are present in your every online activity merely after one product search. And the suggestions that they present are only slightly relevant but do not in context to what I am doing next. It can feel like borderline online harassment to some, and you wonder what else that can do with your data- being able to follow you around on the web just like that.
These incidents are troubling and have made us worried about our data security, especially now that we do almost everything online. There is this growing concern among Americans about how different companies collect and utilize data. A study by the Pew Research Center stated that a staggering 81% of the respondents said that the potential risks of the data collected by companies outweigh the actual benefits. It just goes to show how online profiling and privacy policies are taking a turn for the worse instead of providing users better data security.
The online competition is getting steeper as more companies bring their businesses online. Marketers are always on the lookout for strategies to make their products and services stand out from the competitors, and one essential factor that they rely on is customer data. But how exactly is data collected?
But how exactly is data collected?
Consumer data collection is a proven technique that boosts sales for businesses. Since the demand for consumer data collection has increased, many misguided methods have also emerged, thus, the data paparazzi.
Data is collected online through surveys, registration and subscription forms, social media activities, transactional data, online traffic tracking, and marketing analytics. Consumer data churned out through these methods are then assessed, and the findings are implemented through strategic marketing campaigns. It’s important to note that it isn’t easy to bring all that information together, so many brands have stuck to out-of-the-box workflows that aren’t ideal either.
Personalized customer experience tends to bring in more bucks because the clients are given what they need exactly and not just suggestions from keywords they searched online. Many companies skip out on the full understanding of the purpose of their data collection- to understand the customer.
Fixing CX addresses privacy concerns
Marketers can solve privacy concerns among consumers through some of the best practices in data collection, such as the following:
Get user’s permission to collect their data and particularly which data to collect.
Be transparent about the purpose of data collection and how will it be used
Establish a clear data privacy policy and adhere to it
Make sure always to follow data collection and privacy laws
Build enough engagement before data collection
Some companies take data gathering too far, where it goes past personal to borderline creepy. Like why does the bank repeatedly ask about foreign bank accounts? More marketing tactics now are marketing tactics are now using information that customers weren’t even aware of was collected from them. That is what Apple is trying to fix with its new privacy notifications. Instead of feeling efficient, it makes users feel unsafe and out of control. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges in modern marketing is to provide a customized customer experience while protecting their privacy.
Customers trust us with their data in exchange for offering them more value for their time and purchase. Customer insights give us leverage to understand varying consumer interests at a deeper level. And then to present customers with what they need without them having to spend a long time going through search pages. The goal is to make decision-making easier.
The 2021 Consumer Trend Index reported that out of the 5,000 global consumers, 73% remarked personalized offers based on past purchases as “cool,” while 66% cookie-based ads and tracked behavior as “creepy.”
While the challenges for marketers continue to arise, the opportunities for better strategies and marketing tactics also increase.
The End of 3rd-party Cookies
The HTTP cookies are crucial in customer behavioral profiling and analytics. All our online activities are stored in these cookies and are commonly used in providing customized browsing experiences and online advertising.
Third-party cookies are the source of cross-site tracking and online advertising. These are the other pages that pop up when we visit a page and collect data from our search. Many users are now blocking third-party cookies. Other browsers such as Safari and Firefox have already made efforts to block third-party tracking cookies. At the same time, Chrome is set to follow suit and is now working with regulators to come up with better technologies that can be utilized for advertising.
The eventual death of third-party cookies now puts the limelight on first-party cookies. These are the data that are directly collected by the website the user visits. It provides consumers more data privacy while still allowing for a personalized customer experience.
This trend generates demand for customer data platforms (CDPs) that use data at hand into proper segmentation and analytics, translating into effective campaigns at minimal costs.
Data is an essential component of every business. Whatever the nature of your company is, you will always end up scouring through customer information, looking for ways to encourage the customer to purchase and keep your customers coming back.
Smarter, AI-based technologies open more opportunities in targeting customers and providing them more meaningful engagements and campaigns with real-time engagements and AI-generated customer personas.
Better CX from 1rst Party Data From CDPs
A customer data platform maximizes data from multiple sources, analyzes them, then creates a single customer identity for better ad targeting and marketing analytics. This innovative technology answers more of the whys in data collection and solves the hows in implementation. This customer-centric view of the customer is precisely what VIEWN’s customer data platform is all about. And one of our primary expertise is customer retention which would, in turn, require less company marketing cost. Our CDP offers a practical audience approach and optimized brand engagement while complying with different privacy laws. We are all about redefining customer experience.
As marketers, our goal is to understand our customers and create effective interactions and promotions for our brand. We must continuously evolve with our strategies and implementations while respecting our customers’ privacy. The more challenging data collection gets, the more innovative we should be regarding our technological approach.
Good examples of data collection methods. I think the use of special software, such as this, can make the task much easier.