4 Steps to Securing Customer Data
[Free Takeaway Inside – GDPR Compliance Checklist]
In June 2021, professional networking giant LinkedIn witnessed over 700 million users’ information being exposed on a dark web forum. This impacted more than 90% of its user base. A hacker that went by the moniker of “God User” exploited the site’s API to dump a first information set of around 500 million customers, followed by the full suite of the 700 million customer database.
While LinkedIn argued that the information exposed was non-sensitive and non-financial data, the damage was already done. As a matter of fact, the information leaked contained private records including email addresses, phone numbers, geo-location data, gender and other social media details that could potentially give malicious parties an upper hand to stage social engineering attacks.
LinkedIn cleared the air that this incident was not a data security breach but rather someone simply pulling data that was publicly available on a large scale. However, it makes one wonder whether the private and confidential data shared by consumers are indeed in safe hands.
The Importance of Data Security
Data security is the topmost concern of consumers when disclosing their private information to companies for marketing purposes.
Despite recent consumer protection regulations, 91% of survey respondents were concerned about the potential abuse of their personal data, with 46% saying their concern has increased over the last five years.
Yet consumer behaviour contradicts their claims of anxiety as studies revealed that the majority of their customers were willing to trade their personal information for certain benefits or rewards.
Source – Genesys
Thus embedding the principles of cyber security in your marketing messages and campaigns is imperative as data breaches continue to happen at an unprecedented scale. This will enable customers to be amenable to sharing their data in a world and allay their concerns or fear.
Data security is no longer relegated to the IT division. It affects every company department, especially marketing, at every step of the consumer journey. Amid the increase in ransom-ware and other attacks, emphasizing your company’s data security policies can be an effective and powerful marketing tool.
Why Data Security is Essential for Marketers?
A data breach has the potential to significantly impact the online reputation of an organization. Often seen on par with poor customer service, a recent report highlighted that ‘46% of organizations had suffered damage to their reputations and brand value as a result of a breach. Another 19 percent of organizations suffered reputational and brand damage as a result of a third-party security breach or IT system failure.’
If companies want to acquire new customers and retain their loyalty, they need to highlight their data security principles, just as they talk about the performance, cost-saving benefits or other unique features of their offerings.
While data security is increasingly necessary, incorporating it into your digital marketing strategy is another way to see the payoffs of this investment.
How do Consumers Perceive Data Security?
Government regulations and industry standards are increasingly pressing for comprehensive and specific data security protocols. From Europe’s GDPR to US Security and Exchange Commission’s decree for companies to disclose data breaches, regulations are clearly affecting business operations. Showing that your company is on board or even ahead of the curve on these issues will help you gain a competitive edge.
Letting customers know that their data is safe and secure can instill and accentuate the following core values:
- Trust
- Transparency
- Loyalty
- Stability
- Productivity
- Fairness
- Accountability
- Integrity
- Benevolence
Here’s a free download of a GDPR compliance checklist to measure your brand’s data security compliance.
What Marketers can do to Assure Consumers that their Data is Safe and Secure?
The extensive data collection methods today’s marketing models employ are fraught with security, financial and brand risks. It may not be enough to provide upfront disclosures in an end-user licensing agreement, present privacy or cookies policies and display terms and conditions at sign-up. Such moves may address regulatory requirements, but they do little if anything to help customers.
Here are some effective ways to create a robust data security plan that puts customers at the center:
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Educate your Customers
Industry giants such as Facebook and Apple have introduced a new section in their portal devoted to data security and privacy. Users can access this page and learn how their data is handled and configure settings or permissions before accepting to share their data. On a dedicated forum, brands can summarize their privacy policy, the type of information gathered and how it is used. Some companies have even created a short video that educates and informs users about their data policy, empowering users to revoke or grant access to their data at any time.
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Deliver Value
It’s a known fact that consumers are willing to share data when they know what value they will receive in return. This may include tangible benefits such as monetary compensation, gifts, or rewards and intangible value such as personalized offers or recommendations.
Provided that there’s a clear correlation between the data collected and the enhancements delivered, customers will become more comfortable sharing additional data as they grow familiar with the service. You can initially set up this value exchange by seeking permission for a few pieces of low-value data. In turn, this can can be aggregated gradually to improve customer service in the long run.
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Monitor and Test
As you are now the guardian of your customer data, know what you hold and where it is stored. Monitor customer data for potential threats to ensure that is safe. Besides, have a plan to regularly test your data security system. This can include spot audits of various programs or full-blown mock attacks to evaluate how the system responds. Regular monitoring and testing can identify weaknesses and issues that can make you vulnerable to malicious activity.
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Avoid Data Silos
Data silos are not just bad for analysis, but can also leave your data susceptible to security risks. As data gets stored in fragmented and potentially unsecured applications, you may soon lose track of your isolated data repositories. When you eliminate data silos, you can build a fail-proof data tracking plan that simplifies data management and governance.
Customers have entrusted you with their data in exchange for value-driven and personalized relationships with your brand. This essentially makes you a trustworthy steward of customer data upholding its safety and protection at all times.
Data security, in practice, means voluntarily identifying and adopting stringent policies that will protect the firm against potential data breaches and leave customer data untainted. Instead of seemingly complying with data privacy laws to keep out of trouble, cyber security can serve as a defining moment to earn consumer trust and loyalty. After all, in a data-driven world consumer trust is the key to unlocking access to data and extracting a goldmine of insights.
