Does the 2020 CIRA Digital Privacy Report Spell Trouble for Canadian B2C Marketers?
B2C marketers depend on consumer data to perform several critical functions such as segmenting and nurturing leads — but what if that data suddenly becomes much harder to access? Canadians’ answers to a recent CIRA survey on digital privacy indicate that consumers in this country may no longer be as open to disclosing that useful personal information as they used to be.
What the Report Says
The CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) report titled ‘Canadians Deserve a Better Internet’ was conducted in order to evaluate Canadians’ thoughts on online privacy and the use of personal data in everyday life. It was based on an online survey of 1,254 Canadians over the age of 18; participants were selected to reflect the Canadian population proportionally in terms of age, gender and region. The data was collected in January of this year.
While other topics that were not as directly salient to marketing were also covered, an entire section was devoted to Canadians’ thoughts on the use of personal data by businesses and the circumstances under which they would be willing to disclose theirs. Just 52% of Canadians indicated that they would be willing to share their personal data for better online banking services, and the numbers only went down from there. 26% were willing to share data for better digital streaming services, followed by 23% for better social media service, 17% for better digital advertising, and just 15% for improved service for internet-connected devices. No other specific products or industries were mentioned.
If only those five are considered, just 26.6% of Canadians on average are currently willing to part with their personal data for some sort of improved service. For context, the CIRA found that 72% of Canadians were willing to disclose some personal information for those same advantages in 2019.
The main reason for this seems to be a lack of trust in businesses regarding compliance with privacy laws: more than 4 in 10 Canadians indicated that they think it is ‘not very likely’ or ‘not likely at all’ that businesses are following privacy laws appropriately, and a similar number indicated that they felt that businesses guilty of noncompliance ‘hardly ever’ or ‘never’ face penalties for doing so.
Potential Privacy Law Changes
This report and others like it are part of a growing body of evidence that Canadians want to see reform regarding their online privacy rights and the associated responsibilities of corporations.
The report notes that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has recommended that the government declare privacy a human right, a move which would greatly impact companies who use consumer data in their operations. If this were to happen, companies would need a ‘good reason’ in order to be allowed to collect that data and would have to obtain informed and meaningful consent from each individual involved in order to collect that information in the first place.
The Commissioner is also seeking the power to conduct investigations proactively and to issue orders and fines without necessarily having to take organizations to court. As of now, however, no concrete legal changes have been made in this area.
What This Might Mean for B2C Marketers
As mentioned above, Canadian marketers have no new legal obligations to worry about as of now. This is good news, because the rest of the report has considerable implications for email marketing practices as it is.
The fact that only 17% of Canadians indicated that they would consider exchanging data for improved digital marketing services is the most alarming part of these findings. It’s likely that not every Canadian considers typical email or content marketing initiatives to be part of this category, but the general trend of reticence here should be of concern to B2C marketers regardless.
Unless you’re working exclusively within the banking sector, the vast majority of your potential leads are going to be suspicious of you from the start and reluctant to give you the information you need. That’s not a great way to begin a relationship with people you are hoping to convince to buy something from you — even if they do surrender their data, they might have misgivings about doing so that could tarnish their feelings towards your brand.
How You Can Still Build B2C Email Lists in Canada
Given how strongly Canadians seem to feel about online privacy right now, email marketing professionals in this country will almost certainly have to adjust their approach somewhat in order to keep collecting information from B2C leads. The way that you approach this exchange could mean the difference between an alienated lead and a successful list addition. These four guidelines provide a good starting point:
Use data collection forms sparingly — With consumer distrust so high, Canadians are likely to shy away from a site that asks them for personal information too soon. Make sure your visitors can explore your site and interact with your brand first so they can see for themselves that your business is not a scam. Keeping a public blog updated
Offer clear value — Consumers might value their personal data more than ever before, but you can still convince them to give it to you for the right price. Discounts and other tangible benefits are the leading type of incentive in the B2C market, and they will probably retain most of their power even as consumers’ attitudes toward privacy shift.
Limit your demands — Giving up just a little bit of information is less objectionable to a privacy-conscious consumer than giving up a slew of details at once. For example, leads might be willing to help you out if your landing page only asks for their email address instead of adding their name, gender and location to the list as well. Including fewer form fields generally leads to higher conversion rates as well, so this practice will likely pay off on the monetary end of things as well.
Make your privacy policy accessible — PIPEDA requires that every organization that collects Canadians’ personal information must have a privacy policy on their website, but that doesn’t mean that consumers can easily understand it. In addition to the formal document which protects you from any legal concerns, it may be helpful to provide a separate written explanation of what those policies mean for your average user. This kind of transparency goes a long way toward building trust with your leads.
As technology continues to evolve, it is inevitable that our attitudes toward it will as well. There is a growing awareness of just how powerful (and valuable!) personal data can be, and people naturally want to keep this resource safe.
It’s up to companies and marketers to prove to them that data collected for marketing purposes will be used in a secure, ethical manner that will bring benefits to the consumer as well as to businesses. If Canadians can be sold on that point, there is every reason to believe that they will happily continue to participate in the marketing ecosystem.
