Data Privacy Day 2020: How to Safeguard Customer Data to Build Trust & Loyalty

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

January 28 is celebrated as Data Privacy Day to raise awareness about the importance of data privacy and security. Here are five practices to help you safeguard customer data and build customer trust and loyalty.

“Consumer privacy is a key pillar in the digital advertising ecosystem and all consumers have a right to choose how their data is utilized. All parties within the advertising ecosystem must work together to support industry-wide privacy regulations and ensure consumer choices are respected throughout the entire supply chain. By choosing to work with partners committed to privacy regulations we can drive a more customer-focused, transparent and trustworthy advertising ecosystem.”

~ Eric Schelin, Senior Product Manager, Sovrn, exclusively to MarTech Advisor

Salesforce Research surveyed 6700+ consumers and business buyers for their second edition of the “State of the Connected Customer” reportOpens a new window . The survey reported the following alarming findings:

  1. 59% think that their personal information is vulnerable to a security breach
  2. 62% feel uncomfortable with how companies use their personal/business information
  3. 45% are unsure about how companies use their data
     

The increasing cybercrime and data breach cases along with unscrupulous data practices have jeopardized valuable customer information and started to erode customer trust and loyalty. Organizations have the responsibility of protecting customer data that they’ve collected. To win back consumer trust, organizations need to implement stronger customer data protection practices and policies and revise them periodically.

“Compliance with regulations is the first step; data owners should follow a clear, transparent process when handling consumer data. Furthermore, this data must be stored securely; encryption techniques can be used to achieve this. The use of first-party data is also recommended – in place of third-party data acquired from unreliable vendors – as it can help to deliver a more personalised experience to customers. Lastly is mutual responsibility; users should clearly understand what they are consenting to when inputting any preferences.”

~ Nikolas Rekeda, CMO at MGID, exclusively to MarTech Advisor

Since 2007, January 28 is celebrated as Data Privacy Day (also known as Data Protection Day in Europe) to cultivate awareness about safeguarding data and introducing data protection best practices.

On Data Privacy Day, let’s look at five customer data protection practices to help you build customer trust and loyalty.

1. Promote a Culture of Data Privacy

Any change with a lasting impact needs to be introduced using the top-down approach. You need to get executive buy-in so that it becomes relatively easy to implement it across the organization.

When C-level executives are on board with the change, it will be easier to invest in better resources, tools, training programs, and software applications to implement better data privacy practices. Organizations should also consider investing in a chief privacy officer (CPO) or data protection officer (DPO) who would be adept in spearheading data privacy initiatives to ensure the sustainability of the data privacy culture.

Organizations should train employees (on-premise and remote, both) who manage customer data on handling critical customer data. An introductory session during the employee onboarding program should explain the guidelines and policies for device usage, remote access, etc. Also, making it mandatory for employees to use a password management tool will encrypt passwords and make them less susceptible to security vulnerabilities.

Learn More: The 2020 Data Governance Guide for BeginnersOpens a new window

2. Follow Data Protection Laws

Regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) define how organizations should collect and store customer data, among other data management practices. For instance, hiring a DPO is mandatory under GDPR compliance. Not adhering to these data privacy laws can incur hefty fines, along with the imminent PR disaster that would deteriorate consumer trust.

Blake Morgan, the author of Opens a new window The Customer Of The Future, says, “Staying compliant not only helps the company avoid large fines, but it also signals to customers that your organization is aware of cybersecurity challenges and is working to protect their data and give power back to consumers.

3. Collect Only Essential Data Points

The more information you collect from your customers, the more your database will be on the radar of hackers. Therefore, it is recommended to collect customer data that is absolutely essential.

While providing contextual and personalized experience is becoming the norm, collecting too many data points also gives rise to suspicion in customers’ minds. Speaking from the funnel marketing perspective, it helps to take into account the stage of the buyer’s journey to determine the number of information points you would need. For instance, you don’t need an elaborate sign-up form for a gated content targeted for the top-of-the-funnel audience.

