Do you fear providing any data online, especially personal details? All of us are. How then do marketers collect it. The answer is Trust & Transparency. Understand more…
The user is at the centre of the online world. His choices, his preferences and his clicks matter the most. These are not just statistical pointers to know the behavioural trends of online users, but valuable data that vastly affects sales. This reflects in the fact that 30% of Amazon’s revenue are due to personalised marketing. Big Data, Third Party Data Brokers, Bits of Data and Algorithms have become day-to-day terms in the marketing communication wing of enterprises.
The question is, Are we losing customers in this abundance and ensuing chaos? Do customers now trust you and your website to voluntarily submit personal data? And even if the data is tracked without their knowledge, how much can you battle with evolving technical tools that hide it efficiently?
The answer to most of these questions lies in one game-changing approach – that of bringing transparency and hence, trustworthiness in your online interaction with users.
Be Slow, Be Sure
Gather data step by step. The pages of your website should be simple and ask for data specific for that step only. So only when a customer places the final you ask for the shipping address and mobile number. This builds trust in your website and also gives a logical flow to your operations. The ultimate benefit is that the customer gets attached to your brand and becomes a permanent asset.
Always Give Options
‘Fields marked with (*) are compulsory.’ The message is becoming more and more obsolete now, unless you’re talking about a healthcare or education site. For online shopping, do not compel users to submit personal data. The worst structure can be to block them at certain points saying ‘you cannot go ahead unless you enter e-mail ID.’ Unless you’re an exclusive brand, this will backfire and the user might leave you permanently.
Personalisation as a Service
Remember that the ultimate objective of personalisation is to serve the customer. Obviously, you access their data for marketing purposes but the customer should eventually gain benefits from it. So a neat data analysis and drawing inferences is very important. Once the customer is delighted with your service, he is not just hooked to it, but he will also submit more data, voluntarily.
Transparency – the Keyword
An online user is often unaware of the surveillance he is being subjected to. In this case, ignorance is not bliss. Unwanted e-mails, irrelevant Facebook ads, pop-ups can be really annoying and damaging for a brand. If you keep the user informed about the data you’re accessing and guarantee confidentiality, he will be more than willing to give you access. Transparency lends a lot of trust to your enterprise.