So far a lot of guidelines have been set by different agencies to find out the most optimum and ethical way of data research. However, a vision has been set by the business world, there will be strict regulations which you have to adhere to while collecting data. Failure to do so will result in immediate extradition for foreigners and jail time for citizens of the country.

Always make sure that the useful data you are acquiring is both helpful to you and is secure for the customers, ensuring that it is beneficial for both. The Dos and Don’ts are thus explained below:

The Dos and Don’ts

1.    Do:

You can ask your target segments to fill out questionnaires. However, these have to be pre-approved by a committee.

       Don’t:

There needs to be a topic sentence explaining what the questionnaire is about. Don’t put questions not directly related to the topic addressed at the start of the questionnaire. This results in the questionnaire deemed valueless in the committee’s eyes.

2.    Do:

Ask customers to sign up to your service.

Don’t:

You can’t ask them to fill out information other than name, shipping address and email.

3.    Do:

Keep the collected consumer data with you for a pre-mentioned amount of time, which is the duration of research, after which the data must be discarded.

Don’t:

You cannot store the data in silos. This would result in a direct breach of multiple sections in the guideline to proper customer data analysis.

4.    Don’t:

It is encouraged to avoid the usage of third-parties when collecting data. This is done because the consumer data is thus made available to both the third party and to you, making your consumers more insecure.

While to the big brands and other businesses, the guideline is ancient and completely preposterous, it is a very big step into the world of secure cyberspace. The only way it can be achieved is if one day, not a single user feels unsafe sharing data over the internet and there is a zero rate of data thefts.