How Technology Companies Can Establish and Benefit from a User-First Culture
Today’s consumers are aware that their data is valuable and their online privacy is important. It’s hard not to be aware of this considering the number of headlines relating to the use and ‘abuse’ of user data by big tech companies. The more data privacy is publicized, the more consumers become aware of its importance. But just because consumers know they have rights doesn’t mean they understand what their rights are.
In fact, a recent Ogury survey revealed 37% of US consumers still don’t know what GDPR is. Yes, the US may not be directly regulated by GDPR, but after living and breathing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) since its inception, the result was surprising.
With the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) set to go into effect with the New Year, US marketers and publishers will need to begin taking these types of legislation more seriously, and consumers should become more educated on their rights. Here’s how technology companies can help.
Establish a User-First Culture
Marketers and publishers say they want to place the user first, but in order to build a user-first culture, they need to ensure they keep the user front-of-mind in all their practices, including data control. In the existing era of accelerating regulation, we know users are becoming increasingly aware their data is valuable. But we need to educate them on why it’s valuable and why they need to become more informed.
The study’s findings indicate that companies have not properly instituted a requirement for explicit and informed user consent for data collection and usage. In fact, 82% of US users don’t read consent notices in their entirety. In addition, nearly half of US consumers (46%) said they still do not understand how their data is being used after reading consent notices.
If we want to establish a user-first culture, we need to begin by implementing explicit and informed user consent for data collection and usage in a simple and clear manner.
Give Users a Fair Choice
In order to establish a user-first culture, companies should provide consumers with the option to choose how their data is used and which messages they want to receive from advertisers. Providing this choice will personalize the user’s experience in an intelligent and effective way.
Research from Adlucent revealed 71% of respondents prefer ads tailored to their interests. Consumers don’t want their digital experiences disrupted by irrelevant and annoying ads. Globally, 90% of all respondents to our survey told us that they find targeted advertising ‘annoying.’ And in the US, this trend is even more prevalent, with 92% expressing the same sentiment.
Technology companies can support the relationship among the brand, the publisher, and the consumer by providing the user with a clear, explicit choice when it comes to how and if they want to share their data.
Stay Ahead of US Privacy Legislation
With many global consumers still unaware of what GDPR is, it’s a valid concern that CCPA will have a similar impact. But the more we educate consumers on what data control actually means, the greater impact privacy legislation will have.
As more and more states pass separate privacy regulations into law, we will likely see an increase of noncompliance and fines across the board. Subsequently, we might see more companies begin advocating for the US to develop its own version of GDPR at the federal level in an effort to simplify compliance for companies nationwide.
To stay ahead of the imminent data privacy regulations, companies need to establish a culture of transparency and compliance. Consumers will be more confident in businesses that offer a clear value exchange when asked to share their data, and marketers and publishers will build stronger relationships with users.
Evan Rutchik is CRO at Ogury.
About the Survey: Ogury conducted the survey from February 12th to 18th 2019 in the US, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the UK, featuring answers from 287,571 mobile users.
About Ogury: Founded in 2014, Ogury provides the most advanced Mobile Journey Marketing (MJM) Solution, where organizations can access the integrated data and technologies necessary to understand the mobile user journey, and market across it. In full compliance with GDPR, and with a sharp focus on operational simplicity, Ogury MJM delivers unmatched user engagement and mobile asset revenue to 900 brands and 3,500 publishers across the globe.
