Dataships is a data privacy software and services company that specialises in GDPR and CCPA compliance.
They can help you increase your marketing consent rate to improve growth and increase revenue.
1. What’s your name and title, what do you do day-to-day in 20 words or fewer?
I am Ian Madigan, Head of Partnerships at Dataships.
My day to day role consists of leading the team that manages the relationships with our amazing agency partners, attending and hosting events and most importantly helping brands increase the number of customers they can market to. My passion lies not necessarily in data privacy but in ensuring the data privacy laws don’t hold business back.
2. At Dataships you help Shopify stores grow their marketing audiences compliantly. Can you give us a success story for a D2C brand you’ve worked with. Eg what was the problem? what did you do? what were the results?
Dataships was founded in compliance when the GDPR was coming to the fore in 2018.
We covered all the boring stuff like Cookies Tools, Privacy Policies and dealing with Data Access Requests.
Our clients kept asking us ‘How can we collect more first-party data compliantly’?
Sculpted by Aimee was one of our first clients.
Due to Shopify’s one-size-fits-all approach at the check-out, they were leaving a huge amount of first-party data on the table. We worked closely with them on increasing their marketing consent rate MCR (% of their customers they could market to).
By utilising data privacy laws like Soft Opt-In and Implied consent, we were able to increase their MCR from 25% to 88%. This resulted in a significant uplift in their repeat purchases and drove revenue figures to record highs.
3. You specialise in data privacy software and data compliance services. What piece of advice would you give to DTC brands who want to improve store performance?
With the cost of acquisition going up due to the increase in prices on Meta and Google Ads as well as the increased restrictions on Cookies, it has become more important than ever to gather first-party data on your customers so you can continue to market to them after they have made their first purchase.
Getting the collection of that data right from the start will reap the rewards long into the future.
4. What do you think the biggest challenges facing eCommerce/D2C businesses will be over the next 12-18 months?
Rather than focusing on outdated marketing practices like prioritising quantity over quality and analysing generic, surface-level data, in-house businesses should shift to data-driven decision-making in order to differentiate their brand and gain more control over customer shopping experiences.
Analysing key metrics like customer data, sales, and market trends allows DTC brands to develop an all-important customer-centric mindset, optimising marketing strategies and overall business operations in the process.
With a robust data collection system in place, your business can gain meaningful insights into on-site search behaviour, purchasing trends, and primary customer contact data.
5. Complete this sentence – DTC brands that survive and thrive in 2023 will …
Be those that do not copy what has made other brands successful. They will figure out what works for them and double down on those strategies. While having a clear plan with their tech stack ensuring they are exhausting each element of it so that profitability is at the centre of their decisions.
6. Name three D2C brands that are killing it and whom you recommend others to emulate/learn from.
Sculpted by Aimee – A cosmetics store that went from D2C to bricks and mortar, they have a big focus on nurturing their current customers and creating a community.
Green People – They are a brand that works closely with their customers to ensure they are creating products that their customers want.
AKT London – They are making the workplace and commuting smell better by creating an incredible product allowing them to stand out in a crowded deodorant market while also having a sustainability focus.