In order to effectively market your product, it’s important to know who you’re marketing to. The best digital outreach efforts have historically relied on robust data collection, allowing you to track your consumers’ online behavior, to gather demographic insight, and to carefully target your ad campaigns.
That’s all starting to change, thanks to a renewed focus on online privacy concerns. Simply put, a lot of consumers have grown uneasy with their activity being tracked across the Web. This has led to privacy protection laws, to new corporate policies, and to a general shift away from third-party data collection.
All of this raises a question: How can you identify and target consumers for your print on demand shop, while still respecting digital privacy concerns? There are a couple of important points for print on demand sellers to keep in mind as they strive to mindfully connect with their customers. These two important strategies include the use of cookieless tracking, and a reliance on first party data collection.
In this post, we’ll outline why both of these strategies matter for ecommerce selling.
Respecting the Privacy of Your Print on Demand Customers
First and foremost, in order to acknowledge current attitudes about online privacy, it’s vital to switch your ecommerce website to cookieless tracking.
Historically, “cookies” have been employed both to track a user’s behavior from one website to the next, but also to keep a user logged in while on your site. The problem is that today’s Internet users are much more likely to reject or turn off cookies. And a continued reliance on cookies can make your business seem out of touch with the current conversation about digital privacy.
Cookieless tracking is a way that you can keep your users logged in on your website, tracking their activity enough to ensure a smooth user experience without infringing on anyone’s desire for online privacy.
Choosing First Party Data Collection
There remains the question of collecting data to learn more about the customers you are serving, allowing you to target the right audience and also to provide an individualized shopping experience.
While third-party data collection (i.e., tracking with cookies) is no longer viable, there is much that print on demand sellers can achieve with first party data collection. What does first party data collection look like? It’s essentially a way for you to allow your consumers to opt in to providing you with data that you can then use to personalize your approach to sales and marketing.
There are a number of ways to do first party data collection for your print on demand business. Some of the most effective include:
- Email opt-ins. The most direct way to gather first-party data is simply to ask for it! Use online forms to ask your consumers to submit their email address and other contact information, whether to subscribe to your newsletter, to claim recurring promos, or to download an e-book or other resource.
- Send out surveys. Consumer surveys can be another good way to collect information, and also to find out how consumers perceive your print on demand products.
- Product quizzes. Interactive quizzes, including social media quizzes, can be effective tools for getting your buyers to submit their personal information.
- Loyalty programs. Still another good option for first party data collection is to establish a customer loyalty program, asking your regulars to provide a little information in exchange for discounts, first-look offers, new product announcements, and more.
These are just a few examples of how you can collect meaningful information from your print on demand customers, while still exhibiting sensitivity for online privacy concerns.
Consider the Role of Privacy in Ecommerce Selling
Every print on demand business can benefit from customer data, yet every print on demand business is bound by online privacy considerations. Through the use of first party data collection and cookieless tracking, you can walk a fine line, getting to know your audience while respecting their desire for confidentiality.
If you have additional questions about strategies for print on demand success, we’d love to chat. Reach out to the team at Gooten whenever you’re ready to start a conversation.
