To combat the pressing consumer data privacy hurdles, marketing leaders will require a solid analytics model that gathers data from entire channels, experiment with the new marketing tools, and find the ones that meet their unique business requirements.
Between a pandemic, new privacy regulations, and social upheaval, it is clear that we live in a constantly changing world. While many businesses need an adaptable marketing analytics solution, the biggest controversy in this era is that of data privacy. Collecting data in a way that respects a consumer’s privacy, is a whole different beast.
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of how corporates use their personal data. This widespread dread regarding the collection and utilization of consumer data is poised to change the world of marketing as we know it. Between legal initiatives like GDPR and technological advancements providing enhanced data privacy for consumers, it is clear that the heyday of endless granular consumer data is coming to an end.
Data security is a crucial concern for businesses from a legal and an ethical point of view. With marketers being the biggest collectors of consumer data, it is their responsibility to promote data security and privacy.
Securing Marketing Stack
Almost 90% of data breaches are a result of human error. Businesses cannot afford to become part of that statistic since they deal with Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This type of data helps drive a more personalized experience, but it calls for more sophisticated safeguards than anonymous data.
The challenges related to security and privacy issues have become sky-high in the post-pandemic landscape, with remote workers posing a severe threat by introducing vulnerabilities, and hackers finding new ways to attack.
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Trust and Liability
Data breaches can be costly when it comes to time and money. It is possible to restore lost data but, restoring credibility can be challenging. Another big concern is the legal liability associated with data breaches.
Organizations worldwide are quickly adapting to a post-CCPA and a GDPR world where data breaches can result in hefty fines. A forward-looking marketing department should bring their data usage in line with existing legislation while keeping an eye on more such legislation in the future.
The biggest question is how organizations can keep using data for personalization while staying compliant with new laws and keeping the consumer trust intact?
Marketing leaders need to change their team’s habits and processes. They need to scrutinize the collected data and build a structure to locate and remove data that is sensitive for the consumers but not crucial to their marketing efforts. Organizations most often have a data hoarding problem, they will have amassed heaps of it, and it would be sitting there unused. This kind of old data, especially PII, on the cloud servers, is nothing but an ongoing liability.
It is also necessary to regularly check in with the third-party service providers to see what they are doing with the said data. At the end of the day, organizations need to collect only what is crucial to their marketing process and take ownership of the data.
Data Security & Privacy with Martech
Martech can either be a big boon or a huge hindrance when it comes to preserving consumer privacy and keeping their data safe.
Mapping an existing stack and evaluating which tools need to be gotten rid of, and analyzing what each vendor’s data policy looks like is essential. It is worth prioritizing vendors who go above and beyond the existing norms and maintaining the level of trustworthiness and transparency that the customers expect.
CMOs believe consolidating data on a Customer Data Platform (CDP) can be a safe and reliable way of storing all classes of customer data, including PII. A CDP can help handle privacy and security concerns, thereby enabling effective and efficient utilization of data.
It is crucial to make sure the existing stored data, and the current martech stack of an organization, are both free of potential liabilities. The way the marketing division handles sensitive data can impact the entire brand’s reputation by either boosting consumer confidence or making them turn to a competitor.
