2022 was a challenging year for mega companies like TikTok, Meta, Amazon, and H&M, who had to pay hefty fines for violating consumer data privacy laws. Furthermore, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) cited more than 270 cases relating to data breaches, data sales, requests, and privacy notices.
Moving into 2023, businesses must acknowledge the need for a comprehensive Consent Management Platform (CMP) for managing consent, data subject requests, and consumer preference.
What is a Consent Management Platform (CMP)?
A CMP is a one-stop solution for obtaining user consent for processing personal data. It enables accessing and managing user consent, data subject requests (DSARs), and privacy preferences with the help of software tools that integrate with a business’s existing website(s) or app(s).
Why do businesses need to implement a CMP Consent Manager?
Data protection laws (such as the CCPA) safeguard the privacy rights of individuals. The regulations provide consumers with data safety rights which they can access anytime. Since consumers have the law, companies must follow the best practices for handling customer data and privacy requests.
In July, the full-fledged Consumer Protection Rights Act (CPRA) enforcement will expand and improve the CCPA. Furthermore, Virginia enacted its VCDPA (Virginia Data Protection Act) on 1st January, and other States (Utah, Colorado, and Connecticut) plan on enforcing similar data protection laws.
It is not only the big companies that fall under the scrutiny of data protection regulations. The laws are the same for big as well as small-scale companies. Any businesses that violate consumer data privacy rights are subject to unforgiving regulatory trials.
Data privacy laws may differ in terms of legislative capacity and geographic location. Regardless, all data protection laws state that:
Data subjects (individuals who share their data) have the right to know what information a business collects about them and how they would process the collected data.
Data subject consent should be ‘valid.’ It means consent should be ‘freely given,’ ‘informed,’ ‘specific,’ and ‘unambiguous.’ In other words, businesses must not influence individuals to consent to data use policies and practices.
Companies must offer website (and mobile app) visitors accessible forms or text boxes with clear information about the data use policies. The visitors should also be able to ‘accept’ or ‘deny’ the processing of their personal information.
It is most certain that more privacy breach cases will surface as the laws become widespread and more stringent. However, you can prevent the regulations from clawing your business by keeping track of consumer consent, preferences, and Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs.)
What can a CMP do for your Business?
An effective CMP solution should allow website and mobile app owners to:
Create Cookie Consent banners:
Data privacy laws require businesses to inform their website (or mobile app) visitors about their data policies, including cookie use and sharing or selling personal information. An effective CMP (Consent Management Platform) should offer customized banners for notifying website (or app) visitors about a business’s data use policies.
Implement forms/ banners for capturing valid consent:
You are responsible for collecting valid consent from visitors to your website (or app). A CMP allows collecting consumer consent by placing simple (and customizable) banners that:
Inform website or mobile app users (or visitors) about what data a company intends to share or sell with third-party organizations and the purpose behind those actions.
Notify which cookies a company will place on user devices (smartphones, PCs, tablets)
Allow accepting or rejecting the data policies and placement of cookies. Allow setting ‘preference’ for cookies and personalized services.
Identify Data Subjects and Privacy Requests:
Data subjects have the right to seek information about what data a company collects about them and how it processes the information. Website and mobile app visitors should be able to send DSR to ‘seek’ information on personal data or request ‘data deletion.’ Therefore, a CMP should:
Provide website (or app) visitors with aa way (a clickable button or email) to submit a DSARS.
Identify the individual corresponding to a DSARs without making any error.
Respond to individual DSARs without the risk of sending personal information to any unauthorized person or organization.
Centralize the DSARs management process:
Responding to a data subject request involves curating all information demanded by the requestee. Suppose you must do that manually. Trying to locate and collect customer information from various sources (company employees, third-party apps, or organizations) can cause problems. You might have to ask an employee to submit input on the DSARs, which will create more data on an individual!
A comprehensive CMP can help avoid the situations mentioned earlier by eliminating the need for manual steps. It will allow responding to individual DSARs without creating added (and unnecessary) information on the individual (requester).
Proof of Consent and DSARs fulfillment
A CMP consent manager is a crucial tool for businesses, and if it helps keep a record of user consent, it’s a must-have! Upon fulfilling a DSAR, the CMP should also be able to send automated notifications to the end user.
Assure Compliance with Data Protection Laws
An effective CMP should ensure that your business complies with the ever-evolving data privacy laws. Since your website(s) or mobile app(s) may have visitors from various countries, you need to integrate a CMP that assures compliance by adhering to different laws and regulations.
Adzapier Consent Management Platform
Your business needs to stay in compliance with the laws. Here’s why:
Staying compliant avoids the risk of unwanted fines and penalties.
88% of customers say sharing personal information depends on trust with a company. Furthermore, customers prefer businesses that follow best practices for compliance (offer a cookie banner, respond to DSARs on time, or provide easy access to data rights).
By giving your website (or mobile app) visitors meaningful control over personal data, you take a step towards building a trusting relationship with your customers.
Here’s what you can achieve with Adzapier’s comprehensive CMP:
Implement Sleek Data Policy Banners:
Adzapier’s CMP allows for creating policy banners that match your brand’s design and style preference. The banners are customizable too! Businesses can input personalized policy text and make unique banners for their customers.
Create Customized Cookie Banners:
The Adzapier CMP also allows businesses to incorporate seamless cookie banners that are easy to manage. The platform enables customizing the cookie banners, and you can choose where to place the banner on a website (or mobile app).
Manage Cookie Preferences:
With Adzapier’s consent preference tool, businesses can give their customers meaningful control over personal information. It makes rejecting or accepting cookies and related services easier for your customers and allows you to seek ‘re-consent.’
Maintain Proof of Consent:
You won't have to worry about compliance audits if you assign the Adzapier CMP for consent collection. The platform keeps a detailed record of what cookies your customers consent to and how many cookies are active on their device(s).
Automated DSAR Flows:
Implementing automated DSARS request workflows from Adzapier’s CMP will allow you to manage privacy requests without missing the deadlines set by the data privacy laws. The platform offers pre-set DSARS workflows that you can choose and implement for fulfilling requests from users under the legislation of different privacy laws (such as GDPR, CCPA, VCDPA, and LGPD.)
Identify individual DSARs:
Adzapier CMP enables geotargeting to track the individual concerned with a data subject request. The feature is helpful as it ensures that when the DSARs are fulfilled, you correspond the information to an authorized person after verifying their identity.
Compliance: Anywhere, anytime!
Adzapier’s CMP is the best in class, as it complies with the world’s most stringent data privacy laws. The platform ensures your business’s compliance with GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and TCPA and keeps track of the changing regulations, so you don’t have to worry about privacy audits.
Time, much time, for focusing on the growth of your business!
Not having to invest hours in managing customer privacy requests while ensuring compliance with the laws is incredible, isn’t it? With Adzapier’s CMP, you will not have to spend hours building a DSARs workflow or creating a pop-up cookie banner. The platform provides easy automation of the DSARS flows. It also offers cookie banners in the form of a copy-paste code that’s easy to use with the website(s) and mobile app(s).
Starting with Adzapier’s consent management platform will cost you less than $100. The platform offers everything online businesses need to keep up with data privacy laws while maintaining long-lasting customer relationships. Visit the company’s product page to learn more about the comprehensive CMP platform.