The Weakest Link Series

ADMA’s “Am I the weakest link: Privacy edition” explores the idea that the privacy data chain is made up of six main parties – the marketer, the consumer, the platform, the agency, the government, and the board – all with the potential to be ‘the weakest link’. However, each of these parties contribute in different ways to the standard of data practices in Australia’s economy. Can we really point the finger at any one party?

In this article series, we will deep dive into each of the links in the chain, assess the areas for improvement and how marketers can help strengthen the chain overall through their own roles.

The Consumer

The role the consumer plays in the data privacy chain is a pivotal one. The consumer is the provider of personal information and customer data, and is therefore the reason for needing robust privacy protection measures in place. However, the average consumer contributes to the weakening of the privacy data chain through their approach in how they choose to share and protect their personal information. That’s why in this article we will explore three key weaknesses consumers have when it comes to data practices. That is, data ignorance, privacy policy neglect, and password practices. We will then assess how each of these weaknesses has data privacy ramifications and discuss how to best remedy these areas for improvement.

Ignorance is bliss

While many consumers are becoming more privacy-minded and aware of the collection and use of their personal information, there are also many who are not, or may feel their hands are tied and have to share their personal data in exchange for something. Whether falling into the former, the latter or even the coerced category, consumers are not held accountable for their own poor privacy practices which is why data ignorance can often occur. By this, we mean the average consumer might carelessly or frivolously sign-up to something and share personal information when they probably should not have. It could have been for a competition, a discount code, to access gated content, or other similar scenaorios. Before they know it and without realising it, their personal information is peppered all over the internet and stored in databases across the country. Then to double down on this data ignorance, if their personal information is involved in a breach, the communication relating to this may be too time intensive to consult, or just plain ‘boring’, so it is ignored.

Choosing to turn a blind eye to how, when and where personal information and data is collected, used and stored is a definite weakness for the consumer in the privacy data chain. Marketers can help consumers be more mindful of how they share their personal information by taking a privacy first approach toward their customers. By prioritising privacy and educating their customers on how their personal information is best shared and handled, brands can establish trustworthy reputations. Brands dedicated to being responsible marketers will more likely be considered ethically minded and consumer-centric which in turn will hep drive customer loyalty and business growth. Part of this practice is being sure to only collect what data is needed from customers and deleting it when it is no longer required. This will help customers understand they don’t have to hand over their data and put their trust in brands that don’t ask this of them.

Privacy policy neglect

Privacy enthusiasts with ample time in the day might enjoy leisurely consulting privacy policies. However, for the average consumer, ticking the ‘accept the privacy policy’ checkbox without as much as a mere skim of the details is the more common scenario. Understandably so when CHOICE revealed that a report from the Consumer Policy Research Centre in 2024 found it would take an average of 14 hours to read through all the privacy policies encountered in one day. Given this, it is no surprise that consumers frequently neglect to consult privacy policies.

Once again, the ethics of being a responsible marketer, and brands educating their customers on the importance of privacy, will improve this consumer weakness. Establishing clear and concise privacy policies that are easy to digest for the average consumer, and are not littered with complicated legal jargon, is key. Even having the most prevalent points up front in a quick to read format will improve the consumer experience in understanding a business’s intentions for handling their personal information. Privacy policies are in place for transparency and communication between a business and its customers. That’s why developing policies that are clear and easy to understand is a responsible marketing practice that will encourage consumers to actually prioritise time to consult a business’s privacy policy before agreeing to one.

Rinse and repeat

With so many personal and professional online and digital interactions requiring passwords, it’s no surprise that a rinse and repeat approach to password creation is an unhealthy consumer habit. Using the same password for a plethora of accounts is common – something we can likely all admit to being guilty of. However, reusing the same password for multiple accounts puts consumers at a higher risk of being involved in a data breach and even credential stuffing. This is when hackers take stolen passwords and username combinations and apply it to numerous websites in attempt to also break into those accounts with the verified information they have on hand. Consumers need to really consider what their passwords are protecting, particularly if it is extensive personal information or even sensitive information. The more extensive or sensitive the information, the greater the protection the customer should be implementing. Using unique passwords across accounts will help remedy this poor consumer habit.

Marketers can help consumers develop better password practices by requiring more complicated passwords for account sign-ups - and better yet, ones that require regular updating. Marketers should stay up to date on data security and ask their consumers to establish passwords that satisfy the current required criteria for optimum protection. Routinely doing this will benefit marketing teams and their businesses twofold, as stronger passwords will make it harder for cyber-attacks to occur and therefore help establish brands as more trustworthy and maintain customer loyalty.

To help consumers overcome their weaknesses contributing to the data privacy chain, marketers should engage in ethical and responsible marketing practices. While the effort and dedication to this may not necessarily be seen as a priority or key driver of business growth, the long-term outcome of such practices can refute this. Privacy centric businesses will more likely establish trustworthy brands and customer loyalty in avoidance of privacy breaches. The underlying value of this and the positive impact it has on a brand will long outweigh any periodic campaign activity.

Next month in the Weakest Link series, we’ll delve into the platform and what weak points they are contributing as an active party in the data privacy chain, and provide solutions as to how these weaknesses can also be remedied.