Posted by Ian Lowe April 22, 2019 Webinar Recap: The Top 8 Things You Need to Know About the CCPA
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will cause shake-ups in how companies doing business in the world’s fifth-biggest economy manage data privacy – and, potentially, shake-outs among those who aren’t prepared for its January 2020 compliance deadline.
What are the key things to understand about the CCPA? That was the subject of a wide-ranging April webinar featuring customer experience & data privacy consultant Tim Walters, Ph.D.
As a principal strategist and the privacy lead at The Content Advisor and founder of Zero Theory Solutions, as well as a contributing analyst for the Content Marketing Institute and TechGDPR, among other corporate and academic credentials, Tim’s earned a wealth of insights he was able to share.
An 8-point exploration of the CCPA’s impact
During the webinar, Tim dug into eight key areas:
- Who, exactly, will be affected by the CCPA?
- What counts as personal information?
- What rights does the CCPA grant to consumers?
- The right to disclosure/transparency
- The right to delete data
- The right to opt out of “selling” personal data
- The 12-month “look-back” period stipulated by the law
- Enforcement and fines
One point he made early on? While these regulatory hardpoints may be “dry and legalistic,” as Tim put it, it’s vital to understand them all. Moreover, there’s a rich opportunity for delivering what he called “CX goodness” in meeting the CCPA, so consumers and marketers alike can benefit from compliance-based engagement.
Reflecting a public outcry
As Tim reminds us, businesses lined up – some reluctantly – behind the CCPA as an alternative to a proposed data privacy ballot initiative that would have been even more restrictive, and polls showed would have won. The real takeaway here? That consumers were demanding data privacy protections; the CCPA isn’t the product of meddling bureaucrats, but of a broad public outcry.
“The CCPA reflects the voice of the people of California,” he says, “and your responses should be designed to address their concerns, their anxieties, their demands for ethical and responsible handling of personal data, and not only or merely to comply with the letter of the regulation.”
Driving a nationwide shift
One major implication of the CCPA? “Since the CCPA requires businesses to treat California residents differently than they do the residents of other states in the U.S.,” he says, “how are you going to identify whether a visitor is located in California?” Potentially, any national or international company will have to ask visitors if they’re California residents.
Many of them may find it easier to apply the CCPA standard to all visitors from the U.S., he goes on. This is one way the CCPA might drive a nationwide shift in data privacy, even while remaining a California-only regulation.
From data abundance to data scarcity
One result he sees from this attitudinal change and accompanying regulation? We’re moving away from a period where personal data was superabundant, a “digital exhaust” markets could collect and use with impunity. Data scarcity will be the new reality, where personal data is only lent, not given freely, by consumers.
The “Wild West where you were allowed or even encouraged to be a data predator,” as Tim puts it, is being superseded. The new landscape? “A regulated or tamed environment where you’re expected to be a data shepherd,” he says.
Delivering joint benefit
This movement from “big data” to “beg data” will demand giving consumers attractive value propositions to entice consent. The silver lining? Consumers are happy to provide a marketer with permission to use their data, so long as they’re reaping a reciprocal benefit.
When consumers were asked to share their spending habit data with an airline, only 4% agreed. But told they’re receive a “personalized itinerary” based on that data, consent shot up to 45%, an 11X increase.
The CCPA doesn’t mandate that companies communicate such a value exchange. But as he explains, these “enriched disclosures” and greater transparency work within its regulatory framework. A strategy like this, where compliance isn’t a “knee jerk reaction” to new laws but is leveraged as an opportunity to build deeper trust and engagement, has a powerful upside: Smart marketers build reputational strength as champions of their customers’ data rights.
Get the entire (free) CCPA webinar...
These were only a few of the topics and insights covered in the session. To review everything covered during Tim Walters’ CCPA webinar with Crownpeak, download it today to explore his entire slate of insights.
The Top 8 Things You Need to Know About the CCPA