Usercentrics - Use consent actively for your marketing success
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Gathering Consent For Marketing Success

The recently implemented General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) have significantly changed the way customer data is handled in the marketing sector. Although EU countries still interpret the legislation differently, asking for user Consent has become the first action on every website on a...
by Usercentrics
Nov 13, 2019
Usercentrics - Use consent actively for your marketing success
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The recently implemented General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) have significantly changed the way customer data is handled in the marketing sector. Although EU countries still interpret the legislation differently, asking for user Consent has become the first action on every website on a cross-border basis. For many marketers, requesting consent is still a threat to business. Therefore, the gathering of consent explicitly in a transparent procedure with the help of a Consent Management Platform (CMP) has positive effects on marketing and can even boost sales. As so to say: Consent for marketing success!

Usercentrics - Use consent actively for your marketing success

First and foremost, requesting consent serves to inform users (see: information obligation act according to Article 13 GDPR). Ideally, website visitors will not only give their consent but also read the explanatory privacy policy. And when users are informed that their data will be used for advertising, the next retargeting advertising medium no longer seems as if the Internet could read their thoughts. By using a Consent management platform, website users will continue to willingly accept more ads.

2. The Prospective Customer’s Quality is Higher

Not only from the user’s point of view can the opt-in lead to a better advertising experience. If in the first step, website visitors are addressed by the Consent Management Platform and give their consent, this will signal to advertisers their explicit interest in the brand and create a personalized approach.

3. Effective Allocation of the Marketing Budget

With an opt-in, brands have the opportunity to better allocate their budget. Instead of distributing the advertising budget in a very general and non-personalized way, brand targeting can now be used more effectively.

By adhering to GDPR regulations, only a part of the EU’s data protection offensive has been implemented. The ePrivacy Regulation (ePVO) must follow. If the ePVO makes it necessary to make changes as to how to request consent, a CMP can adapt flexibly and design the request following the new legal situation – there is no need for the website operator to make a time-consuming conversion. The same applies to new jurisdictions such as the ECJ ruling of 10.01.2019. According to the new legal regulations, users must actively mark the cookie boxes for an opt-in. A pre-selection by the website provider may not be made. It is especially in these instances where a strong Consent Management Platform acts quickly and in compliance with the law.

A higher opt-in rate is closely linked to greater marketing success. So what can marketing managers do to convince as many website visitors as possible to opt-in?

1. Create Trust

Website operators should avoid hiding behind complicated content banners. Simple and understandable texts create transparency and trust among users. A recent Harvard study suggests that a transparent dialogue leads to 11 percent more opt-ins and 34 percent more time spent on the website.

2. Test, Test, Test

Only rarely is it possible to find the right approach for your website visitors the first time around. So, try it out. The right Consent Management Platform makes it possible to test different approaches and introductory texts against each other to ensure optimum communication with visitors (A/B testing). In this way, users should also be informed that an opt-out is not equivalent to an advertising block, but that the advertising played out is merely less relevant to them.

Website users are often unaware of which functions are affected by their opt-in. Using the example of page content that is only unlocked by the Consent, they can be made aware of this. Youtube videos, Google Maps or sharing buttons, for example, can only be made available after a given opt-in. Prior to given consent, these parts of the website remain blocked off from visitors by a static graphic and a Consent Overlay. To restate: Without user opt-in, no data will be passed on to the associated servers. The website visitor sits in the cockpit.

4. Creating Incentives

Incentives for giving Consent are also possible apart from external services from Youtube or social media outlets. For example, in the case of an opt-out, a window can then pop up that offers the option of opting in and at the same time an incentive that can ultimately convince the user.

Consent Management does not just mean meeting the legal requirements for processing customer data. Rather, Consent is equivalent to freedom of action in marketing. High opt-in rates mean a higher range for User-Centered, data-based addressing. This way, a given Consent can later become a Conversion. There are many approaches to increasing opt-in readiness. A Consent Management Platform can help to fully exhaust these possibilities.

Takeaways

  • Website users who give Consent signal interest in the brand
  • The target group is then preselected by the opt-in. Only users with interest will be addressed with advertising/retargeting afterward.
  • Consent Management can be optimized. A/B tests or incentives lead to higher opt-in rates.

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