Balancing Customer Experience and Concerns
The collection of consumer personal data has become an important part of any business segment. Accurate customer data allows firms to target markets more effectively, engage in customer relationship management, and be more market oriented.[1]
But such large-scale collection of data which reveals attributes of a consumer’s personality and behaviour, has led to profiling and what has been termed as “Corporate Surveillance”.
But with the coming of privacy regulations and evolving best practices, we see businesses having a closer look at the value addition that usage of personal data brings in marketing processes, vis-a-viz the cost of compliance and reputational risk associated with breaches and undetected malpractices. This is an important consideration, since even if the payoff for successful use of consumer data is huge, the cost of implementing all the required capabilities is massive as well.
In this background it is safe to say, digital marketing is poised for evolution. To determine which direction businesses will take, an honest inquiry needs to be made in answering one important question, i.e.—Should my business care about consumer privacy, even if consumers may not?
Businesses need to ask this fundamental question, because when designing practices for a consumer, one must put them at the core and focus on developing holistic practices to aid the consumer in participating in the digital environment, not the stick of regulations and compliance. This holds paramount especially in a segment like digital marketing.
Katz and Tassone[2] hypothesized that consumers, despite being displeased with the prospect of a loss of privacy, have become acclimatized to the necessity of giving up their privacy in order to participate in modern society. This acclimatization is the result of the widening distrust between the user and businesses.
We need to examine how to re-establish trust between the users and businesses, to develop sustainable data driven marketing strategies. This goes beyond thinking about privacy policies, and consent; it points to creating greater transparency around usage of consumer personal data, to develop business models that sustain creation of loyal customer bases and protect the business from regulatory scrutiny, while creating competitive advantage for businesses in the market.
Join us as we discuss the different paths towards achieving this intricate balance at the NASSCOM-DSCI Annual Information Security Summit, 2018. Register Now: https://aiss2018.dsci.in/
[1] Myerscough, Stuart, Lowe, Ben, and Alpert, Frank (2006), “Willingness to Provide Personal Information Online: The Role of Perceived Privacy Risk, Privacy Statements and Brand Strength,” Journal of Website Promotion, Vol. 2 (1-2), Pages 115-140. DOI: 10.1080/15533610802104182
[2] James e. Katz, Annette r. Tassone; Public Opinion Trends: Privacy and Information Technology, Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 54, Issue 1, 1 January 1990, Pages 125–143.