Benefits of a Consent & Preference Management Platform (CMP)

Consent and preference management are vital in the data privacy field as they allow companies to acquire data fairly and transparently, while also giving consumers better control of their personal information.

Consent management is the process of requesting and obtaining consumers’ permission to collect, process, and store their data.

Preference management is the process that enables consumers to voluntarily give their information and customize the method and frequency of brand communications they want to receive, whether they be emails, website pop-ups, or other experiences.

Why Consent and Preference Management are Important for Organizations and Businesses

Effective customer service has always been the focus of successful companies. Consent and preference management not only allow companies to comply with privacy regulations, but also create the necessary framework to deliver consumer-centric experiences that increase brand trust, marketing opportunities, and revenue.

Consumers are more protective of their information today. They want to be confident that the company they give their data to will use it with the best intentions. They also want to dictate what data can be collected. Giving consumers control is one more step towards enhancing customer service.

While the inherent risks of privacy program management are ever increasing, teams must find the right path when navigating through the regulations and user expectations of data privacy. Fortunately, the benefits can be mutual for both organizations and consumers.

Challenges of Consent and Preference Management

The pressures from regulations, consumers, and business interests can make it difficult for companies to effectively and efficiently collect and use data. To successfully navigate the data privacy landscape, a company must adhere to legal and ethical obligations, while also balancing what is best for their business and their customers.

All of the pressures are sometimes at odds with one another. Regulations and consumer demand might run counter to a company’s desire for comprehensive customer data so they can optimize marketing to grow their brand’s visibility and revenue.

Compounding the stress of this new world are new and changing regulations. Although policies may be in flux, compliance must remain constant. Staying up-to-date requires vigilance and the ability to adapt to new standards.

There are a number of reasons that organizations might struggle with consent and preference management. Common obstacles include:

• Data Privacy Knowledge – Before you can build a solution, you need to fully understand the problem to address it. Not many people are data privacy experts. It’s relatively new, and the landscape is expected to fluctuate even more as new legislation is introduced/passed.
• Technical Expertise – It’s important to have team members that are also technically savvy. Without this, it is very difficult to identify and track what types of data are being stored or processed. Building a technical solution for consent and preference management also requires an investment in designing, building, testing, and launching a solution that meets applicable privacy law requirements.
• Data Silos – When consumers opt-in or out of marketing communications, they expect organizations to honor those wishes. A large conglomeration with multiple teams can easily overlook consumer preferences if they lack an integrated system that enables all of their communications according to those preferences.

Benefits of a Consent and Preference Management Platform

Consent and preference management presents several challenges, all of which can be handled effectively with technology that accelerates compliance and advances privacy programs. Here are some benefits that come with leveraging a consent and preference management platform:

Assured Privacy Compliance

One of the primary benefits of using a consent and preference management platform is that it supports your organization with achieving privacy compliance. This is a primary driver for many teams because it helps to avoid fines from noncompliance, as well as preventing PR disasters that could ruin a company’s reputation.

Augmenting Your Team of Experts

Not many people are privacy professionals or savvy enough to manage and track changes in data privacy laws and regulations. Privacy is a global issue that needs to be addressed from a holistic perspective. There is no need for organizations to reinvent the wheel when there are existing consent and preference management solutions that were built by privacy experts, and a designated engineering team.

Revenue & Sales

An added trickle-down benefit of consent and preference management is more revenue. When consumers trust a brand, it improves how they are perceived by the public. While it’s much harder to become a paragon for data privacy activism, becoming just the opposite is too easy. It takes just one data privacy incident to give the impression of untrustworthiness. This can make a large, lasting impact for companies like lost sales, and budget cuts to fund marketing campaigns to offset any public mistrust.

Market & User Insights

Companies can also leverage user preferences to perform market and user research. All of this user data collection began in hopes of uncovering insights that would boost revenue in the first place. Why should preferences be treated any differently? Companies could potentially use this data to uncover more patterns in user preferences and behaviors without the need for overstepping boundaries. This could be something as simple as gauging consumer preferences around which methods of communication, what types of information, and how often consumers are being served. Companies are using these consent and preference insights to gain an edge over competitors who are slow to embrace the shifting data privacy movement.

Taking into account all of these insights informs teams to build better, sound strategies that improve consumer engagement.

Overcome Consent and Preference Management Challenges

As the demand for data privacy compliance grows, organizations must answer the challenges preventing their teams from effectively managing consents and preferences. Leveraging a consent and preference management platform provides teams with another option to accelerate privacy compliance, lower risk, and build better customer relationships that support sales.