New EU data protection directive has ramifications for digital marketers.

The use of data collected from visitors to websites has been a key driver in making the internet a personalised and involving experience for users, as well as allowing highly effective web marketing. “Cookies”—small lines of text stored by a user’s web browser—help individuals navigate quickly around sites they visit regularly. At the same time, cookies allow marketers to track visitors’ behaviour across websites, building a digital profile that can help drive messaging tailored to these consumers.

Recently enacted EU regulations, however, will make the collection of internet users’ information more challenging for marketers. Due to privacy concerns about the use of personal data, the Council of the EU has approved a directive amending existing e-privacy legislation. This new directive, effective 25 May 2011, requires that users be notified each time a cookie is placed on their machine. For organisations seeking to build a 360 degree view of their customers and prospects, prior consent from website visitors will now be required before marketers can share or use an individual’s personal data.

A Higher Wall Around Personal Data

Although “personal data” might commonly be construed as specific and highly private detail about an individual—from blood type to bank account numbers—the EU directive applies a much more general definition. Essentially, personal data is any information that relates to a person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, by reference to an identification number or by one or more factors specific to their physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.

For this reason, cookies are generally regarded as personal data since they are used to track the activities of a site visitor and differentiate between users. An IP address, by contrast, may or may not be regarded as personal data. The definition hinges on whether the IP address is processed with the aim of identifying an individual.

As you can see from the above definition, the basics of marketing demographics are now considered personal data when tracked for individual website visitors. Making your customers and prospects feel comfortable in sharing this information is now an essential element of any online marketing endeavour.

Gaining Consent is Now the First Step in Any Meaningful Customer Conversation

In the UK, consumer opt-in has been required for B2C email marketing since 2003. For this reason, B2C organisations are generally familiar with the process of gaining consent to disseminate marketing campaigns to individuals. With the new EU data privacy directive, such one-to-one opt-in relationships will now be required for web marketing.

As permission-based marketing broadens to encompass all commercial web interactions, it is essential that your organisation delivers a comfortable and compelling web experience that builds trust with visitors. This is especially true if prospects have to navigate in the face of pop-up windows or dialogue boxes asking for permission to collect data.

The more honest your conversation with your customers, the more you will reassure them that your motive is to provide more personalised, relevant and valuable content during their website visits. In this way, you can continue to effectively capture and use this important information resource in your web marketing efforts.

Reward Your Opt-in Visitors With a Consistent and Compelling Message

Using an integrated marketing solution can help unify messaging across all your communication channels, including your all-important web presence. It could be argued that the more directly your messaging addresses your customers’ needs—and the greater the consistency of those messages in reflecting your organisation’s value across every customer-facing channel—the more likely you will have a communication environment that creates perceived value to website visitors, giving them a stronger reason to opt in.

For an increasing number of B2C and B2B marketers, Aprimo is the integrated marketing software of choice to help unify messaging across all parts of the organisation, regardless of the communication channel. With Aprimo Marketing Studio or its cloud-based variant, Aprimo Marketing Studio On Demand, it is possible to achieve new levels of visibility and control of marketing operations and campaign management.

Aprimo ties all of your marketing objectives together into a single integrated platform that builds connections between team members and enables efficient information flow—and control—across your entire organisation.

Conclusion

Newly enacted EU data protection policies mean marketers can no longer adopt a business-as-usual approach to collecting internet site visitor information using “cookies.” Since consent via opt-in mechanisms will now be needed to gather the data required to build a digital profile of customers, marketers will need to create web experiences that reward visitors for their permission. Digital marketers who design consistent, relevant and compelling messaging across every channel may make themselves a welcome participant in customer conversations where the consumer is now the ultimate arbiter.

About Aprimo

Aprimo, a Teradata company, is a leading global provider of marketing software and services that enhance the productivity and performance of marketing organizations. Through the use of Aprimo’s integrated marketing software, Aprimo Marketing Studio® for B2C, Aprimo Marketing Studio® for B2B, and Aprimo® Relationship Manager, marketers can integrate their organisations, get control of budget and spend, eliminate internal silos with streamlined workflows, and execute innovative multi-channel campaigns to drive measurable return on investment. Hundreds of thousands of marketers trust Aprimo to revolutionise their marketing. Aprimo customers include over one third of Fortune 100 companies, and nearly one quarter of Global 100 companies. Founded in 1998, Aprimo is headquartered in Indianapolis with offices worldwide. For more information call +44 (0)118 9779 700 or visit www.aprimo.com.

Teradata, Aprimo’s parent company, is the world’s leader in data warehousing and integrated marketing management through its database software, enterprise data warehousing, data warehouse appliances, and enterprise analytics. Teradata acquired Aprimo in January 2011.