Perception and Procurement of Permission

In the UK, the Direct Marketing Association has already touched on this topic in its wide-ranging Customer Acquisition Barometer report looking into matters such as the shelf-life consumers believe permission should have and what incentives and rewards would make them most likely to share their information.

This topic has now been evolved further by research conducted with 1,175 consumers by fast.MAP, Tangible and Opt-4 which has been covered by Marketing Week. As always, we recommend clicking through to the article to read the full report or viewing the infographic but in case you’re pushed for time, these are the aspects we found most interesting:

• More people (51%) would 'not opt-out' than they would 'opt-in' (29%) to marketing communications.
• 40% would provide permission for marketing in return for ‘something of value’ while 28% would do so if permission was easy to revoke.
• 51% would prefer marketing communications via email, while only 1% would choose to be contacted over the phone.
• The 55-64 demographic see no third-party sharing as an important factor in giving permission with 71% saying this would influence their decision to share information, while only 47% of the younger 35-44 age range would be influenced by this.
• 73% of people are happy to share information with banks while only 8% would be happy to do so with gaming companies or publishers.

The Marketing Week article includes a wealth of further information on the nuances of how the different demographics such as age or location and the brand’s industry sector affect people’s responses which will give useful hints and tips for those targeting and executing campaigns. As data protection and permission marketing are such vital areas for marketers to get right, as well as being one that regulators are still unclear about how best to implement, we’ll be revisiting the topic throughout the year.

UPDATE: The DMA has been working with the Information Commissioners Office this month to clarify its Guidance on Direct Marketing from September 2013. The Association’s new 10-point guide is a very helpful resource for any marketers looking for further counsel on how to understand and comply with existing data protection legislation and covers everything from opt-ins to third-party consent to time limits.

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