Convenience or Privacy? Pick one.

In my previous article about personalized digital experiences, I delved into what these experiences are and how they work. Today, I will take a step further and explore the line where we start pondering whether or not giving away bits of our privacy is worth it. There is a delicate balance between providing consumers with personalized and highly relevant experiences versus

To frame this article, I will share a quote from a longtime industry colleague, and friend, Julizzette Colón Bilbraut: La privacidad es el lujo del siglo 21 (Privacy is the luxury of the 21st century). As governments put consumer privacy protections into place, marketers must balance working with those limitations and meeting our objectives.

What can we do to provide relevant experiences while meeting expectations and not being too close for comfort? Finally, how can we deliver that marketing message that answers the last question asked to Siri, Google, or Alexa?

Privacy is Ultimately Up To Consumers

In a world of smartphones, smart speakers, and smart everything, privacy is a mere illusion or make-believe. Instead, most consumers allow location, cameras, microphones, and other permissions for richer digital experiences.

The only way for consumers to achieve some privacy protection is to have an active role and not depend on third parties to provide it. Unfortunately, the United States government can’t keep up with innovation and has turned somewhat of a blind eye to these issues, leaving it up to the states, self-regulatory frameworks, and industry standards. As a result, US consumers are mostly unprotected without a comprehensive privacy law like the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Some marketers will use this gap between law and innovation to their advantage. Examples include selling personal data, data breaches, behavior tracking (beyond what was allowed), and enabling phone features without permission (to name a few).

Ethical marketers, instead, will be proactive and institute best practices and transparency. An example is the rise of websites prompting users for permission to install tracking cookies. Other ethical practices include anonymization, which removes any identifiable information from databases, policies clearly outlining data usage, labeled opt-out options, and obtaining consent when personal data is to be exchanged.

Guilty as charged.

I am deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem, being an Android user from day one in 2007 with the release of the G1. The experiences this ecosystem provides are part of the digital experiences I chose to have. Some examples are photos that collect location data, browsing history, search history, google pay, maps with an enabled timeline that knows where I’ve been every day since 2014, and my Google Drive holds a fair share of documents. On top of that, I have five Google smart speakers throughout my apartment that control lights, music, alarms, and climate. The only thing awkward is when the smart speakers barge into conversations without prompt. It is very creepy. My Google experience is omnichannel, and Alphabet knows more about me than myself. The experiences Google provides me are top-notch. For this reason, I’ve picked convenience.

Awkward Territory

Omnichannel marketing can lead to gathering a large amount of consumer data. Unfortunately, this can lead to awkward and unexpected situations where our marketing messages might cause a wrong impression. Here are a few examples:

Excessive Personalization – Getting an ad or marketing message for a business we just drove in front of or mentioned in a smart speaker request makes consumers feel they are under surveillance.
Excessive Communication – Seeing the same message on multiple channels can be irritating. Make sure you limit the number of exposures and channels. Getting the same invite or offer on a display ad, email, video, etc., can be annoying.
Inconsistent Messages – On the other end of the spectrum, consumers can receive different and varying messages from the same company on various channels. What about retailer recommendations that contradict previous purchases? Periscope by McKinsey released a study that says 24% of consumers find this very frustrating. Decision paralysis, anyone?
Spying – Smart speakers always listen, looking to pick up a user prompt. A 2022 study revealed that 47% of smart speaker owners are most concerned about the always-listening feature. These prompts and conversation fragments are often left in the device. Third parties can gain access to this information to target ads. Web cameras can be remotely enabled.

The future of OmniChannel marketing promises deeper integrations. One day we will see custom ads made for us as we walk around town. Traditional media will find a way to deliver custom messages, and consent marketing will become more predominant. Winning consumer trust will provide a quicker path to conversion. Let me know how your balancing act is going!