The Data Driven Newsletter
​Harnessing Data to Drive Growth
​Volume 11.11.1
November 3, 2023

Reading time: 6 minutes

​

Hey Reader,

Executive action and more legislation are on the way for content creators and marketers. It’s almost a part-time job just to keep up with it all, isn’t it?

🚫 7 Reasons Small Businesses Get Fined For Violating User Privacy

We’ve all seen the headlines where the largest companies like Meta or Equifax get hit with fines for violating new privacy laws. Some of these fines run into the hundreds of millions and have even exceeded a billion dollars in a few standout cases.

It’s easy to think that they’re only going after the largest companies, but that’s certainly not the case. Many small businesses have gotten fined, and those fines don’t make the headlines.

The GDPR fine is generally up to 10 million euros, or up to 2% of annual revenue. So even smaller businesses can get hit with fines going into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, taking a significant chunk of their revenue. And if they were already operating on razor-thin profit margins, paying out those fines would be enough to drive them into bankruptcy.

So why are these companies getting fined? How are they violating user privacy?

The reasons are many, but there are 7 common grounds that small businesses, even individual solopreneurs, have gotten fined for:

Reason #1: Not having the proper processes to handle personal or sensitive data as defined by privacy regulations (this is where a data security policy comes in).

Reason #2: Collecting data without obtaining user consent. Having a consent checkbox is a good start, but the key to full compliance is proper implementation.

Reason #3: Inadequate safeguards to secure users' personal information. This involves encryption, anonymization, and end-point security. Many small businesses don’t do this at all.

Reason #4: Lack of transparency around the use of individuals' data (this is why we need a privacy policy on our websites).

Reason #5: Failing to limit data collection and retention, and storing more data than is necessary (this is why Google Analytics 4 introduced data retention limits).

Reason #6: Improper or unlawful sharing and/or selling personal information to third parties.

Reason #7: Using personal data for targeted advertising without consent (we’ve felt those eerie moments where we see an ad on Facebook for the same thing we recently considered buying? This is how Facebook got hit with billion-dollar fines…)

It’s important to understand that the vast majority of companies don’t intend to break these rules. These privacy laws are relatively new, so the marketing tactics that had only recently been legal and considered “standard” practice, are now illegal and grounds for earning a fine.

Although many marketers have already adopted some of the new rules by using a cookie consent plugin, it’s still not enough to get in compliance and protect your business.

So we created the first Privacy-Led Marketing Handbook to help data-driven marketers ensure compliance and still get even better results with their tracking.

The best part? It’s completely free, and it’s yours if you want it:

​Download the Privacy-Led Marketing Handbook​

⚖️ UK's Controversial Online Safety Bill Becomes Law

A controversial UK Online Safety Bill finally became law last week. This far-reaching legislation introduces new obligations for how tech platforms must design, operate, and moderate their services.

It targets child sexual exploitation, terrorism, scam ads, cyberbullying, and the nonconsensual spread of intimate images. Companies that fail to comply face fines of up to £18M or 10% of global annual revenue. Executives may also be criminally charged.

Although advocates welcome the act's focus on child safety, it sparked criticism from encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, as well as Wikipedia over potential impacts on privacy and free expression. But the UK telecom regulator, Ofcom, states its role is not to censor, but to address root causes of harm through improved platform design.

Tech companies will now face legal duties to protect children from abuse and inappropriate content. It remains to be seen how they’ll adapt to comply with this law in the UK market.

​Read more​

🎙️ Business Unfiltered Podcast EP #26: Time Tracking and Team Management

Listen to the latest episode for varying perspectives on leveraging time tracking on your team in a way that helps optimize productivity. Learn when and how to implement time analysis (and whether or not you should).

Here are a few of our talking points:

• Perspectives on time tracking - Mercer advocates tools, while I focus on trust over tracking
• Contractor autonomy vs employee time audits to categorize tasks
• Identify efficiencies, and alignment through regular time audits
• Balancing investing in people and maintaining ROI
• Enhancing business efficiency with time tracking for schedules, self-management

Have a listen and get some actionable tactics to boost team productivity, identify burnout risks, and drive profitability through thoughtful time management.

​Listen here​

🤖 [AI] First Executive Order on AI: Here’s What to Know

The U.S. moved forward with an executive order that calls for new standards for AI and preventing unintended bias.

The main part of this order says that AI developers must share safety test results with the U.S. government to make sure they don’t pose any national security risks.

AI-generated content must also be labeled to authenticate government communications and to combat deepfakes (I’m OK with that!).

For more details, check this out!

​See more​

💡 Blog Post: Path Exploration in GA4

The path exploration report in GA4 reveals how people move around on your site or web shop. It can also show you the sequence of actions your users take.

More than often, that trip looks different from what you had in mind. Yet, being blind to the real user journey won’t prevent people from jumping from Y to A, instead of following your ideal A to B path.

So, how can you best visualize the user journey in Google Analytics?

And what can you do with all this data?

Let’s find out…

​Read article​

🎥 YouTube: Self-Referrals in GA4: Dealing With The Data Nightmare!

In our latest deep dive, we tackle the perplexing world of self-referrals in GA4, shedding light on how traffic from subdomains can end up mislabeled, creating a data nightmare for analysts and marketers alike.

Unlike its predecessor, Universal Analytics, GA4 tends to bundle this internal traffic into a 'not set' category, leaving you with skewed and unreliable referral reports.

But fear not, as we've meticulously crafted a step-by-step video guide to help you navigate through this issue, ensuring your tracking and data analysis remain on point.

​Watch video​

That’s it for today… see you next week!