4 essential features of a Consent Management Platform

Most data privacy regulations prioritize consent as the primary legal basis for data collection and processing. Compliance with regulations, like GDPR, requires businesses to obtain explicit, freely given, informed, specific, and unambiguous consent from consumers.

There are numerous other rules for consent collection, like using plain language for easy understanding, offering granular control, avoiding pre-check boxes, easy withdrawing, documenting records, and regularly reviewing and updating practices.

Most companies struggle to keep up with the aforementioned requirements for reasons like:

• Having a multinational presence
• Lacking dedicated personnel for implementing and maintaining consent mechanisms
• Integrating consent mechanisms with data collection, analytics, and marketing tech stacks
• Balancing the user experience with clear and comprehensive consent mechanisms

That’s where dedicated Consent Management Platforms (CMP) can help. CMPs act as a valuable ally for businesses navigating these challenges, equipping companies with a centralized hub for collecting, storing, and managing consent data.

A comprehensive CMP should be able to seamlessly integrate with the existing technology landscape of a company and automate consent management tasks. Their customizable consent forms enable users to express their specific preferences pertinent to different data uses and purposes.

While most CMPs on the market offer companies the ability to obtain consent and manage consumer data compliantly, some unique features make them stand out, translating into significant ROI for businesses.

In this article, we try to sort out those features that businesses should ensure to have in a CMP vendor before buying its services.

1. Functionality

The functionality of a CMP is crucial to analyzing how well the offerings of a platform align with business objectives.

Data collection requirements for businesses vary widely. For e-commerce businesses, it could be personalizing product recommendations or analyzing purchasing behavior; for healthcare, it could be diagnosing and treating patients, tracking health outcomes, or conducting research.

Evaluating the functionalities of a CMP pertinent to data collection, including granular consent options, custom data categories, and dynamic consent adjustments, benefits an organization across industries.

Tailoring consent options for different data types empowers users to have control over their data exposure. Users, knowing what they consent to, find businesses transparent and trustworthy.

For example, for financial services, tailoring consent choices could be allowing users to choose whether they would like to share sensitive data like income or investment preferences for personalized financial advice; for healthcare, it could be segmenting consent options for sharing medical history, wearable devices, or participating in research studies for personalized care plans.

CMPs should be evaluated for their potential to capture data categories beyond basic demographics. Defining data categories relevant to a business’ marketing niche helps it scoop deeper insights into consumer behavior and preferences. On the contrary, collecting irrelevant data clutters the system and makes extracting valuable insights harder.

Communicating the needs for specific data collection demonstrates a commitment to responsible data collection practices. Data privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA impose restrictions on what categories of data businesses can collect and how they can be used. If CMPs do not comply with these custom data categories, it can result in costly fines or reputational damages for businesses.

Dynamic consent adjustments reduce consent fatigue. It avoids overwhelming users with a plethora of consent requests at once and displays consent requests only when a specific data type is required to be collected. Displaying consent requests based on real-time user interactions enhances relevance and minimizes disruption.

For example, asking users to provide consent for location-based recommendations when a user searches local stores makes a good case for contextually adjusting consent based on user behavior.

2. Data storage & protection

Understanding where data is stored proves helpful in assessing the potential security risks associated with that location. Data privacy regulations like GDPR require businesses to ensure that all data collected on citizens must be either stored in the EU or within a jurisdiction that has similar levels of protection. To avoid the risk of non-compliance, companies should choose a CMP that stores data within the compliant regions.

CMP vendors should undergo regular independent security audits of their data centers and conduct regular penetration testing to identify and address potential vulnerabilities in their systems. Such CMPs stand a better chance of dealing with specific vulnerabilities in the data storage region.

Access controls and data encryption serve as the foundational pillars safeguarding the sensitive personal data of users. Ideally, companies should give priority to platforms that offer granular access controls for administrators to define roles, permissions, and access levels as per the convenience of their organizational structure.

CMPs with robust data encryption measures bolster companies to uphold user privacy rights and mitigate the risks of data breaches. Platforms with encryption standards (e.g., AES-256) in use for data at rest and in transit enable organizations to securely transmit information as a ciphertext.

3. Regulatory compliance

Often, companies have a multinational presence and, therefore, are required to be compliant with relevant data privacy regulations. These regulations have varying requirements for consent, data deletion, user rights, and cross-border transfers.

Complying with diverse regulations across multiple jurisdictions can be resource-intensive, requiring significant legal and operational effort. CMPs’ customizations for data collection methods and policies should allow companies to effectively meet varying consent requirements, data handling procedures, and user rights.

Their ability to automate consent collection and management processes can help companies maintain consistency across different regions while adhering to local regulations.

4. Google-certified CMP

Since January 16, 2024, Google has required all publishers using AdSense, Ad Manager, or AdMob to use a Google-certified CMP. Google certifications signify that the CMP integrates with the IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) when serving ads in the European Economic Area and the UK.

Google-certified CMP demonstrates a proactive approach to data privacy. Their seamless integration with IAB Europe’s TCF ensures compatibility with industry standards for consent management. Certified CMPs are designed to withstand evolving regulations. Therefore, they can be trusted for long-term compliance and flexibility.

Conclusion…

Standard CMPs should efficiently equip an organization with the capability of collecting, syncing, and enforcing user consent and preferences across varied touch points and backend systems. One that offers an amalgamation of robust compliance, user-friendly experiences, and unconstrained growth becomes the top selling point for a CMP. Companies should invest in a vendor that shares their vision of compliance and helps them co-create a future-proof consent and preference strategy for their business.