Banners, pop-ins, acceptance through clicking or scrolling…1 year on from the introduction of the GDPR, how does the way consent is collected influence a user’s decision to give it?

Paris, 19 June 2019 – 6 months after the launch of the first Online Consent Barometer, Commanders Act, the European leader in SaaS Tag and Data Management software, presents its 2nd barometer on Privacy Management, which measures the results of various opt-in mechanisms used to conform with the GDPR.

9,000,000 visitors to 24 websites over 14 days

This study is based on the observed behaviour of visitors to 24 websites using Commanders Act’s CMP (Consent Management Platform) over 14 days (24th April to 7^th May 2019), drawing from a total of 9,000,000 visitors. A sample made even more representative by the fact that the websites examined cover a wide range of fields: finance, media, manufacturing, retail, travel and energy.

“A year after its entry into force, the RGPD remains a scary subject for companies, but contrary to popular belief, users understand the issues and explicitly collected consent is increasing sharply. This proves that if the purpose of the data collection is clearly explained, Internet users are not immune to it. It is to help our customers in this process that we accompany them in the construction of a clear and reassuring privacy center” explains Michael Froment, Commanders Act CEO.

User behaviour

While, in general, opt-in rates are pretty much the same, we have seen a rise in the use of the super-soft method (87% vs. 78% in the 1st barometer) which seems to be the result of better banner design with an increase in the rate of explicit opt-ins (37% vs. 22% in the 1st barometer).dans le 1^er baromètre).

However, we have noticed that users interact differently with the privacy centre: there is an increased switch-off rate (20-60% vs. 20-32% in the 1st barometer), meaning users who open the privacy centre have now taken to disabling cookies for all categories.

Subsequently, a user reads the consent message on average 2.2 times (vs. 1.8 times in the 1st barometer) before making a decision. This behaviour shows that users accept banners, pop-ins and cookies, but also pay more and more attention to their browsing and consent.

Approaches taken by businesses

Even if each industry has its own methods for collecting consent, we can see that businesses have changed their approach, with a slight increase in the number of sites displaying a consent collection message (90% vs. 88%), as well as an increased awareness in the importance of such messages, with changes to the consent message having improved opt-in rates by 35%.

Companies have also adapted their collection methods: more sites use either the super-soft or the strict opt-in method with an obstructing pop-in, the two methods that offer the best opt-in results.

The rise in strict consent with a pop-in has achieved opt-in rates of 79%. And while there may be a large number of users who cannot see the site, the click rate for links on such pop-ins is rather high (1.61% compared to under 0.2% for any other type of banner and the switch-off rate is no higher).

As we discussed in the first barometer, changes in regulations, user behaviour and in the maturity of digital teams means businesses must continuously review their choices and strategy. The figures from this barometer show how the behaviour of users and businesses vis-à-vis consent has evolved. Consent has become a voluntary and informed action, in compliance with the GDPR, as well as an opportunity for businesses to communicate with their customers.