It’s the end of the digital marketing world as we know it, but even with the introduction of New Hampshire House Bill 1680—currently being considered by the New Hampshire Legislature—we feel fine. We’ve already introduced to you the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). And as anticipated, the CCPA was just the beginning of the path to data privacy laws being forged in the U.S.
Businesses in New Hampshire need to stay a step ahead of this new data privacy law in order to be ready to adapt when it is inevitably passed.
House Bill 1680, like the CCPA in California, would not apply to every New Hampshire business. Instead, it would apply to those conducting business in New Hampshire that meet at least one of the following requirements:
- Have a gross annual revenue of over $25 million;
- Buy or receive personal information from 50,000+ consumers, households or devices;
- Receive at least 50% of their annual revenue from selling personal consumer information.
If a business fits any of the above requirements, it would be required to disclose the following:
- Specific pieces of personal information a business collects before that data is collected
- Consumers’ rights under House Bill 1680 (e.g. the right to request the deletion of their information, the right to request their information not be sold)
- The personal information possessed by a business, free of charge, if requested
- Information pertaining to the sale of a consumer’s personal information, if requested
As with the CCPA, consumers would also be able to request that their personal information be deleted and, if they do not agree to the sale of their personal information, a business would be prohibited from selling it. The important differences as compared to the California law lie in the language. The New Hampshire law would offer far fewer qualifications in its language about both data breaches and its definition of personal information, making it the most comprehensive privacy law in the state.
And according to Shaheen & Gordon Partner Sean T. O’Connell, although you may not have to worry just yet, it is important to be informed. “The bill would have little impact on New Hampshire businesses, as most will be well under the thresholds in the proposed statute. We remain concerned, though, that the requirements of the law are onerous and complicated and are accompanied by penalties and private rights of action that could apply even to unintentional violations.”
So how, as marketers in New Hampshire, do we overcome such strict data privacy laws to make the most of our advertising dollars spent?
Maintaining awareness through each phase of the consideration and potential passing of this law will become key here.
There are steps you should take to be prepared.
- Develop a comprehensive system for handling consumer requests for information to be deleted or not sold, as this can get tedious with the many different layers of storing data. Confirm what data your company is collecting and delete any data that is not being used.
- Work on building up first-party data, which is not only more accurate than third-party data, it is also unique to your business and allows you to limit waste from advertising spend.
- Update email marketing, landing pages and other data collection tools your company may use to provide a disclaimer and opt-out option.
- Be clear, concise and explicit in your disclaimers—according to Ogury’s “Reality Report” from July 2019, 78% of consumers still do not read disclaimers in full.
- Shift your digital marketing efforts toward contextual targeting rather than audience-based targeting. Create scenarios where you know your consumers are likely to be searching to reach them at different stages of the sales journey while maintaining compliance with this future data privacy law.
While it may seem overwhelming now, it would be beneficial to look at this as an opportunity to prepare for a necessary change in the world of digital marketing. Because it’s not a matter of if this law is passed—it’s a matter of when.
If navigating the junction of digital marketing and data privacy sounds overwhelming to you, send us an email. We can help.
