Savvy marketers are keenly aware of
the need to effectively manage opt-out requests.
Now, there is a new challenge to
consider — consent management. This type of permission-based marketing goes
beyond merely opt-in, especially as it is used in certain industries such as
healthcare.
“Consent management” in healthcare
generally refers to allowing patients to determine what healthcare information
they are willing to let their various healthcare providers, including doctors
and hospitals, access. Consent management lets consumers affirm their
willingness to participate in electronic health initiatives.
In addition to indicating who has
access to a patient’s protected health information (PHI), consent management
may also be used to determine for what purposes or under what conditions the
PHI may be accessed. PHI is generally defined as any information that links a
person with their health condition and includes such identifiers as name, phone
number, email address, Social Security number, and more.
Organizations may now need to write
their privacy policies so that the issue of consent management is clearly
defined.
However, any industry that needs to
manage a consumer’s choice to share information such as with its affiliates is
involved in consent management to some degree. In fact, marketing consent
management will be critical with the recent Federal Communications Commission amendment
to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act regarding prior express written
consent. This new regulation requires that a company obtain prior express written
consent from a consumer before using an automated dialing system to deliver any
type of advertisement or telemarketing call — including prerecorded messages
and text messages — to a mobile device.
Even companies who have previously
marketed to their customers’ mobile devices using implied consent (such as
responding to an inquiry submitted from a web site form) must now obtain prior
express written consent. Any solicitation prerecorded messages to be delivered
to any residential phone line will also require prior express written consent.
These new prior express written
consent standards could severely impact your ability to reach consumers who
have given up their landlines and rely solely on mobile devices.
So, how do you solve these very
complex marketing challenges? Where do consent management, opt-in marketing and
preference management come together?
You should begin by understanding the
concept of preference management and how it can be used to collect and manage
opt-ins. By implementing a preference management solution, you can begin to
tackle many of the consent management and privacy issues associated with
honoring a consumer’s preferences. Of course, you need a persistent preference
center so that consumers can easily update or change their preferences such as
the preferred communication method or “opt-down” instead of opting out.
More importantly, as you implement
a preference management solution, you need to utilize technology that was built
with consumer regulatory compliance and privacy management in mind.
This article just begins to touch
on the many issues that make consent management and preference management a
challenge for marketers. Look for more information in the weeks to come.
In the meantime, share your
thoughts on this topic!
Scott Frey is the CEO of PossibleNOW and CompliancePoint. Scott leads the strategic mission to maintain its leadership position in global direct marketing compliance by closely monitoring changes in consumer privacy legislation, industry trends, and delivering innovative products and services to meet client’s needs.
Follow me on Twitter: @ScottFreyPN | Connect on LinkedIn: Scott Frey
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