Companies are getting savvier than ever about using technology to improve the customer experience. But we need to balance out benefits with privacy. That’s not getting any easier, even for big companies.
I shared some thoughts on this in TechTarget: Princess Cruises puts real-time customer experience into action.
“There’s a point at which a company, while they’re trying to be helpful while propping up their bottom line, becomes creepy,” Vincalek said.
Hypothetical examples include receiving offers from Weight Watchers about losing the extra 10 pounds you gained recently. That would probably be over the line.
In order for real-time customer experiences to pan out, businesses need to demonstrate the value to customers. Customers should be able to choose what information they are willing to share, and businesses should figure out how to tell the customer who owns the data and be transparent about how they will use it.
Vincalek also recommends building a system where personal identity and data are separated to minimize the risk in the event of a security breach and limit data collection required for an experience. At the same time, businesses want to be sure it is possible to add other types of data when experience designers come up with new ideas for other real-time customer experiences.
What do you think? How is your company balancing out data privacy and the user experience? Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn!
Vaclav Vincalek is the Founder & CEO of PCIS.
