With Cambridge Analytica, British Airways, and several other high-profile data breaches making headlines, retailers are (unsurprisingly) starting to reconsider their own customer data policies. But rather than making the mistake of seeing these events as an obstacle, they should see them for what they are: an opportunity. In the last few years, customer experience has become a battleground for brands, with 81 percent of marketers expecting to compete on experience alone by 2020 . Tensions around the data fueling personalized experiences might be making brands skittish, but that won’t change the fact that customers expect better experiences. It’s easy to see data issues and their resulting regulations as the end of the customer experience arms race, but rising customer expectations won’t let that happen. In fact, it’s time for retailers to double down on their customer experience efforts by making data part of the experience. Retailers that take this step to balance personalization and privacy won’t just survive these tensions, they’ll thrive in them. But before I get into how, it’s time to talk regulations. Technology is always two steps ahead of regulation, and customer data acquisition and application is no exception. With more advanced data technology comes more advanced data regulations. For retailers, their data strategies are designed to produce better customer experiences. Similarly, for regulators, their rules are designed to produce safer, more secure customer experiences. On both sides, data abuse and breaches are counter to these goals. Nobody wins in a data breach. And while it’s tempting to treat new privacy regulations as a crisis, your brand has already (hopefully) complied to numerous customer data regulations that came before — you can do this. Now, back to strategy. How can your brand strike the right balance between personalization […]

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Source:  Total Retail