Companies seldom like to use words like “reputation management” and “data breach” together. However, there may be instances when you will be forced to deal with the fallout from a data breach.
According to studies, 69% of customers believe that privacy and security policies are crucial to maintaining customer trust in businesses. When a data breach takes place, your reputation strategies and the relationship you’ve built with your customers over time are put to the test.
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What happens after a data breach has occurred?
You should be prepared for everything, including negative coverage, customer backlash on social media, and client losses. This is a negative cycle that will eventually result in the loss of trust, brand value, and financial losses.
Loss of brand value, according to 71% of CMOs, is the highest expense associated with a data leak. It will have an impact on how trusted you are with your present customers as well as how new customers will view you in the media.
Aside from the expenditures associated with a data breach, it will also have an effect on your company’s operations, brand value, and investor appeal.
Online reputation following a data protection breach
Recognize that people will remember you for your prior reputation, but you can still influence what occurs after that. Despite the fact that there are manufactured techniques to influence your reputation online, there is no practical way to generate a fake image that has any lasting power.
Today’s online users have a very powerful platform to voice their opinions and leave feedback. You should aim to steer your company decisions toward what customers want—trust and transparency—instead of attempting to control their behaviour.
Be patient, avoid attempting to distort the truth on social media, and concentrate on your long-term plan. Display your growth in the area of data security to demonstrate your transformation, and continue to work tirelessly to lessen the impact of the incident.
Customers have a high level of confidence in the companies with which they exchange personal information, and this is because 71% of them feel that such companies accept a commitment to manage access to it. But fewer than 50% of IT professionals and CMOs are taking ownership of it. As a result, you put policies and practices in place that might assist you in mending fences with your clients.
Transparent and concise communication
Make a public announcement on your website and inform your customers that you’ve experienced a data breach. Provide details of the incident, including what transpired, which individuals’ personal information was impacted, and your response to the breach. Open up lines of communication with your customers so they can get in touch with you to ask further questions via chat, phone, or email. By doing this, you’ll be able to manage your internet reputation and stop misleading information from spreading.
How can one reestablish trust with customers?
According to 69% of respondents, a company’s privacy and security policies are crucial to maintaining its confidence in it. 26% of people think businesses can keep their personal information secure. However, just 21% of respondents think they have a significant amount of authority over the security and privacy of their data.
Effective reputation management aids in generating satisfied, devoted customers who, in turn, become brand ambassadors and promote your business. There is just one way to get there: transparency and control. Customers indicate a higher inclination to trust businesses that offered them control over the information acquired, were open about how they used it, had strict privacy policies, or requested express approval.
Conclusion
Operationalizing data protection by securing the data and putting in place data privacy procedures is crucial for a business that works on a broad scale. Customers should have access to a self-service privacy site where they can modify their privacy choices and see how the company is handling their data in order to be completely transparent.
