Under what circumstances is it ethical to use consumer information in marketing research?

It is very important to have ethics in marketing research because everyone involved from the clients and the public to the respondents and the researchers all have rights and obligations. When market research methods don’t involve ethics, lines are easily crossed and laws are broken.

When the importance of ethics in marketing research is overlooked, companies can face serious ethical repercussions and drastically impact the lives of consumers. Thanks to the rise of the internet and social media, market research methods have exploded and it’s now easier than ever before to conduct low-cost market research. Without ethics in market research though, companies can face major public backlash and innocent lives could be ruined.

Why Ethics is Important in Market Research

• Privacy

  Privacy is a major concern for customers today, especially after the many scandals of companies misusing customer information. With companies having an unprecedented ability to collect and store massive amounts of customer data, the importance of ethics in marketing research has never been higher. While there are many market research methods to collect and use customer information to sell products or target advertising messages, invading the privacy of customers is a risky business that never pays off in the end.

• Rights and Obligations

  Everyone involved in the market research process, from clients and researchers to the public and respondents, has rights and obligations they expect to be met. From biased research methods and the invasion of privacy to unqualified research methods and misrepresentation, understanding ethics in marketing research is the best and only way to meet the rights and obligations of all parties involved in the market research. Paying attention to the ethical importance of meeting the rights and obligations of everyone involved is the best way to avoid any unethical concerns when it comes to your market research methods.

• Confidentiality

  Understanding what a breach of confidentiality is can help your company avoid ethical issues when it comes to your market research methods. The importance of ethics in marketing research is to help companies avoid any unlawful sharing of customer data, whether it’s sharing information with affiliates or selling that information to outside companies. Breaches of confidentiality are great ways to discourage market research respondents from participating in any future market research methods and receive public backlash for your unethical practices.

• Deceptive Practices

  The importance of ethics in marketing research doesn’t just apply to the way participants are treated but market research methods as well. Companies today have more access to customer data than ever before and this amount of access can easily lead to deceptive practices. Practices, like misrepresenting research results and not disclosing to consumers that their data is being collected, make understanding why ethics in marketing research is more important than ever before. Lying and deceiving customers to access and gather information is ethically wrong and could backfire in a devastating way.

  The importance of ethics in marketing research has never been greater thanks to many recent scandals of companies misusing customer data and the amount of data companies have access to. It’s important to have ethics in marketing research, not only for the benefit of your company but for the benefit of your customers, employees, and suppliers as well. There may be many market research methods available to companies today but any method that makes you question your ethics or completely throw them out the window is not worth your time or your customer’s time.

Businesses these days have access to just about all the data they could want. With tools and systems for developing consumer insights, your potential to elevate your business through market research is boundless. However, your success will depend on your ability to collect and apply this information ethically.In this post, I'll introduce you to effective strategies for ethical marketing research.

Ethics is a framework through which you should view all business decisions. In market research, it can make the difference between effective long-term branding decisions and ultimately destructive marketing.

94% of consumers say they are likely to be loyal to a brand that offers complete transparency. Unethical practices like hiding how you use consumer data will impact your ability to retain customers and scale as a business. Instead, explore how market research can be collected and applied ethically for a better approach.

(Un)ethical data practices impact business

The role of ethics in market research goes beyond simply doing the right thing, although that is of vital concern when generating market data. Your customers, your audience, or your participants all engage with your website under the assumption that they won’t be exploited in some way. Maintaining ethical business practices is your way to ensure this doesn’t happen and cause a rift between you and your audience that you may never recover from.

In an infamous case, Facebook was found to have breached data protection laws when it allowed Cambridge Analytica to harvest the data of 87 million users. The fallout resulted in a £500,000 fine from the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office and a global besmirchment of the brand name. After the scandal broke, likes, shares, and posts on the social media platform dropped by 20%.

This is ground that Facebook is undoubtedly still trying to recover. The scandal demonstrates how a lack of clear ethical principles can affect perception and engagement among an online audience, impacting revenues and customer loyalty. 

In the course of conducting market research, it also helps to understand what practices consumers view as unethical. Here are a few examples:

Unethical marketing is considered to include ...

• Marketing that exaggerates or distorts the truth
• Marketing that targets and exploits vulnerable groups
• Marketing that conceals important information
• Marketing that includes shaming
• Marketing that uses unrealistic or altered images

Avoiding these circumstances is best done through centring ethics in the research process. But what are the ethical principles that can guide you through market research?

Ethical principles in market research

Any business model that relies on online data (meaning just about every business in the modern age) has to consider its audience’s perspective. Otherwise, you run the risk of alienating (and angering) your audience. Ethical market research principles help you avoid these damaging circumstances. 

