eCommerce marketers know they need to be careful about navigating privacy while serving shoppers with personalized experiences.
Customers, meanwhile, are concerned about giving personal information and want to know how this information will be used.
However, the good news is that a new report from Google and Boston Consulting Group shows that eCommerce sites and customers actually want the same end result. Both seek more relevant experiences that don’t come at the expense of privacy.
For WooCommerce founders and site managers, this means that investing in privacy today will make you ready for what’s next – the end of third-party cookies in 2024 and the delivery of clear value to customers in exchange for data. You also need to focus on earning customer trust and clear and open customer communication on privacy and data use.
The importance of brand trust in accessing data
When customers neither trust nor distrust a brand, nearly one in three shoppers will share their email address with no incentive, reveals the report.
With an incentive, such as a free sample or a discount code, the sharing increases to 90 percent!
Add brand trust to the equation, and shoppers are almost twice as willing to provide personal information.
Equally, when distrust exists – particularly around bad data practices – customers are two times less likely to give a business their email address.
Trust is going to be a pressing issue for brands, and they must work hard to win and maintain trust. Almost 30 percent of potential customers don’t trust any company across any industry to protect their personal information and privacy online. A whopping 64 percent mistrust companies in at least one industry.
In fact, trust is such a huge issue for customers that many believe that companies sell their data when, in fact, very few brands actually do so.
Respect privacy and data while offering value
Is your business meeting privacy regulations? Be sure to champion data privacy, identify lapses, and work to ensure everyone is up-to-speed on data and privacy.
Next, what is your strategy for shifting from third-party to first-party data collection, and what value will you offer shoppers in return for their data? How will this shift affect your business and do you have processes in place to manage this change?
Keep in mind that long-term success will come from implementing durable tech solutions and building solid foundations for privacy, while offering sound and competitive value for customer data.
The best marketers will focus on speeding up first-party data collection with value exchanges that fit customer motivations. Create outstanding experiences that let customers see that there is real value in consenting to data collection – and that it’s safe to do so.
Transparency builds trust
Openness is the key to building trust. Successful marketers make sure customers receive benefits directly, making the use of data obvious and building trust. Dedicate necessary resources towards keeping information safe. And be sure to communicate clearly and regularly to customers on how your brand adheres to data compliance.
Customer expectations around digital ads
Industry experts believe that online shoppers will have higher and higher expectations with digital advertising. The report’s research found that not only do 65 percent of shoppers have negative experiences when ads are not relevant, but 74 percent of customers only want ads that are relevant. They continue to have concerns about how information about them is used. These are their three main concerns:
- What information is collected? Examples include browsing history and behavior, email, and gender.
- How is it collected? Is something offered in exchange? If so, is the incentive clear?
- Why is it collected, and how will it be used?
According to the report, customers tend to be willing to share private information when they don’t consider it to be invasive or identifying. This type of information may include their gender, postal code, age, interests, and previous purchases.
Read the full report Consumers Want Privacy. Marketers Can Deliver, and read Google’s new Marketers’ Playbook For Delivering Performance And Privacy.
