Published on the 14/04/2023 | Written by Billy Loizou

Identifying and protecting the data you own…

Australia is undergoing a data revolution with multiple drivers amplifying the need for data privacy and protection.

It has put the data-driven marketing and advertising industry into a state of flux.

From a customer experience perspective, abiding by privacy guidelines and connecting with known consumers is a much more fruitful and rewarding strategy over a shotgun data acquisition strategy to attract and convert anonymous prospects.

Anyone who has experienced being targeted with advertising for something they have just bought will understand the frustration it generates.

There’s both challenges and opportunities emerging with the changes.

Understanding the new data privacy landscape

The digital landscape in Australia has faced game-changing challenges recently, forcing brands to adapt their ad tracking solutions to ensure they comply with new and evolving regulations.

“Data breaches are only made worse by holding onto personal information they don’t have a legitimate interest in”

The most obvious is adapting to measures put in place by Apple and Google, which have introduced new privacy features that restrict tracking on their devices. This has meant that some tracking methods marketers previously relied heavily on are no longer effective. In fact, 64% of advertisers recently shared that Apple’s Application Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy is hurting their results.

Tough new European GDPR regulations, alongside US privacy changes have further shifted the dial away from brands and towards consumers.

And there’s more change in the wings locally. The Australian Attorney-General’s Department recently released its highly anticipated review of the Privacy Act 1988, which includes a suite of proposed revisions to bolster individual privacy rights, such as the “right of erasure,” deindexing search results with sensitive or inaccurate information, among many other changes. New Zealand has also passed changes to its privacy regulations with similar implications.

If the large-scale Optus and Medibank breaches have taught brands anything, it’s that data breaches are only made worse by holding onto personal information they don’t have a legitimate interest in and/or is well past its expiration date.

Technology choices to mitigate risk

The best way businesses can minimise risk and steer clear of poor tactical or technology choices is by improving their defensive strategies. This means wrapping best-in-class protection around their customer data.

While sales and marketing tactics are important and can have a direct ROI, longer-term loyalty is built by providing individuals with visibility and control over their data and its usage.

Preference centres are not new, but they are fast becoming a must-have utility that all businesses should leverage.

Transparency is also key. Businesses should be fully transparent with consumers about the data they collect and how it’s used. They need to clearly communicate their data privacy policies, making it easy for consumers to opt out of data collection or marketing activities if they choose.

At the same time, brands need to monitor and respond to feedback from consumers. And importantly, take action when issues are identified. Processes should be in place for responding to complaints and addressing concerns.

Performing proper due diligence around these best practices can help those in CDO/CIO roles make better technology choices from the start and reduce their exposure to the risk of regulatory or consumer action.

Identifying first-party data

Customer metrics drive business metrics. All the regulatory changes point to first-party data as a vital asset powering sales and marketing strategies.

Identifying and understanding your customers translates to improved customer retention and helps brands keep up with ever-evolving purchasing habits.

Using first-party data, companies are seeing up to a 5X return on ad spend in paid channels. And recent research shows that brands using first-party data in key marketing functions achieved a 2.9X revenue lift and a 1.5X increase in cost savings.

But how do you identify and resolve customer data into a single view of the customer across the business? Are your marketing, sales, service and loyalty systems interconnected?

A consolidated customer data platform (CDP) can help. A CDP provides marketers with a strong customer identity foundation, allowing them to build the most accurate and comprehensive view of their customers from across disparate systems, helping centralise data management.

This is where Amperity is laser-focussed.

Using a patented machine learning approach, Amperity’s first-party data ID resolution is purpose-built to create unified customer profiles, giving teams the data they need to understand customers, engage with them in a personalised manner – and translate that into growth.

It’s also important to note that customer data isn’t just for marketers. After building a secure unified view of customers, that data can be made available to trusted agencies, account managers, business analysts, IT operations teams and product developers.

In a privacy-first world, all roads lead to first-party data

Regardless of the mountain of challenges that Australian businesses face, one critical point to address is ensuring their first-party data is in order. First-party data will be used for activation, suppression and measurement, replacing third-party tag-based measurement.

It’s a matter of being prepared and saying good riddance to bad data practices.

About the Author

Billy Loizou is APAC Area Vice President for customer data platform provider, Amperity. He has worked with some of the world’s most renowned brands to improve customer experience and drive profitability.