Surfacing Personal Data from the Secret Underworld

Building a strong trust-based relationship with a proprietary audience will be key in the world of GDPR, getting to know users personally

There is a vast underground market for our data, hidden in plain sight, of which many are not aware. As was the case with the Paradise Papers, the vast majority of these practices are perfectly legal today, but still raise ethical questions. And the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is set to change this, from May 2018 onwards.

Companies like Google, Facebook, and many others unknown to the public, are building all-encompassing profiles of us, with nearly no limit to the amount of information collected or its use: a secret underworld. Disclosures regarding our data are hidden in lengthy and complex legal agreements, which offer limited practical options to truly opt out. But the introduction of GDPR will address these practices and impact compliance and strategy teams, now tasked with finding new ways to persuade users to agree to what their data is used for, in this multi-billion-pound market. Under GDPR users must be given, in plain language, information on how their data is being used, and truly have options to request it be deleted.

“Understandably, these GDPR regulations will cause many marketers to question what they are going to do. The digital marketing toolbox is about to completely change: cookies and targeted ads based on what we call ‘invisible data’ are essentially no longer going to be legal, and it is likely to see consumers opting out of many common applications of our data unless given compelling reasons in a transparent way. Building a strong trust-based relationship with a proprietary audience will be key in the world of GDPR, getting to know users personally rather than harvesting and profiting from their data behind their backs” comments Fabrizio Fantini, CEO of Expressly.

Expressly developed a new solution to help publishers transform anonymous visitors into registered users, while in turn giving users greater convenience to port their data wherever they want, and advertisers a new direct access to trusted, high-quality audiences. In essence, Expressly provides publishers with technology to transform any link (e.g. banners, emails, SMS/WhatsApp, native articles), into a ‘power-link’ that transparently asks the person if they want to visit the advertiser's site immediately creating a full profile using their same existing data from the publisher, with 1 click.

This cuts over 95% away of the wasted typing times, in turn leading to unprecedented conversion of clicks into registered users – typically in the range of 60 to 80%: clear advantage for the advertiser, saved time for all of us, and better-quality revenues for publishers to pay for higher quality content from professional journalists.

“Expressly transforms user consent and data portability, two essential aspects of the upcoming regulation, as the new user experience puts them in control of their data at all times. A great case study of transforming GDPR into new opportunities for publishers, advertisers, and consumers” comments Andrea, Founder and COO at Expressly.

With the May 2018 deadline to be GDPR-compliant, Expressly bring relevant innovation that all digital strategists can explore by joining completely for free, to discover the new opportunities that GDPR will bring.

Find out more at Expressly

ENDS

For additional comment and for imagery to accompany this release please contact Kin Communications; Danielle Hope-Wynne on danielle@kincomms.com or Lewis Gunn on lewis.gunn@kincomms.com or telephone 0207 717 9696.

Notes to editors

Expressly multiplies the effectiveness of direct customer referrals across Internet properties by as much as 15x.
Its proprietary technology transforms the post-click customer journey, cutting down onboarding on the receiving end from as many as 7 steps to a single click while enhancing data security and privacy for all parties involved.
Their proprietary solution can be trialled free of charge, and it takes just a few minutes to get started with a real live campaign.
200 UK digital merchants are already part of their growing network for direct customer acquisition; more info can be found on buyexpressly.com