Learn More: The 7 Point CCPA Compliance Checklist for Marketers for 2020Opens a new window

4. Cultivate Transparency

Due to data theft issues, customers are growing skeptical of how organizations use their data. To build trust, be transparent with how you collect and manage customer data. Be clear in your terms of service document regarding your data management practices.

Tim Weidner (Lead Systems Administrator at Ontraport) opinesOpens a new window , “Let people know you are collecting information on them; tell them what you are collecting and how you intend to use it, and allow them the option to choose whether or not they agree.

Be sure to update your customers as and when you introduce changes in your data management practices and allow them to opt-out of it whenever they want.

5. Have a Disaster Control Plan in Place

Despite taking active measures to secure customer data, threats of data loss could still prevail. Be sure to backup customer data regularly and evaluate data retrieval options. Also, implement strict data access rules to ensure that only the right people have access to the right data.

Chalmers Brown (Co-founder and CTO at Due) recommendsOpens a new window , “A data security best practice is to have a disaster recovery plan to ensure business continuity and keep your data somewhere that it won’t get lost forever. Expand the plan to include preventative and actionable measures so that these other risks to data security are covered.

Learn More: 5 Key Elements of Customer Data PrivacyOpens a new window

Prioritizing Customer Data Privacy

Darren Guarnaccia, CPO, Crownpeak, helps us conclude:

  1. Regulate your business: Since the inception of GDPR in 2018, data privacy laws have been enacted in over 80 countries worldwide. As privacy regulations expand and evolve, you need to understand the differences and requirements and how these could affect your customers and business processes.
  2. Differentiate your offering: Driving privacy awareness through your products or services can become a powerful differentiator. Put data protection at the heart of your offerings.
  3. Create a privacy-experience: Data protection regulations and agreed-upon best practice can help you get closer to your consumers. Privacy UX is about developing quality user experiences — with human-centered brand-aligned design.
  4. Educate your network: Data privacy will only become more relevant to all kinds of organizations. We need to educate ourselves as well as our employees, consumers and peers on best practice. It’s not just an issue to solve for the legal team, it takes a joined up effort to shape a company privacy mission.

 

Andrew Morsy, Managing Director International at Peer39, shared his thoughts for marketers, “Adapting to the ever-changing privacy and digital landscape – especially in light of both the changes to browser policies and the public’s growing attention to personal data use – means marketers are going to have to revisit their strategies of how they’re using ad targeting data. As a result, marketers will need to broaden their lens for alternative globally compliant solutions to help sharpen their understanding of the advertising environment, which can provide the required scale and granularity for performance.”

Richard Foster, CRO, InfoSum, exclusively shared his thoughts about the future, “Google added momentum to the move away from antiquated tracking methods, with their recent announcement that they will phase out support for third-party cookies by 2022. As a result, marketers must look to their first-party data and build data-driven marketing strategies that put privacy first.”

Implementing appropriate customer data privacy and security measures is mandatory to cultivate customer trust and loyalty and sets you apart from your competitors. We hope the suggestions outlined in the article will help you create a robust data protection plan.

What measures have you previously taken to safeguard customer data? Tell us on LinkedInOpens a new window , FacebookOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!

Indrajeet Deshpande
Indrajeet Deshpande

Contributor, Ziff Davis B2B

Indrajeet is a Marketing professional with 6+ years of experience in managing different facets of Digital Marketing. After working with SpiderG - a Pune based SaaS startup, he is now ready to work as a freelance marketer with different SaaS startups helping them with marketing strategy, plan and execution. His love for old-school hard rock and metal music culminated in taking up guitar and starting www.guitargabble.com. He’s studying Stoic philosophy, experimenting with productive habits and documenting the progress. Get in touch if you’re keen to know how you can implement pro-wrestling tactics in your marketing, community building and storytelling.
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