While Quebec Act 25 is a harbinger of things to come in Canada, CDPs (customer data platforms) are more than just a cool thing among digital marketers. These trends will reshape the industry as consumer data collection takes on new meaning in 2024 and beyond.
○One of the most influential digital marketing trends currently reshaping automotive retail in Quebec, and likely to do the same in Canada, is the way personal information from consumers is collected and managed. It's a regulation.
Act 25, previously known as Bill 64, was adopted by the Quebec National Assembly in September 2021. Several important updates were implemented about a year later that helped strengthen consumer privacy protections in the state, but also held businesses accountable. Things that collect and handle personal information.
“This basically regulates how businesses, retailers and all industries manage personal information from consumers,” said CEO and President Louis-Yves Cloutier. .
360. Agency. “This changes the way dealers operate.” You need to do digital marketing. ”
“A consent management platform allows customers to decide whether they want to be tracked on different digital marketing platforms.” — Louis-Yves Cloutier, CEO
and President of 360.Agency
He said one problem with this type of regulation is that consumers now have the ability to consent to how companies, including dealers, track them. As a result, businesses in Quebec (and businesses operating within the province) are required to have a consent management platform on their websites.
“A consent management platform allows customers to decide whether they want to be tracked by various digital marketing platforms such as Facebook, X, and Google,” said Cloutier. “So today's dealers are losing some of the tracking capabilities they used to have in order to do very targeted marketing efforts.”
“And it will come to Canada,” Cloutier added. “It's been going on in Europe for years.”
Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became applicable to all member states from May 25, 2018. And in November 2020, California passed Proposition 24, also known as the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). The proposal would add new privacy protections for consumers consistent with the GDPR and would likely impact Quebec's Law 25.
Cloutier said dealers will now need to develop marketing strategies that can reach more people in less targeted ways or leverage their own data. This means making sure you use an agency that “can also use data from your CRM to track consumers in a targeted way.”
This adjustment is a change that Dominique Siguin, president and CEO of Noavik Consultants, believes most Canadians have yet to see, feel or experience. It has such an impact that it can be described as something that has never happened before. This means Canadians will not experience the effects of new legislation that is likely to be adopted within the next few years.
“For example, when visiting a website, consumers can now choose to accept or decline cookies or personalize their choices,” Sigouin said.
If a consumer declines cookies, businesses lose data tracking.
Mr. Siguan said dealers would typically accept tracking, or the number of website visitors who were not given that option would probably drop by 40 to 50 percent. In other words, the number of visitors collected and measured by Google Analytics will probably be around 5,000, rather than around 10,000.
“Everything we track and the amount of information and data we collect is changing dramatically,” Siguan said, adding that everyone involved in marketing, including retargeting, will need to change the way they do business going forward. He added that there is.
“All these cookie consent pop-ups that you see on every site[in Quebec]they're not everywhere, and they're not all properly installed and configured in line with the expectations of the law.” said Siguan. “We'll see that roll out and implementation over the next year.”
At that point, dealers will begin to realize the impact these changes will have on their marketing strategies and possibly their business.
Beyond Quebec, another trend is being observed. It's called a CDP, also known as a customer data platform.
“If you have a conversation with an automotive marketer today, you probably can’t go without hearing the word CDP or its acronym CDP thrown around,” says sMedia, a US-based said Erin Richmond, chief revenue officer at Software Company. Regina, Sask. )
Asked about CDPs, Richmond explained that they use them to leverage data to make marketing smarter and improve the customer experience. Richmond said how that differs or compares to the situation in Quebec, such as website cookies and tracking.
First-party data uses a CRM rather than relying solely on website tracking.
“Instead of placing cookies on dealer websites, we can take a customer list, remove any identifying characteristics or PI, and push it to advertising platforms in a manner that complies with current laws and regulations.” said Richmond. .
He said more adoption of this approach was needed.
“Dealers will likely see a 40-50 percent reduction in the number of website visitors who would normally accept tracking or were not given that choice.” — Dominic Sigouin, President and CEO, Noahvik Consultants
Richmond also explained that while dealers have had access to data for a long time, this data is a potential. It's very siled. She doesn't think marketers have reached the forefront of the possibilities that CDP or first-party data offers. “But we have an opportunity to break down those silos and really leverage dealer customer data.”
This means not only capturing that data and providing better after-sales service and marketing to your dealers, but also leveraging that information and using it to find new customers. For Richmond, a digital partner in his marketing field who isn't currently assisting dealers is “maybe eight he's a little bit behind the ball.”
He added that changes in regulations and laws affecting digital marketing are not new, and marketers have always adapted to changing technology. “In fact, it helped us become smarter and improve our performance.”
Overall, Richmond concludes that if a dealer works with someone who understands the field and provides the right information, “they're in good hands.”
