Consents in Retail

The Shrinking Marketable Universe

I have had many opportunities to experience the attention to customer consent in the retail sector. There was a bit of shock and awe when one observes how quickly the marketable universe shrinks. It happens because of many factors not always within the control of the organisation. But it is also interesting to see that corporate reactions are not as quick.

Perception and Delayed Response

First it is viewed as a small-ish problem, a consequence of rapid growth. When there is a realisation that action is needed, it is further delayed because of many different paths available to ‘fix the problem’ and not enough consensus on which is the right reaction. I have seen an orgnisation that has dedicated dashboards to this issue so it will not get out of hand again. For another organisation as many as 1 in 3 one-time customers had some kind of opt-out (nobody actually knows what precisely the customer has opted out of as there is only one Yes/No flag).

Eagerness to Communicate

At the heart of the problem is the eagerness to communicate with the customer. Keep the information flowing, increase engagement and ultimately create stickiness with the product. In the digital world this is a lot easier to do meaning every system that provides a solution to a problem can also bundle a capability to communicate with the customer:

• Web; can message the Consumer on the basis of specific digital events that describe a behaviour that the organisation wants to encourage/discourage. For example, recommendations on repeat visits, reminders to go to check-out, etc.
• CRM; can message the Consumer based on profile and value to the organisation. Engagement, cross-sell/up-sell, information push about products or services, etc.
• Fulfillment systems; they have accelerated their Consumer messaging since Covid disrupted supply chains. As product delivery has more moving parts, their role is to alert the Consumer of delivery issues, stock-outs, etc.

The Unsubscribe Tipping Point

Once you flip the above to make it customer-centric, it may explain why Consumers are getting more messages than ever before. There may be then a key moment when the Customer withdraws their consent.

Marketing Complexity and Compliance Risk

In some organisations, that usually triggers a process that can become even more complex: “Sorry to see you go… But is it ok to send you some info when specific specials become available?” In our household we have actually agreed to receive sparser communications only to realise that the frequency of comms did not change at all. A disagreement about the frequency of comms can now become a much more negative situation because neither over-contact nor consents are managed with the attention they deserve.

In other organisations it is easier to put a blanket opt-out flag and forego the privilege of contacting the Customer. It is fair to say that not many organisations are in total control of this situation and that also raises compliance risks.

Full Circle: Proper Consent Management

It’s time to go full circle and manage consents and permissions with a proper design from the beginning. We should be realistic and not expect that one single system is going to have the monopoly on managing customer contact. Systems that are closer to a real-time event are best-placed to send out a communication. We can make sure that the next communication is not going to be the tipping point that will make the Customer unsubscribe.