In today’s blog we are taking a look at privacy data and how consumers are updating their expectations as they spend more time online.
Whether it’s for research, buying a pair of shoes, or watching a movie, more people are turning to the internet for their daily needs.
The continued digitization of daily life has shone a spotlight on data privacy and how companies use and store personal information.
New regulations like GDPR and the CCPA have set out the rules that businesses must follow when dealing with customers in specific regions. For example, you are required to notify a customer when you are collecting their data and how you plan to use it.
However, keeping up with these new expectations and regulations can quickly grow from a part-time role to a full-time effort that requires the input of multiple stakeholders and internal team members with the right blend of expertise—from legal to marketing and data management.
Fortunately, new tools—known as consent management platforms—have been created to simplify and automate these tasks and responsibilities for your business.
So how does a consent management platform work, and what features should you look for?
What is a consent management platform?
Consent management focuses on your organization’s ability to understand, align with, and incorporate relevant data privacy and compliance requirements into your business and marketing processes.
In particular, this includes how your organization collects and stores website visitor and customer data, captures privacy and data consent preferences, and responds to customer requests for data, along with other data uses for business purposes like marketing.
Adding further complexity, compliance requirements and privacy laws often vary widely by country and jurisdiction, making it hard for organizations to manage how their marketing and business processes conform to these requirements.
A consent management platform automates these critical tasks and simplifies how consent and customer data are stored, protected, and organized. A good platform also helps operationalize customer information for marketing and business purposes while complying with requirements.
What should you ask when selecting your consent management platform?
Whether you’re researching your organization’s first consent management platform or you’re looking for a new solution that incorporates the industry’s latest features and best practices, here are five key questions to ask to confirm you’re making the best choice:
1. How intuitive is it to use?
When it comes to creating and maintaining a privacy policy and managing your organization’s cookie policy, ease of use probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.
However, modern consent management platforms have intuitive tools for both your internal team and your customers to manage data preferences, make updates to configurations, and respond to the latest updates, no matter how tech-savvy they are.
This can be especially important when integrating your consent management platform with your e-commerce systems, such as Shopify, and your existing marketing tools.
2. How often are updates made to reflect compliance standards and best practices changes?
It is always an option to work with a lawyer to create a privacy policy or review how your organization handles data. However, as regulations evolve and your business grows, this approach can quickly become expensive and time-consuming.
Industry-leading consent management platforms ensure that your organization’s online privacy practices are always compliant and are proactively updated. This is especially important if your business uses e-commerce tools like Shopify, which doesn’t handle consent on your business’s behalf.
3. How easy is it to provide customer-requested data?
It’s one thing to take the technical steps to ensure you align with your customer’s expectations for data privacy. It’s another to have business processes to make the back-end data management easy.
Customers can’t just the ability to update their privacy and consent preferences; in many jurisdictions, they also have the right to request copies of the data your organization has about them.
Get ahead of the administrative hurdles that could otherwise tie up critical staff time and ensure your consent management platform automates key customer data management actions.
4. What sort of support does the team behind the platform provide?
Diving into the legal and technical language of the GDPR and other privacy regulations isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s not just the technical jargon; there can be a lot of grey areas depending on your business model and global footprint.
Fortunately, top-tier consent management platforms provide 24/7 access to professionals who are always ready to answer specific questions about your particular situations so you can lower your risk of noncompliance.
5. How well does the platform integrate with your existing technology ecosystem?
Your business is collecting visitor and customer information to help your brand market and serve them better. This data can also help you shape your marketing strategy and your product development.
Look for a consent management platform that not only expertly handles the navigation of compliance on your team but is also capable of easily integrating with your other marketing, e-commerce, and data management tools.
Is Dataships the right consent management platform for you?
Your business needs a consent management platform that removes the administrative and technical burden from your team, simplifies your existing business and marketing processes, and can evolve with your operations.
Dataships’ platform satisfies each of these requirements and provides the features your business needs. The platform is also backed by a team of experts ready to give you the peace of mind that comes with not having to worry about the risk of noncompliance. Book a demo today to see how we can streamline your consent management.
