It’s time to realise the true power of preference management

In a nutshell

• Marketers need to take a closer look at the effectiveness of their personalised marketing,
• Use a data-driven approach to deliver better experiences while giving customers control over how their data is being used,
• Assess their email marketing efforts and newsletters’ reach and impact by providing the consumer a set of granular permission and preference options on sign-up and opt-in rates.
• Why is preference management important in eCommerce? Why are data privacy and preference management pivotal to any eCommerce business's success in the future? Read on to find out.

What are the biggest challenges for marketers in the eCommerce and retail industry?

There are several challenges that marketers face today. First, it's essential to understand that the space we're looking at is highly competitive. To stand out from the crowd, you need to be innovative and competitive.

• A sign-up journey that reduces opt-in rates

Today eCommerce marketing teams are now solely rely on the strength of their opted-in database. That presents a challenge for any business, as emailing is one of the most effective marketing channels.

Most businesses have adapted to GDPR by providing a blanket, catch-all style opt-in box within their sign-up journey. That has proven to reduce opt-in rates significantly. And as you are emailing less people, you convert less people through the funnel. In a highly competitive market, it hurts, as marketing directly to consumers in their inbox is a much cheaper and more effective way to get them to browse your website.

• Difficulty in increasing online visibility

On the other hand, in times when online shopping is the norm, speed, convenience, experience, and value have quickly reached the forefront of consumers’ minds with every transaction. For any eCommerce business, being easily discovered online is now the basis for their success.

Think about a growing e-tailer that would like to increase its online visibility, how will they do that? Organically, it’s very difficult to list in the top 5-10 results on Google now. It requires a lot of time, dedicated content marketing and SEO efforts to build authority and trust. And these efforts pay off in a few months, not overnight. And if they go with the highly costly paid search campaigns, then they will probably reduce their ROI.

• A great database, a little consumer profiling

For the more prominent players in the market, there are other challenges. They have these massive databases, but they sometimes miss the knowledge of what customer or prospect is interested in what. There is a famous saying, ‘The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.’ It’s no secret that a database is the backbone of any eCommerce business. So, you need to manage, store and analyse it in the best way possible to fuel your future.

• Do you want greater success? Then know your customer better

It’s the first rule in marketing and sales: know your customers’ needs and expectations. Especially when developing a go-to-market strategy or giving your sales and outbound team a direction, it’s crucial to have a clear view of your customer.

All the marketers feel the pain of little profiling of the consumer base resulting in generic outbound marketing in newsletters and low conversion rates. That’s because how you handle customer data makes a big difference.

In other words, you need to identify the characteristics of the people who are most likely to purchase your product to avoid ending up with a customer profile that is too broad.

Privacy is the new currency of marketing

Now more than ever, people demand greater control over data and consumers care more about their data privacy. You need to be transparent in how you handle your customer data and of course be GDPR-compliant. 

Every marketer needs to know that data without consent is practically worthless. Not just from a legislation point of view but from a quality perspective, too. You need to be clear about what data you are collecting and how it will be used. As a result, you’ll get valuable data alongside happy and loyal customers.

Check out Webinar: Addressing the privacy paradox

Why do eCommerce marketers need to prioritize preference management?

Most eCommerce customers want their interactions with a brand to be personalized. In fact, according to the 2022 Gartner Customer Service and Support Survey, 71% of B2C and 86% of B2B customers expect companies to be well-informed about their personal information during an interaction.

You can only call your company customer-centric if you prioritize consent and preference management. Introducing a consent and preference manager into your website gives your consumers a choice and complete control over how they hear from you, what they hear from you about and when they hear from you.

More choice = more subscribers!

You can also use consent and preference management as a very effective way to increase subscribers, enabling you to reach more consumers and drive more traffic to your website. After all, having the right data, right processes and systems in place will help get the maximum value from the customer data.

How can marketers benefit from preference management systems?

Let’s say we are talking about an eCommerce business that sells watches. As consumers, we can all be picky when it comes to selecting a suitable watch for our outfits or professional outlook, right?

The company knows every consumer has a different taste. Some like luxury watches, while others are more into smart or digital watches. So, marketers need to segment their customers and come up with a personalised marketing strategy to truly engage customers or prospects.

You need to communicate with each as an individual and deliver personalised content that will drive conversions and revenue. Studies that indicate 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalised experiences. Not only that, but personalised marketing is also how you make your customers remember your business.

To achieve your goals as a marketer, you first need more information about your customers. Keep in mind that you also need to comply with privacy regulations and give your customers control over their data.

That’s why leveraging preference management is key. If you have a strong preference management system in place, then you can show your customers that you’re listening to what they’re interested in while protecting their privacy. You can also engage with them through better retargeting and email campaigns. 

How can DataGuard help eCommerce companies properly manage customer data and increase marketing ROI?

DataGuard helps retailers and eCommerce businesses put their customers at the heart of their data decisions. Using DataGuard's Preference Management solution you can personalise your communications more effectively and enrich your first-part data.

The platform gives you a single view of all consent and permissions which are collected across multiple touchpoints so that you can understand their preferences better and send them relevant and engaging content.

Our Preference Management solution also empowers you to

• Improve engagement and conversion rates,
• Increase opt-in rates/sign-ups through giving consumers a choice and control over how, what, and when they hear from brands on their consent journey,
• Have a central data infrastructure – a single source of truth,
• Be more compliant and build trust and loyalty through privacy-first data-driven interactions.

If you’re looking for a preference solution that can help you achieve your marketing goals, get in touch with our experts today.