How Will The New Privacy Laws Affect Your Online Business?
B.Duncan, 2022
With Australia introducing new online privacy laws in 2022, it’s become a trending topic for both businesses and consumers alike. Doubling down on data protection seems like a good idea at first, but when it comes to digital marketing and e-commerce it’s less than beneficial. With these new limitations on data privacy comes prioritising new strategies to market your business online, all whilst maintaining your pre-existing customers' trust.
What Are The New Data Privacy Laws?
To understand how privacy laws can affect your e-commerce business and digital marketing strategy, you need to understand what’s considered personal information worthy of data protection as of 2022. You’ll find the majority of this protected information was previously used in data analysis that contributes to successful digital marketing strategies for online businesses.
So here’s an overview of what falls under personal information within 2022’s data privacy laws -
- contact information like government names, phone numbers and email addresses
- identifying information including a person's date of birth, licence number and IP address
- a person’s financial information such as credit card numbers or bank account details
- user behaviour such as website visits, email views, click-through rate & shopping habits
Prior to these laws, this type of information was collected for years from online users without any significant regulations or protection. This is what prompted the current concerns around cybersecurity.
What Role Do Privacy Laws Play In Digital Marketing & E-Commerce?
Before this new revelation of cybersecurity, data harvesting was a common and effective practice in digital marketing to encourage customer engagement and satisfaction. Online businesses used this third-party data to understand what factors contributed to peaks in engagement from users, this data analysis would inform digital marketing strategies. If most third-party information doesn’t stay within the regulations of online privacy laws, what’s next?
Navigating user data amidst the privacy regulations can appear impossible, especially with consumers growing awareness of how their personal data is being used. But there is some hope to win over the trust of consumers through alternative methods of data collection. Especially when this affects their own experience, Google’s research showed 74% of consumers want ads personalised to be relevant to their individual needs and interests.
So with the majority of consumers and digital marketers sharing the same goal of pushing targeted ads, the natural course of action is to decentralise third-party data collection in your marketing strategy and instead, start utilising first-hand data.
What’s Involved In Collecting First-Hand Data?
If consumers want relevant ads they’re going to need to provide some personal information, that’s where first-hand data comes in. There’s a few ways to encourage consumers to share their personal data organically, especially if you’ve built a loyal customer base over the years.
- EDM: electronic direct mail marketing is actually a great tool to gather information about your customers without having to put in too much work. Google found a huge 90% of customers are willing to share their email address if the right incentive is offered, examples being product samples or discount codes. The study also found that 1 in 3 customers would share their email without any incentive at all. Having any pre-existing and potential customers subscribed to weekly emails informing them of your products, deals and campaigns is a great way to implement first-hand data into your digital marketing.
- Trust: being transparent with your customers about where their data is going if they decide to give it to you is the most important thing you could do. Google shared that almost 60% of customers believe companies are selling their data despite that being false and due to the exaggerated discourse of selling data. So build trust between you and your customers to encourage them to feel comfortable in providing information that could increase in depth over time. Given all those statistics, you'll need to put in the work and stay consistent to make the difference you're looking for.
- Visibility: it’s one thing to release a statement on being transparent with your customers and hoping for the best, but you’re going to have to put effort into providing consumers with accessible information surrounding data collection policies, especially those specific to your business. Have an FAQ page visible on your website that clearly explains the reasons behind your data collection. Use clear language and infographics to ensure your customers feel like they can truly understand your intentions behind collecting their personal data.
Summary
Whilst the waters are murky regarding exactly what’s acceptable in data collection as policies are being refined, the most important element in a creating digital marketing strategy in 2022 is transparency. If you need help navigating the new privacy laws while creating your strategy, feel free to reach out to our Melbourne based digital agency team now!
