With data privacy here to stay, marketers must evolve to find other avenues to target prospective customers. The days of personal data abundance are over, but this does not need to be unfavorable. The world of data privacy opens up new marketing opportunities for your business to focus on personalization and create quality content.

Personalize customer experiences in real time without relying on third-party data

With the end of third-party data being effective, companies of all sizes must use first-party data to inform personalization and create outstanding customer experiences. With first-party data, you can better understand your prospects and customers to make your personalization efforts much more effective. An example would be an eCommerce site like Amazon personalizing shopping recommendations based on recent purchases and browsing behavior.

The best customer experiences use an omnichannel approach to communication. It goes far beyond just adding their name to an email. Companies need to interact with customers through a variety of different interactions.

B2B buyers are already 57–70% of the way through the buying process before the first meeting with a sales representative. Customers do their own research, which means you need to shift from a traditional lead generation approach to marketing to one that offers quality content at each stage of the buyer’s journey. This content needs to use personalization with messaging that will resonate with them, helping them with their purchase decision.

According to McKinsey, “When done well, personalization can deliver impact and growth quickly while creating better experiences for your customers. Personalization plays a critical role across the full customer lifecycle—acquisition, customer engagement, basket size, frequency of purchase, cross-sell, and/or churn prevention, among other things.”

Establish robust value exchanges for customer data

Customer value is the core component of any data relationship. 74% of consumers are frustrated by irrelevant advertising and expect their data to be used for personalized experiences. They are happy to share their data if they get something out of it in return. As long as you communicate a clear value proposition that offers a compelling narrative, you will get an audience willing to reciprocate with you.

One good example would be a loyalty program with exclusive customer benefits. Marketers can then provide more tailored offers and more personalization. Using personalization makes customers feel like they are getting more value from the relationship with your business. It encourages repeat purchases, making them feel understood and heard.

Compare this with sending out generic email communications or ad hoc promotions. These aren’t targeted and often come across as insincere. They don’t directly speak to the customer and treat them as someone to be sold to rather than individual humans with thoughts and feelings.

These blanket marketing efforts receive less engagement as they are not tailored to individual customer needs. They often lead to customers withdrawing consent for their data to be used. They don’t want to be constantly spammed with marketing communications. Data is a precious commodity, and customers want their consent to mean something.

Build more profound and more meaningful relationships with customers

Customers no longer want to deal with faceless companies. 79% of Americans say brands must actively demonstrate “they understand and care about them” before considering purchasing. By building a relationship with your customers, you can:

• Increase sales. Keeping an ongoing relationship with customers means you keep your brand at the top of their minds. It is much easier to sell to an existing customer than to acquire a new one.
• Reduce customer churn. One of the main reasons why customers choose to abandon a business is because of a poor relationship. If you have developed a strategy to engage with customers, you will see reduced churn and increased growth rates.
• Boost word-of-mouth referrals. If your customers are happy and have a great relationship with you, they will tell others about their experience. This will encourage new customers to come to you to receive the same high-quality service.
• Improve employee morale. With happy customers comes a happy workforce. If customers feel valued and advocate for your business, it helps to develop a positive work culture for your employees.
• Increase customer lifetime value (CLV). CLV projects the total lifetime revenue you can expect to receive from a customer that uses your products or services. This affects how profitable your business is.

  If your CLV is low, you will need to spend extra effort attracting new customers. However, if your CLV is high, you don’t have to spend time and money acquiring them again. This means you get the total profit margin from any future purchases they make, covering all of the customer acquisition costs from the first time.

• Provide value. Your content should always be focused on audience engagement. A good rule to follow is the Pareto principle AKA the “80/20” rule. 80% of your content should be educational or entertaining. This is what truly engages people. The other 20% can be used for promotional content that encourages someone to purchase from you.

Customers don’t just want to hear from you when you want them to pay you money. So, if they receive relevant content, they’ll be more likely to engage with you. Examples would include how-to guides, product demonstrations, and educational webinars.

Maximize every interaction to deliver real engagement

With this new era of data privacy comes the opportunity to optimize for better business growth. This means using every channel at your disposal to provide personalized content to your prospects and customers. For example, media like email signatures can often be overlooked in favor of other digital advertising activities.

However, with over 350 billion emails sent daily, intelligent marketers can turn every message into a vehicle for delivering targeted and personalized marketing throughout a standard business email chain. By using email signatures effectively, you also give yourself a competitive advantage in today’s digital world. You can create targeted marketing opportunities in a way that is organic and not intrusive. It also means you better control your media spending and delight an engaged customer base.

How to ensure robust data privacy practices

Complying with data privacy laws and practices might seem like a burden on your marketing efforts. However, by taking the time to build a robust data privacy policy, you will go a long way to building trust with your audiences.

Be transparent about data collection and use

If you want customers to trust you with their data, you need to be clear about what you will do with it. If customers understand what they consent to and how it benefits them, they will be much more willing to give their data. Transparency builds trust, which turns into loyalty, making the perfect formula for creating long-lasting customer relationships.

According to Google, collecting data responsibly is the best method for balancing data-driven marketing and privacy protection. Your privacy and cookie policies, as well as your terms and conditions, must be easily accessible on your website. Doing so makes it easier for visitors to opt out of any data practices and provides a secure site experience.

It helps if you are also transparent with your data usage policy. In particular, the data you collect should only be used for your stated purposes. If you say you are only collecting data for research purposes, you cannot then use the data for marketing purposes.

Get explicit consent

Remember that privacy laws such as GDPR have a very high standard for consent. Customers must give explicit consent directly, and via a positive action, i.e., the contact has provided their data freely and of their own volition.

In some countries like Germany, it is best practice to use a double opt-in process. This occurs in two steps:

1. The subscriber fills in and submits a consent form

2. A confirmation email goes to the subscriber with a link to click. This verifies their email address, which is added to your mailing list.

Keep personal data secure

If a person has willingly given your organization their data, it is your responsibility to protect it with robust data security methods. Hackers continuously evolve how they execute cyberattacks, with phishing efforts becoming more sophisticated. This is why data protection is a vital part of company operations.

Customer trust evaporates instantly if your company loses (breaches/hacks) or misuses data (selling to third parties/spamming). This will then affect your engagement marketing strategies. Customers use massive amounts of faith when they provide their data, so you must ensure it is always protected. Being a trustworthy custodian of customer data is a marketing responsibility as important as lead generation and brand awareness.

Respect user privacy preferences

Digital marketing cannot work without rich data and relevant customer information. However, if customers don’t want you to use their data, you must respect their wishes. This means offering options for communicating with them (email, direct mail, SMS, etc.) and clear opt-out measures. It is their data you have access to, meaning they can decide how they want it to be used.

Conclusion

The old ways of advertising are no longer as effective as they used to be. Consumers have more control over their data and do not want to share it with those businesses that do not offer a tailored experience that suits their needs. Data privacy has fundamentally changed how marketers reach new customers and speak to those they already have.

But these changes come with fresh opportunities. The focus is now on evolving your marketing strategies to deliver tailored and personalized experiences to customers. So, build trust in your marketing communications, keep up-to-date with data privacy regulations, and develop genuine value exchanges with customers. You will then build lasting relationships, engage your audiences through every stage of the buyer's journey, and offer a richer customer experience that leads to a better return for your business.