Size matters

Opt-in; minimise the shrinkage

Let’s be clear; if you think the size of your database is important and most of us do, then you will want to stick with the currently dominant opt-out permission statement.

While the legal decision to adopt opt-out as the standard is beyond marketers’ control, responsible brands are considering the implications of such a move and attempting to minimise shrinkage.

When respondents need to tick a box to stop consent this is called “opt-out”. When they tick a box to give consent, this is called “opt-in”. Regulation and codes of practice are moving towards opt-in.

Why does opt-out attract far higher consent rates than opt-in?

Let’s be honest here. Impatient consumers often skim-read statements to pick out key facts. Some will misunderstand. Many will consent by default by assuming the act of ticking is a commitment and so avoid doing so.

The higher levels of opt-out consent are at least partly caused by impatience and confusion.

An Uncomfortable Truth

The Data Permission Benchmark process has revealed an uncomfortable truth. When looking at the way respondents perceived combination statements (opt-in and opt-out) and opt–in only ones. Respondents consider combination statements to be both less clear and less honest.

Although average consent for combination statements is generally double that of opt-in statements (42% vs. 20%), opt-in respondents will have consented to a statement they perceive to be clear and more honest. This makes them better prospects than those who opted-in by accident. All consenters are not created equal.

Action Plan

There are key planning considerations for those aiming to counteract the growing likelihood of database shrinkage.

Objectively measure data quality. How will you compare opt-out consenters with opt-ins? It’s the quality vs. quantity conundrum. You must compare apples with apples.

Communication channel review. Should channel selection be adapted to maximise collection of the new higher quality opt-inners? Perhaps some of the more expensive media would become cost-effective when costed in this way.

Shrinkage estimate. Are your best guess scenarios incorporated into your planning spreadsheet? How much will your database shrink and across which channels?

Your database will probably reduce by more than half if opt-in becomes the legal or ethical requirement. But more optimistically, it also illustrates the potential improvement possible between the lowest and highest consent average for a particular brand. For opt-in statements this is 55%.

Let’s assume the marketing industry is coerced into adopting an opt-in statement: You could choose to regard this as a challenge to lift your opt-in consent rate by more than 50%.

In a world where budget-minded clients are planning for a mandatory opt-in scenario, they need to control the shrinkage of their data asset by carefully testing and adjusting the other two other influencing pillars of consent; channel choice and effective language.

For more information about how to do this visit via the Data Permission Benchmark click here.

You may have to take a few steps back to really understand the issue before moving forward, my other blogs should help you to build some context and knowledge;

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