The EU’s new data protection directive poses a potentially difficult dilemma. Consumers with little understanding or trust of how their personal data…
The EU’s new data protection directive poses a potentially difficult dilemma. Consumers with little understanding or trust of how their personal data is used by marketers may relish the opportunity to remove their personal information from corporate databases. However, there is a genuine need for businesses to build accurate CRM strategies to ensure engagement is timely and relevant to each individual consumer. This is largely dependent on access to, and analysis of, consumer data. Without this marketers may revert back to a blanket communication approach that is both irrelevant and potentially infuriating for the consumer who would no doubt prefer the tailored communication approach many brands have adopted since data sharing and customer segmenting became feasible in helping to develop robust CRM strategies. Furthermore, the consequences for small businesses are likely to be dire as the costs of compliance will be substantial. In a climate where we are turning to small to medium sized enterprises to reinvigorate a stagnate economy, this move could worryingly bring about the opposite effect.
Mo Jan, Webalytix
