Data is a currency — let’s payback consumers.
Tech innovation has enabled marketers to reach individual consumers like never before. The vision of achieving personalised one-to-one marketing is edging closer to us. We have moved on from reaching people we think we know, to reaching actual people we know: Down to their address, what car they drive and what brand of toilet paper they purchased last week. It’s extremely powerful — especially when first party data is combined with third party data, unlocking untold potential to reach your audiences and maximise revenues. Data is our currency, but it’s being devalued.
When currencies take a downturn, it’s usually to do with a macro economic shock. We’re one year on from our own shock — namely when GDPR came into effect on the 25th May 2018. With its grey areas and potential for huge fines, all companies that collected data had to make sure their data would be compliant. Some chose to send emails asking people for permission to keep them on customer databases, and others chose to get rid of their entire CRM database and start from scratch. The jig was up. The party was over.
Scandals involving companies like Cambridge Analytica revealed a sinister side to data. If data is powerful, that power was being misused. This in turn potentially increased their scepticism to data and wanting to opt-out as GDPR policies went ahead.
However, it did lead to building more awareness from people about how valuable their data was to companies. This forced organisations to be much more transparent with how they use consumer data and having clear consent forms. Companies like Google and Apple are continuing to push out increased privacy measures to help users take back control of their data, which hinders their competitors’ revenue streams.
We are now treading down an unforeseen path. First-party data is limited, and when it is available, it has strict constraints in order to comply with the legislation. Because of this, marketers can’t easily scale to reach people. Equally, with the rise of initiatives for consumers to turn off all web tracking leads to an absence of strong third-party data. What do we have left?
As an industry we’re in desperate need of compliant, clean, and accurate user data. The richer and more tied to an individual the better. We’re willing to pay good money for this data; from CRM campaigns to third party data targeting segments. However, we don’t explore going to the source — actual consumers themselves.
Marketers should be allowing consumers to take even more control. As a consumer’s interests, purchase intent, external factors and financial pressures are constantly changing, so is their data. They should have ownership over this data, and be able to leverage it, if it is fresh and relevant for brands who want to reach them. That means being able to trade it like a currency.
We’ve created an entire digital eco-system that is essentially a data stock exchange. This exchange already uses data as a way of trading advertising. Surely consumer data, consented and controlled by consumers, should power these transactions? It would allow consumers to share what data they want to update in ‘real-time’ and create an additional layer, a personal data exchange, which is connected to the wider digital eco-system.
A solution like this gives consumers transparency and control over their data. They are in charge, and as such would feel empowered.
Of course, there are pitfalls. There would be a need for consumers to be educated on data security to ensure they are aware of what they’re sharing, how the data will be used and what the effect of their data sharing is. It would also mean that we’re reliant on consumers to give correct and honest data. Accuracy is the key. However, if data is a currency — how much is it worth? Can it be worth nothing if the data is inaccurate?
There will be consumers who have no intention of providing accurate data. As well as this, inaccurate data already spans our ecosystem: From people browsing luxury cars they can’t buy, to a family of four sharing a tablet, inaccurate data is created every day. With strict controls platforms are putting in place, the cookie is on its final half-life and the walled-gardens platforms hide behind are getting higher.
How do we bring consumers to the data table? We need to create a value proposition for them to take part with clear benefits they’ll receive. This value needs to include control and transparency so consumers are empowered into deciding what to share. They would understand that the more data they choose to share, the better online ad experience they would have.
A simplified vision of this could be a ‘personal data dashboard’ where consumers can easily choose what data they want to input, and a simple on/off toggle to allow them full control of when they want to share it.
While a solution like this may hurt publishers, it will give brands a better way of reaching their audiences and consumers a tailored experience they’ve chosen to be part of, helping to balance user privacy and digital advertising.
Allowing consumers to use their personal data as a currency is an innovative approach. As an industry, we must explore this if we are to achieve the vision of personalised one-to-one marketing.
Sophie Finckenberg is Global Digital Account Director.
