Consumers want control over their data back.
Here are some statistics to prove it:
- 60 percent of consumers feel they have no control over companies’ use of their personal information;
- 57% of consumers believe that companies sell their data;
- 60 percent of people in the past year were more careful about the data they shared with companies.
Probably as a consumer you will find yourself in what we have just told you. But does the same apply to you as an entrepreneur in your business?
While Web users want greater protections of their privacy, more and more companies have realized that they need the data to study their target audience, market, competitors and thus develop ad hoc strategies.
Easy to say: we all need data! But as the Privacy Guarantor introduces more and more new rules, let’s face it, the anxiety of not breaking them is great! Especially considering the large fines that are at risk!
So how can you manage to get the data you need for your market research without losing sight of privacy news?
“This site uses cookies to improve your browsing experience If you confirm or continue browsing, you agree to your browsing being tracked.”
This phrase, written more or less nicely or formally, with or without cookie images, by now must necessarily appear interrupting the navigation of any site.
But what exactly are cookies and why are they subject to a real war?
Cookies are small files that are saved on your customer’s browser when they visit your site. In doing so they trace his visit.
The common idea is that they somehow “steal” personal data; in fact, they do not!
These mini files can only prove that your user’s browser visited your site, remember over time this visit, and inform other business or marketing systems that one of your users landed on your page.
You may be wondering, “What do cookies have to do with market research I need to do?”
We’ll explain it to you right away!
Cookies are for marketing systems that send personalized advertising based on your users’ visits (and thus hopefully their interests) or traffic analytics software to be able to know if you have had new or returning users to your site multiple times, so you can collect statistics on how your site itself is doing.
Cookies then provide you with important information to understand what pages your users have visited, what interests them about what they find on your site, how often they visit it etc. With all this information you are able to profile the behavior of your target customer and develop sales funnels accordingly.
But what do users think about cookies?
According to several international surveys, people generally agree to accept cookies in exchange for more relevant Ads.
However, as many as 43% of users already use “ad blockers,” the systems to avoid any kind of tracking by websites.
So far so clear?
Well, at this point, however, you may be asking, “Why are we talking about cookies of all things?” The answer is simple: because part of the 2022 privacy news concerns these mini files.
The 4 privacy innovations
The demand for having greater privacy protection, as we have already mentioned, is increasing. As a result, the Privacy Guarantor is increasingly introducing new rules. Not only that! Tech giants are also moving in the same direction, following this trend to meet this new need of their users.
But what are these privacy changes that will affect 2022?
Let’s look at them below:
- as of January 2022, GDPR regulations on cookies are much more restrictive: it is mandatory to install systems that allow users not only to accept, but also to disable cookies;
- Google has announced that as of 2023 it will eliminate all so-called “third-party” cookies, meaning they are not installed directly by the site, but by banners or other third-party systems that are often used for advertising purposes and to financially support the site itself;
- Facebook from July 2021 has drastically reduced the data available in its software on users’ aggregated interests “Facebook Audience Insight.”
- Apple’s update to iOs 14.5 has made it much more difficult to track user behavior of apps on iPhones and iPads.
But in all this, how do Small and Medium Enterprises fare?
According to experts, precisely, it is mainly small businesses, which suffer the most from these new rules, that have it the worst.
One example is the cost of ads, which has doubled from April 2021 onward, while the results of Apple’s Advertising Network have doubled in recent months!
I mean, how do you do it if you’re not a Tech giant and you want to keep collecting data with market research?
The consequences you can’t unhandle
On one thing we want to be clear: Ensuring privacy is paramount!
However, companies, especially smaller ones, need DATA!
Data are needed both to focus marketing investments toward target audiences and to be able to understand the results of your strategies.
So first you have to get in compliance by complying with all the regulations, and then you need to figure out in what other ways you can get the data you need.
Using the analytics systems on your site or app remains valid, although from now on they will provide you with information not on 100 percent of users, but on a sample of visitors.
For this, helping you are advanced market intelligence software, which can make estimates and statistics even without the use of cookies.
In short, the data needed to make decisions can still be obtained-it has just become a bit more complex and intricate.
If and only if, therefore, you are convinced that without the data you are going nowhere, there is a solution!
You can rely on Big Data experts online. They, yes, who can help you!
