Profile Data Is an Experience Promise

A profile field can look like a small product decision. To a customer, it is part of a value exchange: what are you asking for, why do you need it, how will it improve the experience, and can I control it? That is why profile data is an experience promise, not merely a database attribute.

Earn the right to know more

The common mistake is to treat registration as the one opportunity to collect everything. The result is long forms, uncertain data quality, and a customer who cannot see the point of the request. A better approach earns information over time. Ask for a preference when it can make the next interaction clearer or more relevant. Explain the benefit in the moment. Make it easy to update a choice or withdraw consent. Avoid collecting information that the organization cannot use responsibly. For every profile field, a team should be able to name the customer value, the operational use, the data owner, the consent basis, and the moment it should be requested. If it cannot answer those questions, the field is not ready. Useful personalization depends on trust. Trust is built through restraint, clarity, and control.

Trust is already under pressure

Pew Research Center’s 2019 survey found that 79 percent of U.S. adults were concerned about how companies used their personal data, while 81 percent felt they had little or no control over the data companies collected. Only 23 percent felt they benefited from company data collection. (Pew Research Center, 2019) Those figures expose the burden of proof in profile design. Organizations may see a preference as the input to a better experience; customers may see another request whose benefit is vague and control uncertain. A profile strategy should therefore measure more than completion. It should track:

• the percentage of requested fields tied to a defined customer use;
• preference correction and deletion rates;
• abandonment at each request;
• the proportion of profile data actually used to improve a service; and
• complaints or opt-outs associated with unexpected use. The NIST Privacy Framework reinforces the need to manage privacy risk across the wider data-processing ecosystem, where several internal and external parties may influence how information is handled. (NIST Privacy Framework 1.0, 2020) Trust is not a message added to the profile experience. It is the result of how the profile is designed and operated.

Sources

• Pew Research Center, “Americans and Privacy,” 2019
• NIST Privacy Framework 1.0, January 2020