It recently came to my attention that I had not received any marketing materials from an organisation that I have been a loyalty member of for more years than I care to remember. When reviewing why I had received nothing, I became aware that I opted out of all correspondence over 7 years ago, my address information was wrong and almost all the information that they had captured about me all those years ago had changed.
This got me thinking about the concept of ‘Opt Out’. I am a big believer of giving the consumer control over how and when an organisation interacts with them. But how, as an organisation, can I manage the changing nature of a relationship?
Anyone in marketing will understand that the relationship we have with our customers is paramount and needs to be carefully managed at all times. Campaign management vendors have to provide a variety of capabilities to ensure that a consumer is not over contacted, and that all contacts are filtered by overriding opt out rules.
But as a relationship changes over time, consumers needs and desires change, and with that change does the opt out status from 7 years ago still stand?
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I have the view that all customer preferences should be reviewed periodically. As organisations get more sophisticated with opt out rules, we should give the customer the opportunity to refine their choices. When I opted out 7 years ago there was one choice, either you receive everything or you receive nothing. Now that organisations are providing consumers with a broader range of opt out choices, it is time to get consumers to update their preferences.
As a part of your continuing data quality program, it is time to add opt out options to contact details and preferences as a data set that must be maintained. The challenge is how to communicate the value of updating their preferences to a consumer.
How do you manage opt out rules with a consumer over a life time?
Daniel Tehan
www.linkedin.com/in/danieltehan
