By Linda Saunders, Director Solution Engineering, Salesforce South Africa 

From delivering customer support to special offers after customers have browsed certain products, businesses rely on personalised digital experiences. Whilst customers appreciate thoughtful personalisation, however, many are uncomfortable with the sense of being spied on.

According to research from tech industry analyst firm Valoir, one in three consumers believe marketing has gotten “way too creepy”. Only one in four consumers believe they understand how website cookies work.

Marketers face their own challenges when it comes to balancing engaging personalisation and privacy, not least from regulators. For those operating globally, to comply with new and constantly evolving guidelines means investing in different platforms and regimes across multiple jurisdictions.

As consumers grow more aware of data privacy, their peace of mind is essential to companies unlocking the benefits of personalisation. Having the right software is key to ensuring that data is managed properly, boosting marketer and developer productivity, and creating opportunities to build better customer relationships.

Striking the right balance between personalisation and privacy

According to Salesforce’s 2022 State of the Connected Customer Report, 52% of customers expect offers to always be personalised. Yet 74% of consumers feel companies collect more personal information than they need, and 64% feel companies aren’t as transparent as they should be when it comes to personal data use.

Personalisation and privacy don’t have to be at odds. Leaning into ethical data tools and services can be an essential design principle for ensuring digital experiences are built to enhance trust. There are four key ways that companies can unlock value and savings from implementing ethical personalisation.

Create consumer-facing data policies and practices, and communicate these in simple, understandable language. For brand and operational consistency, companies should also implement these policies at all levels - not just in training or guidance but in the software. By embedding ethical use into data collection, use, and retention and expiration processes, everyone across the organisation can focus on differentiated and ethical customer engagement.

Decrease the data “productivity tax” to free up marketers’ time. It’s estimated that marketers are losing between 8% and 12% of their overall productivity time to inefficient data management. By carefully designing the way data is collected, retained and used, businesses can cut this productivity tax and free up teams’ time to deliver personalised experiences instead.

Keep more first-party data. Having a complete view of the customer enables organisations to tailor communications to their specific needs and interests which will drive incremental sales and margins. Yet, on average, companies lose 8% of their first-party data due to time spent cleaning, preparing, and managing. By improving tools and communication with customers about data collection, organisations can avoid throwing away this valuable information.

Outsourcing data management creates efficiencies. Valoir estimates that up to 10% of developer time will soon be required to address complex ethical and privacy compliance requirements. By outsourcing to third-party software providers, developers can save time and marketers can better manage their data. That adds up to as many as 40-50 hours of unlocked engineering capacity.

Maximising Value for Businesses and Consumers

Consumers are more likely to do business with companies they trust. Whilst data can be incredibly valuable for improving the customer experience, it’s imperative that it is used ethically and responsibly. The more transparent they are about their personalization strategy, the easier it will be for customers to understand what data they should provide and how it will be used.

By building safeguards and protections into products and practices, partnering with engineering and product teams to consider the privacy implications, working closely with customers to explore thoughtful data collection, companies can deliver remarkable experiences for their consumers while deepening trust.

With the right mindset, partners, and technology, privacy and personalisation can work hand-in-hand.