The Value of Consumer Privacy Extends to All Departments

The importance of protecting consumer privacy, for your organization.

When thinking about driving revenue and customer acquisition, most companies lead with their products and how their offerings impact their target customers. However, in today's digital age, how a company protects its customers' data has become a key driver in revenue growth, customer acquisition, and brand appeal.

The responsibilities surrounding consumer privacy are no longer relegated to the IT and cybersecurity teams but now are the entire organization's responsibility. So, what are the variables at play when talking about data protection, and how does it affect your organization's strategic policies, growth, revenue, and operations?

Consumers Are Increasingly Cautious about Sharing Their Information

A recent KPMG study found that 86% of all consumers have a growing concern about data privacy, and a whopping 30% of all consumers don't want to share any data at all. However, most interactions customers have with companies include some form of data sharing.

It's also become a concern for businesses. 32% of respondents say they have switched companies or providers due to data policies, according to a Cisco report. Additionally, younger generations tend to be more likely to take proactive steps to protect their privacy, indicating that consumers will continue to adjust their behavior to protect their data and personal information.

Expand Your Privacy Commitment to Build Consumer Trust

Regardless of why you collect data from your consumers, proactively engaging in protecting that data is vital to the success of your customer relationships. It’s essential to engage your marketing, IT, operations, legal, and compliance teams cross-functionally to ensure that consumer data protection remains a priority.

Create a Privacy Commitment Statement

While many companies look at legal and compliance as the first step in their approach to customer privacy protection, truly cementing trust with your customers includes a privacy approach throughout the organization.

To achieve this, companies that incorporate a well-thought-out privacy strategy can stay ahead of the curve when it comes to consumer data protection. A proactive approach to data management can help build trust and maintain strong consumer relationships.

Consider creating a company privacy commitment statement to codify your approach to privacy. Remember to share it with your departments internally so they can incorporate it into their specific function. For example, HR might adjust their employee data practices based on this commitment or the marketing team may choose to offer easy ways for customers to manage preferences and to opt-out of certain tracking for services such as Google Ads or Google Analytics.

This statement can include the following:

• What data your company collects.
• What your company does with the data.
• How your company manages customer data.

Use Positive Data Privacy Communications to Build Brand Value

For companies of all sizes, the brand and how the company is perceived in the marketplace is one of the most critical assets.

In a survey of 2,000 American consumers, 72% of respondents reported they would be less likely to buy from a brand that did not handle their data responsibly. 65% would discourage friends and family from purchasing from that brand.

Engaging in consumer privacy protection best practices fosters brand loyalty.

Consumers are highly focused on how companies use their information. Do they need it? Do they sell it? Do they protect it? Each of these concerns has become a new consumer pain point, no matter your industry.

Your approach to protecting your customer’s information is now an opportunity to elevate your reputation, especially when stated powerfully through the right customer communication channels. Rather than seeing privacy as a regulatory burden, companies should approach data handling as an opportunity to market to their customers.

Best practices include:

• Make data privacy policies visible and clear.
• Use common language rather than legal jargon.
• Use pre-prompts to explain the benefits of sharing data.
• Create a consumer-facing data security center, allowing customers to see how data is being used, provide options to opt-out, and explain governance and security practices.

Grow Revenue With a Consumer Identity and Privacy Protection Service

Companies looking to grow both revenue and loyalty may find they benefit from offering a consumer identity and privacy protection service. These types of programs may act as value-adds for customer rewards programs and, for some companies, these services can act as a new revenue stream or increase the lifetime value of a customer.

Take some time to identify a strategic partner who can help you provide this offering to your customers. Some considerations to keep in mind when looking for this partner include:

• scalability,
• customizable level of engagement for your customers,
• the ability to white label the service to continue to build brand trust,
• time-to-market,
• customer service, and
• other values such as pre-breach incident planning.

Third-Party Privacy Certifications

Consumers are now seeking out information on data privacy but may find they aren't willing to trust their data is protected 'because the company says so.' External validation, such as third-party privacy certifications and protection programs communicated during the buying process, is one of the most important factors impacting buying decisions. 82% of consumers say these practices positively impact their purchase decisions.

Third-party validation may include SSL Seals indicating sound technical security (e.g. Norton, Trustwave) and Trust Seals indicating business verification (e.g. BBB Accredited, TRUSTe. Showcase these validations with badges registration or checkout process, or in the website headers and footers, to build additional trust with customers as they engage your website.

Robust Data Privacy Can Protect and Grow Your Business

Investment in consumer data protection directly impacts the bottom line. Businesses that invest in data privacy practices see a 2.7x return on investment.

Incorporating your approach to privacy through the customer experience journey adds another layer of trust between your company and the customer.

As customers grow more and more concerned about their data privacy, it is important to consider offering privacy protection for your employees and customers. Our team at IDX can help you understand the services we offer and how they can apply to your organization.

The best companies in the data privacy space are agile, ethical, and relentless when it comes to security. Consumers look to organizations that keep their digital privacy safe and see it as a valuable commodity. Check out IDX and see how we have helped other organizations achieve the highest level of privacy protection for their customers.