March 29, 2021

The role of digital privacy in brand trust

Robert E.G. Beens, co-founder and CEO of Startpage, discusses the importance of establishing brand trust via digital privacy.

Robert E.G. Beens is the Co-Founder and CEO of Startpage, and a recognized privacy expert and advocate. At Startpage, Beens oversees operations, product development, technology, and finance. He is also a commercial airline pilot with Netherlands-based airline KLM. He earned his Master’s degree in Corporate, Social & Economic Dutch Law from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Trust between people and companies isn’t unlike interpersonal trust. Brands have to earn it, which takes time, and if at any point that trust is questioned or lost, it will take even longer to be regained.

Right now, we’re at a breaking point with respect to one of the key elements of brand trust: digital privacy. The crux of the problem is that, for the large part, brands haven’t been ethically handling people’s online data. Over the past few years, as data malpractices became par for the course in business (especially in big tech), so ensued the erosion of digital privacy.

How did we reach this point? I could write an article about key data malpractices alone, but among the most aggressive examples that have permeated people’s digital lives are:

Manipulative information: Misinformation is a familiar term in 2020. As Netflix’s recent docufilm The Social Dilemma explained, big tech economic algorithms mean that users only get served information aligned with their tracked online behaviors, often tied to highly personal preferences like political affiliation. This creates a deep polarization of viewpoints and a distrust of the “other side,” which has contributed to a divided America — all through data manipulation.
Filter bubbles: Big tech designs other algorithms to keep users within their ecosystems to better monetize their data. Have you ever found yourself binge-watching YouTube because each new video recommendation is something you really want to see? It’s that way by design. The U.S. government agrees something is clearly wrong, as evidenced by the FTC’s lawsuit against Facebook on grounds of breaking antitrust laws, just one of many antitrust suits filed against big tech.
Data mining, targeting and profiling: Several years ago, the only evidence that a company might have been monetizing our data was an ad that followed us around the internet. Now, algorithms are much clearer and more aggressive. To that end, 91% of people say ads have become increasingly more intrusive.
Data collection for state surveillance and control: Baidu, which controls two-thirds of China’s online search market, appeared to be suppressing information about pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019. While China’s example is extreme, the Western world is not immune — the U.S. Patriot Act, which was devised and enacted just weeks after 9/11, was a massive expansion of government surveillance in the U.S.

Digital Privacy Can Build or Break Brand Trust

Consumers are aware that their data is more front and center than ever before. The awareness, unease and distrust resulting from infringement on digital privacy have created a tipping point that people are increasingly acting on in their daily lives. According to McKinsey & Company, consumers are becoming more intentional about the type of data they share and with whom. People are more regularly exercising their purchasing power with companies and ecosystems that don’t sell their data or choosing private search alternatives for everyday queries.

With all this said, it behooves tech leaders to strategize around the markers that will signal to consumers that their company is taking a thoughtful and ethical approach to digital privacy.

How To Ensure Stronger Digital Privacy and Brand Trust

Digital trust today depends on many elements, not just firewalls and encryption but also responsible and ethical data management.

In my industry (search), I saw how competitors were gorging irresponsibly on people’s data. My leadership team and I had conversations about how we wanted to take our business in a different direction. Instead of following the trend of logging people’s search behavior, we created Startpage in 2006, the world’s first private search engine. That process, and subsequent learnings, taught me the following data handling best practices to build trust through digital privacy:

Privacy by design: For businesses starting out or new products being designed, bake customer protection into the business strategy from Day 1.
Privacy by default: Carefully choosing default settings is paramount. For companies with an existing infrastructure that can’t feasibly practice privacy by design, there are still ways to maximize trust along the customer journey and across all channels. Because many companies failed to proactively obtain explicit consent for data collection on their own, laws such as the GDPR and the CCPA have forced companies into action. But companies can always go one step further, such as opting all consumers out by default so the choice to opt in is in users’ hands.
Data control: Collect only the data that is required. Data should have a reciprocal benefit, not just serve you as a company, and it must not be used to harm people or their privacy. Also, provide options for users to keep control over their data.
Accountability and transparency: Be clear about how you will use, share and store data you do collect. One way we practiced transparency around data use was by publishing our data flow. The diagram leaves all the information users need to know to feel confident in our service out on the table.

Digital privacy plays a critical role in brand trust, and companies can no longer ignore it. People’s digital privacy expectations shouldn’t be seen as a threat but as an opportunity. Just like any personal relationship, if people trust your company, they’ll be more likely to be engaged, spend more time with you and trust you with their personal information because they believe you’ll handle it ethically. Through this lens, doing right by digital privacy can build and maintain trust and offer your business many revenue growth opportunities.