The anticipated new, stricter privacy laws will go further to protect American consumers, and at the same time lower marketers’ acquisition cost per new client. But for privacy to be meaningfully protected, it must first be violated. This is an exciting time for advertisers: there is an opportunity to adapt to the future, prioritize the customer experience, and enjoy greater profitability.
The upcoming implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) appears to be throwing a wrench into the world of personal information. The CCPA will allow consumers to opt-out of the sale of their personal information, requiring businesses to update long-solidified marketing practices. This can seem daunting to businesses that know consumers are being overwhelmed with promotional messages every day—some they want, many they don’t—and are often looking to opt-out entirely. Taking consumers off your list who don’t want to receive marketing messages only changes the numerator, not the denominator. If two out of one hundred consumers typically respond to your offers, and five of them opt-out, now your response rate is two out of ninety-five. Your conversion rate just went up, your marketing costs went down, and consumers who don’t want to see your messages didn’t. This is proof that in fact, both businesses and consumers can benefit from it.
If a local brewery is looking to expand their customer base and increase retention, for instance, the most useful tool to acquire new customers at a lower cost is a specific list of specialty beer drinkers in the surrounding area, who have not previously opted-out. The brewery is able to lower acquisition cost per client, and consumers are presented with something in which they already have an interest. Everyone wins.
The CCPA will not impact advertisers’ ability to target. With the help of a targeted mailing list and lead services like Exact Data, advertisers waste less time, reduce costs, and increase profits. Customers, meanwhile, enjoy tailor-made promotions, lower prices, and fewer offers they didn’t want to receive in the first place = more peace of mind. The fewer resentment consumers feel about the arbitrary nature of what’s being sold to them, the more faithful customers they become. Exact Data is in the business of creating this positive relationship between advertisers, and consumers. The extensive personal information database (that is routinely hygiene, updated, and verified) allows for the precise investigation of personal information and interests. In the end, smaller lists and privacy violation equates to its protection.
