In the first instance, I received a call from The AA – on my mobile phone and during working hours – trying to get me to renew my breakdown cover with them (I had already received several letters that I had not yet responded to).
Some might ask what the problem is with receiving a call. However, the number is listed with the Telephone Preference Service, precisely because I don’t like receiving phone calls from people I don’t know trying to sell me things.
Yes, I had given The AA my phone number before, but only when I had broken down, so that the patrol man could find me. Whether this could properly be described as a misuse of my data, I’m not sure; but it certainly felt like one.
In the second incident, an eager employee at a Post Office launched into a car insurance sales pitch as I was trying to renew my tax disc. He had noted my car insurance was due for renewal within the next month when I showed him my documents. The law requires me to produce these documents, but does it give the Post Office the right to use the information they contain to try to sell to me?
In both these cases, I felt that the organisations involved had overstepped the mark with how they used my information, although the law might not agree.
The digitisation of so much of the information that retailers hold on consumers means that there are many opportunities to deploy clever intelligence-led marketing strategies. The internet also makes it much easier to gain opt-in from customers that are happy to be contacted directly.
But forcing clumsily thought-out sales pitches on your customers against their wishes and using information that they intended to be kept private must end. These techniques are worse than the once ubiquitous double-glazing sales calls, because they break trust in an existing relationship and can lead to a loss of customer loyalty.
As customer choice constantly increases and it becomes ever easier for a consumer to vote with their feet, sticking to the letter of the data protection laws may not be adequate.
So, as your customer relationship management systems gather more and increasingly complex data, think carefully about how you use it to sell to them. In my household, a backlash against those who use my data to intrude on me has begun.
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