During the second year of GDPR there was an increased trend in the creation of new digital consent notices by companies globally, growing overall by 40%, indicating that more companies are placing an emphasis on having processes in place to capture customer consent online, according to new research.
Privacy and digital experience management firm Crownpeak has found that during the second year of GDPR, its Universal Consent Platform saw an increase trend in the creation of new digital consent notices by companies globally, growing overall by 40% from April 2019 to April 2020.
The data indicates that more companies are placing an emphasis on having processes in place to capture customer consent online.
A huge spike of 270% growth in new consent notices from November to December 2019 — month over month — coincided with the lead-up to the introduction of CCPA in January 2020.
Edits to existing consent notices also increased overall, with a growth of 266% between April 2019 to April 2020, and there was a spike in edits during the CCPA preparation period from November to December 2019.
Between February 2020 to April 2020 the editing of existing notices increased 40%, likely because of the need to update and align messaging during the move to digital-only as a result of COVID-19.
When broken down by industry, there were some fluctuations in the creation or editing of digital consent notices during April 2019 – April 2020. With waves of editing projects appearing to be popular, rather than ongoing steady maintenance. Findings from the top four sectors show varying levels of creating and editing digital consent notices:
· Food and beverage: +39% (growth, but this overall growth is 20% down from a February 2020 high)
· Entertainment / Media: +52% (growth)
· Retail: -24% (decrease)
· Finance / banking: -40% (decrease)
Commenting on the findings, Ian Lowe, VP Marketing, Crownpeak said “With GDPR now entering its third year, most companies affected are taking their data security obligations seriously. However, there is still the need for education about the best ways to implement the consent notice process and how to incorporate privacy as a beneficial part of the user experience.
“The global COVID-19 health crisis and resulting economic impact has brought privacy to the forefront again, raising concerns around health tracking apps, potential data leaks from hackers, and the relaxing of third-party cookie use by some browsers. Although this is an unusual time, companies and regulators across the globe must continue to ensure that there is a balance between supporting the vital healthcare initiatives and economic recovery, with the right for personal data protection. Like everything else, privacy is evolving, and we predict it will continue to be a priority.
“The same main rule should apply, only to use data that is needed. However, consumers and companies will likely see developments around new rules of consent; potentially a new category of COVID-19 tags and possibly changes to the fine print of regulations in regard to tracking requirements. This is a time of change, and consent requirements can’t lag behind.”