Data Privacy for Market Researchers

Question: How much do Market Research & Insights professionals need to know about data privacy?
Answer: As much as most marketing-related professionals need to know these days, especially those who (like us) ever collect or store data.

Data privacy is an ongoing concern, and security breaches are commonplace. In 2018, over 446 million records were exposed in the US alone![1] As for solutions, the technology and regulatory aspects can be daunting. Compounding this is that there are actually too many information sources. Just open your favorite search engine and enter “data privacy”, and you will likely get more than 70 million results.

What’s a busy market researcher to do? Let’s start with the basics. We curated some great content that will quickly get you acquainted with general data privacy basics as well as data privacy topics specifically for market researchers:

1. We created a Free Checklist on Data Privacy for Market Researchers. Check it out here.
2. We covered some of these key topics in a webinar with Research Rockstar instructor Greg Timpany. A few highlights include:

• Know the relevant regulations. Governments are responding to data security issues. Various regulations have been put into place reduce this threat: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – European Union, Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPPA), California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act are all important (and covered in the webinar playback).
• Speak the lingo. For example, key concepts such as, “personally identifiable information” (PII). PII is any piece of information meant to identify a specific individual. This could be drivers’ license numbers, social security numbers, school ID numbers, and financial accounts, amongst others.
• Sensitive vs. Non-Sensitive Information. “Sensitive” personal data is anything that has legal, contractual, or ethical requirements for restricted disclosure. Non-Sensitive information is generally defined as that which is publicly available.

Taking a little time to get your data privacy foundation now will continue to pay dividends. However, this is not a one and done process! This is a complex, evolving topic that will require regular updating and for many researchers, an evolving partnership with IT and legal teams.

Want more?

Here are 4 awesome resources you can check out for more info:

1. Boston-based law firm Mintz Levin has some fantastic free resources on GDPR and CCPA. The Mintz Privacy page has many excellent resources available, including webinars on GDPR. Also, anyone can sign up to receive the Mintz “Insights” on privacy and security. Their privacy practice posts frequent client alerts and blog posts on relevant privacy matters. And while you’re at it, check out their CCPA Toolkit
2. This informative article was written by Matt Benard, the Compliance and Information Security Manager at Escalent. He works with compliance teams and has some great tips: Maintaining Data Security and Compliance in Market Research
3. Check out this article from Experian on protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII), What Is Personally Identifiable Information?
4. Here are some more important points specific to market research: The Two-Way Benefit of Data Security in Market Research.