Businesses face the challenge of balancing personalised customer experiences with stringent privacy regulations like GDPR. By leveraging data platforms, companies can ensure compliance while enhancing customer trust and engagement through transparent data practices and effective AI-driven personalisation.
2018's GDPR regulations implemented in the EU and the UK have transformed how businesses process data. Yet, the amount of data that businesses are expected to store and transfer has grown exponentially, introducing new challenges around how they ensure compliance.
Meanwhile, consumers are more aware of data privacy and want to have a say on how their data is being used. But for businesses to build an effective customer experience, personalised experiences are central. Marketing teams increasingly need to strike the right balance between personalisation and privacy, as this is crucial for building trust and fostering long-term customer relationships. Without the trust of their customers, marketing efforts can fall flat, leading to reduced engagement and potential loss of revenue.
So: how do businesses solve the personalisation vs privacy paradox?
Businesses should not underestimate the significance of trust and transparency in data handling – especially amid today’s privacy concerns. However, only 51% of consumers trust brands to keep their personal data secure and use it responsibly, meaning many have a long way to go.
Building trust with customers means ensuring transparency in data collection, storage, and how businesses use information as part of operations.
A critical role for marketing teams, this translates to ensuring clear communication on how customer data is being collected, used, and shared across the business. On top of this, customers should have access to and control over their data at all times; while businesses must ensure compliance with regulations and laws, such as GDPR.
Data compliance rules will vary across countries and regions, and so businesses should conduct relevant research to ensure they’re meeting obligations. Many governmental and industry standards and regulations have data privacy and protection as their focal point (e.g. GDPR, PCI DSS). Typically, organisations must be able to demonstrate risk management governance and compliance to auditors, boards of directors, executive staff, and regulatory and compliance bodies.
A warning, a fine, or even a ban on data processing could be evoked should a business fail to meet regulations.
The introduction of privacy regulations like GDPR forced Danish lottery organisation Danske Spil to upgrade their operations, and rethink their ability to tailor experiences to each customer.
After implementing customer data platform Twilio Segment, they improved how they connect with customers in a privacy-first way by compliantly utilising transactional and behavioural data from over 800,000 monthly tracked users. This holistic view of customer data allowed them to enhance the overall customer experience, unlocking growth opportunities as a result.
“Our mission requires good data — and data that is handled in a way that makes it accessible and usable across the organisation”, said Peter Føns, CDP Manager.
But taking a privacy-first approach to data goes beyond meeting regulations – and can in fact help power a more effective customer experience.
Trustworthy data plays a critical role in fuelling effective AI-driven personalisation. Businesses can use data to deliver meaningful customer experiences through creating personalised content, or making adjustments to their CX.
However, AI-driven personalisation is only as effective as the quality of the data it operates on. This is because AI algorithms rely on clean, comprehensive datasets to derive meaningful insights and make accurate predictions – meaning businesses should prioritise data integrity and consistency to maximise the potential.
Despite the clear benefits, the road to AI adoption is paved with obstacles. With business leaders citing everything from lack of training, to security or compliance concerns, to data quality as holding them back, it’s evident they need a helping hand.
One way forward is investing in data quality initiatives and technologies such as Twilio Segment. Offering an all-encompassing solution for businesses to build customer trust, stay on top of changing regulations, and ensure compliance, it also streamlines operational processes for greater efficiency.
Danske Spil used Segment’s Privacy Portal to automate data privacy. They were able to gain real-time visibility into the personal information they were collecting, where it was being collected from, and where it was being sent – before setting rules to automatically protect this personally identifiable information (PII). They were then able to seamlessly activate their clean data across multiple channels and tools.
Twilio Segment helps businesses meet privacy laws and achieve compliance with the following end-user privacy features:
Want to experience the power of unified data while staying compliant, securing customers’ privacy and building trust?