In market research, these are the principles of ethics you want to keep in mind:

Transparency

This is the first principle of research collection, one mandated under certain legal protections like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Transparency consists of detailing explicitly to users what data you’ll collect and how you’ll use it. It’s essential in setting expectations and making mutual trust contracts with your audience. From here, your users can feel secure in having policies to hold you to, evoking greater loyalty through trust.

Data protection

Ethical market research also must ensure that collected data remains private. When Equifax failed to update its systems, the company exposed 148 million customers worldwide to a data breach. Theft and identity fraud resulted from this confiscated information, shaking user trust in its platform. Privacy is what we all expect when we engage with a business online. This includes the market research used to inform business practices.

Purpose

Data collection must also be purposeful to be ethical. This means that collected information corresponds to actual business goals. Businesses might be tempted to assemble as much data as possible in the course of their research, but all this data exposes users to breaches. For an ethical approach, research metrics should be defined beforehand, with their applications explicitly determined. 

Adherence

Then, ethical market research depends on a company’s adherence to the policies and data applications they have communicated both internally and externally. There may be a temptation in the course of gathering user data to then sell that information to other businesses, but this may violate both user trust and data regulations depending on your jurisdiction. Stick to your policies to maintain ethical research.

Minimization

Similar to purpose, this principle of ethical market research ensures that you limit collected data. This includes destroying information in a reasonable amount of time and reducing identifying info wherever possible. 

Doing so helps businesses not only protect user data but also helps keep big data analysis paralysis to a minimum. This assists businesses both in the ethical handling of data and in making efficient marketing decisions.

These principles all inform the ethical collection of market research in all its forms. No matter how you collect data (through social media insights, A/B testing, focus groups, and more), your approach should start with these considerations. From here, learn how to collect data using ethical processes.

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Every business model’s budget and operational needs dictate its approach to market research. However, ethical considerations can be made for any approach to data collection. The first step is to prioritize ethics as you from your marketing research strategy and tactics. Strategy represents an overall goal. Tactics are the means you employ to achieve that goal.

Collecting market research data ethically requires you to centre your strategy around those ethics. Then, employ tactics like the following:

Establish clear terms of use agreements and privacy policies.

Ethical research and data collection begin with the terms you present to your audience. These are your Terms of Service agreements, privacy policies, and cookie acknowledgement notifications that users see when they first interact and begin submitting data to your platform. 

Social selling of any kind depends on trust cultivated through this transparency. No matter how you collect information for marketing purposes, detailing what information you collect and how it will be used is essential to an ethical approach.

Gather data that represents your diverse audience.

Ethics requires you to represent your users. This means ensuring that the market research you conduct gets to all the people you serve. To achieve this, diversify your data collection across platforms. Use social media insights as well as search engine data and more traditional forms of outreach. Meanwhile, diverse teams have been found to add as much as 7% to some companies’ bottom line, so don’t miss this inclusionary aspect of market research. 

Give participants the right to withdraw at any time.

Ethical market research means respecting the rights of your audience. One of these rights is the right to withdraw at any given time. Allow participants to opt out of data collection, delete their account, and download what you have stored on their profile. This helps to establish trust in your platform.

Check against bias in your research.

Unconscious bias is a real problem when conducting market research. Fortunately, you can work against it by understanding what to look for. Check your data against anything that might perpetuate stereotypes and invite diverse team members to interrogate your research process. 

If you use a channel targeting AI, make sure it has been tested against biases that find their way into programming.

Prioritize data protections.

As you gather research data through social media monitoring and other digital processes, you need a system for securing that data. In both the Facebook and Equifax example, unethical practices ensued from failing to protect data. Both these cases resulted in substantial damages to the involved companies. Keep your data systems updated and protected behind firewalls and cybersecurity best practices.

Cybersecurity and the protection of data has top priority. (Image source: Open.AC.UK)

With these tactics, maintaining an ethical market research approach becomes a simple process. Resultantly, you can generate a trustworthy digital presence capable of avoiding the pitfalls of inconsiderate data collection.

Better business through ethical market research

The digital marketplace is becoming more competitive all the time, making it more important than ever to build an ethical business model. Market research is your tool to achieve this, but it requires a focus on ethical principles to achieve success.

Begin the market research process with a commitment to transparency, privacy, minimization, and the other principles explored here. Then use these tactics to avoid unethical practices and ground better marketing in an ethical, user-focused approach. Better business awaits in the form of greater customer loyalty, trust, and marketing relevance. 

Your questions about ethical marketing research

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What are the ethical considerations in marketing research?

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