Four Ways to Communicate Your Site's Data-Tracking Policy
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Loading... - HALLE BENSON
- 01 Oct 2020
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With the clear and conspicuous communication of a site’s behavioral tracking procedures, even via a simple pop-up, a company can boost its brand perception and gain customers’ trust​
Ninety-one percent of U.S. Internet users avoid companies that don’t appear to protect their privacy, up from 89% the past two years, according to a February 2015 study conducted by Ipsos for San Francisco-based data privacy consultancy TRUSTe. Forty-five percent think that online privacy is more important than national security, 77% have moderated their online activity in the past year due to privacy concerns, and 22% don’t trust anyone to protect their online privacy.
With so much business being conducted, or at least begun, online, this is a dire situation for marketers. To help consumers feel more comfortable about online data-tracking activity, many companies are enhancing their communications about their data collection procedures, more overtly explaining to consumers that they can take action to prevent their own data from being tracked and stored on the companies’ sites.
A clear and easily comprehended data communications strategy that meets domestic and international legal requirements has become imperative for companies’ online presences. Here, experts offer some best practices.
1. Follow the law. According to Chris Babel, CEO of TRUSTe, the first step is to make sure that any alerts and opt-in or opt-out messages on your site are in compliance with federal regulations. The European Union requires a behavioral tracking notice to pop up when a user visits a site that uses cookies. While the U.S. doesn’t require an immediate pop-up, many global brands choose to apply the E.U. guidelines across each of their online properties, Babel says. “In the U.S., these pop-ups are completely optional right now, but they boost engagement and trust,” he says.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has specific guidelines on what a website’s privacy policy must include and how it should be worded, as does the U.S. Small Business Administration, but since many American Web users generally don’t take the time to comb through these privacy policies, Babel says that consumers appreciate companies that provide a pop-up alerting them about cookie use. “These pop-ups should be designed to interact with the 99% of consumers who won’t go to your privacy policy because it’s too long and detailed,” he says.
2. Speak like a layman. Write behavioral tracking alerts and privacy policies as if you’re speaking to a 10-year-old, says Sharon Anolik, a data privacy consultant who serves on the Department of Homeland Security’s Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee and is a member of the advisory board of the Future of Privacy Forum , a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “No legalese,” she says. “The wording in an opt-in statement, just like in a privacy policy, should be clear enough that your kids or your relative who doesn’t spend a lot of time online can understand. Speak to the consumer in a conversational way, as if they were asking you to explain what you do with this data. Say, ‘We use your data for this reason, and if you let us use it, then these features are available to you.’ If you make it clear enough for consumers, they can make an informed decision about whether that’s something that’s valuable to them.”
The goal of these pop-ups is to help consumers make decisions as quickly as possible, Anolik says. “I’ve seen opt-in and opt-out notices that are written in such vague terms that you don’t know what you’re clicking for. What does a ‘yes’ or ‘opt in’ mean?” she says. “Companies that write their opt-in or opt-out [messages] and their privacy notices in a very clear way can use that opportunity to inform consumers about the value that they’re bringing.”
Babel agrees: “You can say, ‘We use cookies to improve your experience.’” And the more specific you are in explaining how those cookies are used, the better, he says. Some cookies, for example, are necessary to make a site function, while others are intended to create a more personalized experience for each visitor or to allow advertisers to send that visitor more relevant offers. Give consumers the option of opting out of the latter two types of cookies, he says. “Being very transparent and letting people opt out in buckets is the way that we recommend.”
3. Simplify the opt-out. Offering a clear and overt opt-out option leaves only those site visitors who understand and appreciate the benefits of behavioral tracking, Anolik says. “You’re giving consumers the choice to say, ‘I want you—the company, the marketer—to use my data for this purpose.’ From a marketing standpoint, then you know that you have an audience that’s really relevant,” she says.
Plus, providing an easy opt-out option does much more to boost brand perception and trust than it does to scare people away, Babel says. “We asked, ‘If given the transparency and the ability to make a choice, does that make you feel better?’ Thirty-two percent [of those we surveyed] said yes, and the opt-out rate is much lower than that, less than 1%. That feeling of control is what you’re trying to give the consumer—knowledge and control.”
4. Be brief. Pop-ups’ messaging should be shorter than a tweet because there’s room for lengthier information elsewhere on your site, Babel says. “You use these pop-up consent mechanisms to figure out how, in 50 words or fewer and with some simple clicks, you can both educate and give choice. You always have the fallback of the detailed privacy policy,” he says.
According to Babel, the benefits of being honest about tracking consumers’ online activity far outweigh the risks. “In the U.S., these pop-ups are completely optional right now, but they boost engagement and trust. Over time, privacy has, from a publisher or website perspective, moved from being this issue of, ‘How do I deal with it and not get in trouble?’ Now you’re starting to see people try to differentiate themselves from their competition,” Babel says. “[The opt-out rate] is at less than 1%, and positive uplift in brand perception and trust is over 30%. That’s a great trade. With the increase in transparency and consent mechanisms, consumers are feeling better about things like targeted advertising with very low opt-outs. … Businesses should all adopt [these communications] quickly to increase trust with consumers and increase confidence in what they’re doing, with little to no detriment to their [data tracking and targeted advertising] efforts.”
