Impact of Ad Privacy Policy on Digital World

Starting a new business is an overwhelming experience, so most people tend to ignore ad privacy policies during the process. However, when businesses take the approach of a consumer into account regarding the ad privacy policy, they realize its importance and impact on both personal lives and the digital world. 

In the past years, Google, Facebook, and a lot of other companies have been using the personal data of the users to give them a personalized user experience. For instance, every time we log in to our Facebook account, our locations get tracked. Everything that we click or see is being recorded and then the information is further sent to the third party to help it tailor its offerings accordingly. Similarly, when we browse something on Google, it gets tracked and then we start seeing relevant ads on different websites we visit. Some users are comfortable with the way Google, Facebook, or other businesses operate. But there are a lot of other users as well who feel irritated or annoyed by this stalking behavior. They feel unsafe which is also one of the reasons why ads have become ineffective. They are aware of their rights as well, so they want to know how their data is being used by these companies. They end up developing certain expectations from the ads which they get to see regularly on the Internet. They consider their information as a cost that they are paying to get back the desired results.

 We need to understand the impact of the privacy policy on the digital marketing of businesses before we proceed further. If every advertiser and marketer starts implementing this policy, they should also get ready to work harder to know their consumers personally. Moreover, they will have a hard time evaluating the performance of their advertising campaigns. On the other hand, the consumers might not be able to enjoy the benefits of relevant advertising. So, we must analyze whether the pros of ad privacy policy outweigh its cons or not. Does an advertiser have to track the consumers to maximize their sales and revenues or is there any way out? Also, would a consumer necessarily have to sacrifice his personal data and information for an amazing shopping experience?

 One of the greatest examples is set by Apple to understand the impact of the ad privacy policy on the digital world. It believes that “privacy is the fundamental human right”, so it has introduced the ad privacy policy in the form of a pop-up window that asks the consumers for their permission every time before tracking their data. It has also resulted in tripling Apple’s value. However, it has a drastic impact on its contemporaries as a lot of consumers have chosen to opt-out of the tracking. It has further made it difficult for popular apps like Facebook to gather data according to the interests of their consumers. As a result, Facebook’s ads are no longer effective for smaller businesses as they won’t be able to reach their target audience because of the ad privacy policy. At the same time, Facebook has also announced that it is finding new ways and methods of advertisements without using the personal information of its consumers.

 Google has also made changes in ad privacy policy to make their consumers feel secure and comfortable while using the browser. According to one of its blog posts, consumers don’t have to tolerate stalking behavior and at the same time, advertisers don’t need to track the consumers to make the best use of digital marketing. It has decided to end support for third-party cookies to prevent tracking of the consumers. However, it has different views than Apple. Apple gives all rights to the consumer to block tracking and it is making the ad privacy policy stricter over time, but Google says that it is not privacy that it is offering but a privilege that only those, who can afford Apple‘s expensive products, can enjoy.

This battle hasn’t only affected the digital world overall but also disrupted small businesses which rely on the personal data and information of the consumers to keep a check on their performance level. App makers, publishers, and a lot of marketers are now transforming their business models to survive the battle. Some of them have increased the prices of their products to compensate for their losses. Publishers have also decided to start charging fees to the consumers who want their subscription to support their app development. It clearly shows that those who are not willing to make changes according to the current situation will eventually get knocked down.

 It is evident from the above-mentioned facts that ad privacy policy changes will have overarching effects on the digital world, however, Google and Apple are going on the right track to make a change and show other companies and apps the right way to operate efficiently in the digital world. Now, it is possible to handle such a critical situation by making important changes ahead of time. However, marketers should put more effort into improving their SEOs to add more relevant keywords to their businesses. This way, the organic results will help them drive more audience to the sites than display ads. It will help improve both their credibility and user experiences. On the other hand, if they don’t use fair means to attract consumers to their sites, it will prove to be damaging for their brand value in the long run even if the sales start boosting immediately. In short, it helps establish that companies can deal with ad privacy policy effectively as the risk factors involved in the process are now controllable.  

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