Balancing Personalization and the Customer Experience with Data Privacy

According to a McKinsey study, consumers are growing more and more wary of how their data is being treated and tracked. Consumers’ trust levels are low and vary by industry, with only about 10% of respondents saying that they trust consumer-packaged goods or media and entertainment companies. At the same time, consumers also expect a highly relevant experience throughout every stage of their customer journey, and to be offered the right product at the right time. According to Merkle’s 2021 Consumer Experience Sentiment Report, 88% of consumers view a brand’s products as having higher quality if they feel like the brand is listening to their needs. Similarly, 91% are likely to make a repeat purchase if they feel heard, according to a 2018 Accenture survey.

As of January 2021, there were 145 pieces of legislation governing privacy, globally, up from 132 a year ago, with 23 further bills currently under consideration. Google has also announced that it is now phasing out third-party cookies on Chrome by mid-2024 to protect users that are asking for more privacy. According to Google, “Users are demanding greater privacy — including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used — and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands.”

With data privacy laws and concerns being a moving target, how does a marketer try to serve a highly personalized experience that speaks to a consumer’s individual preferences while staying compliant?

For example, here at Monetate we are committed to data protection and to staying ahead of the privacy curve. We believe it is important that you understand the kinds of data we collect about you, how we protect that data, and how it is used. We recognize the need for appropriate safeguards and management of the personal data you provide to us.

Monetate is in compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which allows us to obtain explicit consent for a user’s agreement with our terms and conditions. It also enables the user to obfuscate/delete customer data for shoppers who request their data to be removed.

We also do not collect any personally identifiable information (PII). Our non-personal data collection involves cookies, action tags, and web beacons. Cookies are stored on your computer’s hard drive and identify your web browser and the activities of your computer on the Site and other websites. We will not write to any cookie information allowing anyone to contact visitors via telephone, e-mail, or any other means.

Balancing data privacy with relevancy does not require meaningful sacrifices in either domain, but it does require privacy by design. It is possible to demonstrate to a consumer that you understand their affinities and their behavior while being mindful of and respectful of their data and to compliance and regulations.

If you would like to learn more about Monetate’s commitment to data protection, you can review our GDPR Overview and our Privacy Statement.

This blog is by Monetate’s Solutions Engineer, Karen Ko.