Skip to main content Skip to footer
l

BPM Analytics

Ethical practices in consumer behaviour analytics and data collection

Privacy, security, legal compliance, risk exposure assessment, and regulations are the top priorities of any organisation that collects consumer behaviour data for marketing campaigns. The ethics of consumer behaviour analytics are not just a legal obligation but also a fundamental pillar to upholding customer trust.

Norms such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulate data collection and usage and give the power to end customers. To comply with these and other global regulations, businesses must understand the impact of consumer behaviour analytics on privacy, the best practices to ensure privacy, and the associated challenges.


Impact of consumer behaviour analytics on privacy

Ethical data collection and analytics for marketing entail understanding consumer preferences and behaviour while ensuring privacy. Without strict data protection protocols, consumers could be exposed to breaches, identity theft, and unauthorised use by a third party.

Data that you collect from social media, online transactions, and loyalty programs contains customers’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including date of birth, name, address, and purchasing pattern. Failing to secure this data could cause financial and reputational loss to the company.


Collecting data: Fodder for consumer analytics

Whatever the purpose of data collection is, its quality makes a huge difference in the value the data brings. This is why organisations that want to promote data security and privacy must begin their efforts at the source by understanding the origins and types of data.

High-quality data respects customer privacy and helps behaviour analysis ethics teams create personalised campaigns. Here are the data types needed for consumer analytics:

  • Consumer information: This includes, but is not limited to, demographics, name, past purchasing pattern, spending behaviour, etc. Customer information helps marketing teams design targeted and meaningful campaigns while ensuring data privacy.
  • External data: Social media dashboards, third-party data, and surveys generate massive customer data that is insightful and apt for ethical marketing analytics. Your business gets comprehensive consumer behaviour analytics and sentiment for targeted campaigns.
  • Trends and insights within the segment: Marketing analytics require you to monitor industry trends and insights constantly. Trends and insights reveal changing customer preferences, using which you can develop customer-centric strategies.

Best practices to ensure consumer privacy in marketing analytics

Ethical data collection for marketing analytics uses morally and socially responsible practices. The strategies must align with customers’ data security concerns and long-term business goals:


Ensure transparency, consent, and privacy

Marketers must disclose the data they collect and the way they use it. Secondly, the business must get customer consent before collecting, storing, and using their data and must ensure complete privacy. Customers should also have a choice to opt out if they do not want to share their data.


Provide continuous education

Understand Your Customers for Enhanced  Marketing Processes

Understand Your Customers for Enhanced Marketing Processes 

Train the employees and educate the customers continuously about safe data-sharing practices and ethical decision-making. By proactively educating the customers, you build trust and lower the chances of data breaches and leakage.


Establish a culture of ethics and accountability

An organisational culture where adherence to data-security policies and legal standards is paramount goes a long way in building trust. Clear process guidelines for employees mitigate the risk of data leakage and prevent legal violations. A company-wide commitment to behaviour analysis ethics and accountability ought to be the centre point of your brand’s identity.


Understand and comply with the regulations and legal implications

Standards such as GDPR and CCPA regulate data acquisition, usage, and sharing practices and restrict the use of PII in many situations. Each standard has unique terms and conditions. For example, consumers in California who are older than sixteen can choose to opt out of personal information selling. Processes in behavior analysis ethics must comply with the state and federal rules applicable to the business region.


Forbid deceptive data collection practices

Marketers must not mislead the customers to provide data that they do not wish to share. For example, it is unethical to make it mandatory for a client to share personal data to get a discount offer. In this case, a discount code should suffice.


Appoint a data protection officer

A dedicated Data Protection Officer (DPO) ensures that your team and all internal and customer-facing processes meet the current industry standards on behavior analysis ethics. They possess the necessary expertise to provide guidance, set up training, monitor compliance, and act as a point of contact.


Consumer behaviour ethics challenges

The critical challenge that obstructs a smooth implementation of behaviour analysis ethics is the ease of operating with data. For example, asking for the customer’s exact location may accelerate product delivery but compromise their location and risk unwanted surveillance. Similarly, asking for cross-app data tracking in mobile commerce exposes the customer to unwanted data sharing.

Secondly, the behaviour analysis must be free from ethnic, racial, and religious markers. For example, a facial recognition algorithm should not differentiate between people’s features and skin colour while collecting customer data.


How can Infosys BPM help with consumer behaviour analytics?

Infosys BPM uses cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics to create hyper-automated and safe customer data tracking and collection solutions. This helps in end-to-end marketing, including acquisition, growth, optimisation, retention, forecasting, and lifecycle management.

Read more about consumer behaviour analytics at Infosys BPM.


Recent Posts