Data Privacy Challenges & Solutions

The challenge

Until now, third party cookies have been key to gathering customer data, but privacy concerns are seeing their rapid demise. According to recent GWI research, 52% of consumers worry about how companies use their personal data online, while 32% revealed that they were concerned about governments tracking them online.

This creates something of a quandary: If you want your business to succeed, you really need to understand who your customers are, where they are, what they want and how to reach them. But how do companies excel at this if they don’t have the ever-reliable cookie to depend on?

The solution

By building your own, first-party data, of course! First party data is the information collected from your customers during their interactions with your business, whether on your website, app, in-store, via loyalty programmes, or over the phone. It takes time, effort and money to set up but it’s worth it, as each touchpoint your customer has with your business offers an opportunity for you to learn more about them so you can build a stronger relationship. And it's simpler than you think.

Some ideas for helping you start building your database include:

1. Ask for a customer review – every time – and don’t run away from complaints.

Reviews not only identify areas of improvement to keep ahead of customer trends, but they also act as a starting point for genuine conversation with your customers. Complaints can be hard to hear, but really listening to them is essential for understanding your customer base and areas that you can improve – and responding with a can-do approach presents the opportunity to build a meaningful, lasting relationship.

2. Activate social listening.

Your social media platforms aren’t only for your business output – they’re also vital ways to gauge customer insight. Take time to find out who your followers are, who else they follow and where they’re based. Actively monitor their interests to find out what makes them tick and what keeps them engaged with brands.

3. Gain customer insight through quizzes and surveys.

Quizzes and surveys online or on social media are valuable customer insight tools, as are more formalised surveys via email and in person. The best insights come from a mix of quantitative data responses and qualitative customer feedback. Combine both for a thorough customer insight picture.

4. Check out your competition.

Knowing exactly who your competitors are, what they offer and how they attract your potential customers provides understanding into what your customer base really wants and why they choose other brands over you, giving you the tools to effectively change customer behaviour. Check out your indirect competitors too.

What else

This is just a taster of how to build a robust database that you can use to effectively personalise your messaging and market to your customers in an authentic, engaging way. Look out for more on this next month when we explore this important topic in more depth.