The EU has committed to new legislation which will dramatically change the way European companies can collect, store and use data.
Its principal effect will be to stop firms contacting their customers unless they have been specifically given permission. The tacit agreement implied by people not ticking the opt-out box will no longer be enough.
In the not too distant future, companies throughout Europe will have to persuade customers to tick the opt-in box if they want to continue marketing to them.
And even before the EU law became an issue, consumers were becoming increasingly cautious about revealing information about themselves. They are concerned about who will have access to their data, how it will be used and how it will be stored and protected.
This has prompted them to look at permission statements more closely before deciding whether to allow further marketing contact.
UK DMA executive director Chris Combemale is quoted as saying: “Widespread concerns about rapidly shifting consumer attitudes to data privacy should be ringing alarm bells in the board room of every business involved with one-to-one communications.”
But there is a positive side to all this, according to Scott Logie, former UK DMA chairman and head of research, data and analysis for Bank of Scotland, who said: “Improving opt-in permission rates is fundamentally a commercial issue. At Bank of Scotland, we computed that the marginal value of increasing the consumer opt-in rate by just one per cent was worth a huge amount of incremental value. This created the basis for an ongoing scheme to improve opt-ins.”
What marketers can do
One way marketers can counteract the effects of the legislation (which some industry pundits predict could decimate some European databases) is to adopt a serious and urgent attitude to collecting permissions and make sure the permission statement is worded in a way which will maximise opt-ins.
Until now, brands have had no way of measuring whether the wording of their permission statements is generating the maximum response possible.
So, to take the guesswork out of the process, online research company fast.MAP and Opt-4 strategic consultant on data protection legislation compliance and permission maximisation, have joined forces to build a new industry standard The Data Permission Benchmark. 
How it works
By comparing current or proposed permission-statement wording with actual results from thousands of consumers, the Data Permissions Benchmark allows marketers to quickly measure potential opt-in rates.
They will be able to understand what works and what doesn’t; compare the score against the benchmark; and gain insights into how and why consumers share their data.
The Benchmark allows brands to understand how their proposed wording performs against the 14 key attributes which affect sharing: Clear, Trustworthy, Honest, Flexible, Appealing, Inviting, Reassured, Gives confidence, Rewarding, control, Welcoming, Values me, Gives me choice, My data will be safe.
They may then compare the results with statements which perform highly in areas where their statement is underperforming and thus identify beneficial changes and refine and re-test statements.
The benchmarking process involves loading a current or proposed statement onto a fast.MAP questionnaire and sending it to a live panel of 1,000 consumers. This allows the statement to be live tested and improvements implemented within days.
Director of Opt-4, Rosemary Smith, said: “Live testing of multiple-data protection statements creates an untidy legacy of consumer promises that brands are obliged to honour, benchmarked research is the sensible alternative.”
Isn’t what constitutes an effective opt-in statement obvious?
Permission scripts which score well on clarity, control and trust are likely to achieve a high score.
To check your own success in judging the likely success of different statements, try this test.
What percentage of opt-ins do you think this statement achieved?
“By giving us your details and clicking the submit button, you are agreeing that we may use your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy including for marketing purposes”
Click here to find out if you came close.
And this one:
“You know that we have some great deals in-store and online. To be the first to hear about these offers – as well as to receive vouchers which are only sent by email – please provide your email address below.
You’ll start receiving offers straight away and there will be something special in the first email that you won’t want
to miss!”
Email address…………………………………..
Click here for result.
And this:
“We’d like to keep you informed by email about our future offers and new product launches. Please tick this box to let us know that you are happy for us to do this
(Don’t forget, you can change your contact preferences at any time by logging into your account or by using the unsubscribe links which you will find on all our emails)”
Click here for result.
The next Benchmark step is to analyse exactly what makes some statements more successful and correct the weaknesses in the one being tested. Visit the website for more information.
Contact: rosemary.smith@opt-4.co.uk 0796 147 2210 or david.cole@fastmap.com 0777 568 4293.