Data Privacy as a Competitive Advantage
Imagine a piece of online data as a pet hedgehog. When someone includes information about themselves on, say, a registration form on your website, the hedgehog is born. It then travels through the internet, passing through cookies, analytics, marketing tools, and customer databases.
It is collected when users opt in to a service or product, stored in databases like CRMs or clouds, and used to personalise the online user experience or target a specific customer base. It doesn’t question its journey.
The hedgehog is valuable, not just because it’s cute and cuddly, but because it can be worth a lot to the right buyers. Wherever it goes, it shapes your business, brand, and customer trust. Would you do business with somebody if you thought they would be careless with the hedgehog?
How Can You Use Data Privacy as a Competitive Advantage in Your Business?
Protecting User Data
Data privacy is rooted in the idea that online users should control how their data is collected, stored, and used. In the hedgehog metaphor, data privacy would be about how users get a say in how the hedgehog is cared for and handled.
The main pillars of data privacy are consent and choice, limitations on the purpose of data use, minimisation of collecting non-essential data, and transparency.
Some business owners confuse data privacy with data security. While they are related and connected terms, they differ slightly.
- Data privacy is about the rights and agency internet users should have over their data.
- Data security is how businesses can protect data from breaches, attacks, or other exploitation.
Understanding both concepts is important to create a comprehensive data policy for your business. Data privacy is the policy side of data collection; data security is the tool to protect it.
The competitive edge for your start-up or small business comes when you emphasize to your users that you take data privacy seriously and prioritize data security practices to make sure their data is in safe hands.
Why Does Data Privacy Matter?
Since a person’s data is not a tangible entity, it can be challenging to truly understand how it’s valuable (hence the hedgehog metaphor). But every piece of data collected on a person can be used with bad intentions, as much as it can be used to make their online experience smoother.
With access to a person’s data, even just bits and pieces at a time, cyber criminals can exploit the information in various ways. For example, they can sell it to the highest bidder, use it to commit identity theft, or, as is often seen in the case of large-scale data breaches, orchestrate a ransom or blackmail campaign.
Worst-case scenario aside, thinking about your personal information floating around the dark web is unpleasant. Many modern-day consumers are more aware and wary of their data being exploited.
Privacy-first companies can really stand out because they actually do what most companies claim to do. They put their customers first.
Tools for Data Privacy
Ok, so data privacy makes sense, and you want to implement strategies in your business to protect your data and your users’ data. Where do you start? Hire an expert? Push data security as your main business priority from this moment forward? Neither is necessary.
- Consent management platforms (CMPs) can help small businesses stay compliant with cookie and tracking laws while giving your users a sense of control over their data (which they should have, under data privacy thinking).
- Data mapping tools make it faster and easier to understand where data is being collected and stored across your systems and workflow. Once you can clearly see where user data comes from, you can build stronger privacy approaches.
- Data removal services automate scanning data brokers for your and user data and filing a request for that information to be deleted. The Incogni data removal tool is one of the most effective tools for getting data erased from unwanted places in a straightforward way.
Next Steps
Look, no one is judging you if you’ve put data privacy on the back burner. But if that’s the case, let this be your nudge to take data privacy more seriously. It’s not just about better business practices, taking consumer data seriously can actually help set your business apart.
Users are becoming more concerned about what happens with their data and will start incorporating that into their feelings of trust and decision-making about which businesses to work with.
Make privacy part of your brand. Add it to your workflow and your PowerPoint for onboarding. Put your privacy policy standards in your footer. Train your team. The trust you can earn will pay off in retention, reputation, and growth in the long run. Protect the hedgehog.
