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TRENDS IN E THIC AL MARKE T ING
SALE SFORCE
Target interests, not demographics:
To help develop trust over time and
demonstrate authenticity by responsibly using customer data, consider
marketing results based on explicit intent. Imagine you run a clothing retailer.
You could collect information about a customer’s gender identity and match,
say, offers for running skirts to customers who identify as women. But you
could just as easily ask the same customer what types of clothing they like,
and market skirts to people who say they want to buy skirts — after all, some
people prefer to run in shorts. That way, you’re matching an opportunity you
know exists to an offer you know is relevant.
Strategies for responsible personalization and their use at Salesforce:
Knowing the data you need:
Investing in security for customer data is good,
but the most secure data isn’t stored. Digital privacy laws expect companies
to respect end users’ rights to data minimization. That means collecting and
retaining only the minimum amount of personal data necessary to fulfill the
specific purpose for which it was shared. If you don’t need certain data, don’t
collect it.
At Salesforce:
To navigate the tension between privacy and data value, we
build moments of review to prompt marketers to reflect on what information
is being collected and whether or not it’s valuable for data-driven marketing
and segmentation.
At Salesforce:
As artificial intelligence (AI) takes on more of the work of
personalization, there needs to be transparency into why these models
provide users with their experiences. We release model cards that act like
nutrition labels for AI models. This allows our customers and users to have a
better understanding of how the AI model was trained, how it works, and to
provide transparency to all stakeholders so that they can be confident in the
results of ethical targeting.
There’s no single correct approach to
ethics. In fact, accepting the subjective —
and often contested — nature of values is
a big part of making sure that a marketing
organization serves communities with
different experiences, needs, and interests
equitably. But by looking at what’s worked
in the market and what consumers report
in research, we can start to build a picture
of what a responsible foundation for
marketing looks like.
Salesforce recognizes the value of
ethical marketing and personalization,
especially as emerging technologies
redefine how marketers engage with
customers. Our Trusted Marketing
and Ethical Personalization principles
incorporate learnings from our research
and guide our approach to marketing.
