chosen to do this.
In those ten years, consumers have learnt a lot about what companies do with their data, often through things going wrong. Bad enough that some of the most trusted brands in the country, including Marks and Spencer, should have customer email addresses stolen. But when the tax authorities casually put 25 million records onto a disk and post it - only for the data to get lost - it reveals just how much information is being kept and the risks associated with that.
In response, consumers are not just becoming savvy, they are also getting more wary. The Direct Marketing Association has just asked consumers what they do if, when looking on a website for information on a product or service, they are asked to give their personal data. More than one in ten (12 per cent) said they always terminate the transaction, with a further 27 per cent saying they frequently do so.
That shows the extent to which consumers have lost their trust and also how much attitudes are being changed by social media. Staying anonymous - or closely controlling who gets to know your true identity - is one of the attractions of social networking sites. Brands are responding by putting their marketing messages out through Facebook, for example, without always asking for data in return.
In the early stages of the buying process, this is restoring a power to the consumer that they have always taken for granted in retail - to look, consider and compare without having to commit or expose themselves. Consumers still want to buy. But they way they go about it is changing, especially in the digital world.
Changing the rules
The new law about how to use cookies could be just the start of a wholesale change in how personal information gets into the marketing process. A review is scheduled of the Data Protection Directive - the over-arching legislation in Europe that determines how data can be captured, processed and transferred and the individual’s rights when that is being done.
One of the proposals being made is for a “right to be forgotten”. When organisations get hold of consumer data, they tend to keep it, often long after it has served its purpose. Sony Online Entertainment revealed that the 25 million records hacked from its systems had been sitting on a database last used in 2007, for example.
40 entrepreneurcountry
Five years on, it is likely that much of that contact information will not only be out of date, but also that many of those customers will have moved on in their tastes, habits and involvement with the brand. No wonder some legislators argue for enforced deletion policies, giving back to the consumer a level of anonymity in their actions online. That could be a concern for commercial organisations who want to sustain relationships with their customers, even after they have lapsed or gone dormant.
Balancing that consumer right with business needs is likely to drive up adoption of new types of personal information management systems.
These provide a platform
through which the consumer can directly control the marketing they receive and the relationships they want to sustain. In doing so, they restore that sense of ownership of personal information which nine out of ten consumers feel they have lost.
One example of this type of platform is operated by ALLOW. It provides a double benefit to consumers who sign up to the service: firstly, it notifies data owners the consumer no longer wants to hear from and opts them out of their marketing; secondly, it tells brands the consumer is interested in and begins a relationship - and where that data has value to the brand, ALLOW shares the financial return with its members. The whole process is transparent, fair and a true value exchange between consumers and companies.
It is also aligned with the way the UK Government expects personal information to be managed and is asking the Information Commissioner to enforce. A new Consumer Empowerment initiative embraces the power shift, as the policy document puts it, “away from a world in which certain businesses control the information they hold about consumers, towards one in which individuals, acting alone or in groups, can use their data or views about an organisation for their own or mutual benefit.”
Third-party data applications will play a central part in delivering this “mydata” initiative, making platforms like ALLOW a valued partner to both sides in the value exchange. A market will grow up around these, offering the consumer more choice, more control and better oversight of their personal information.
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