Real-Life Communication -- Solution
Here's what you could write:
As one of our valued
customers, the XX company thanks you for giving us the opportunity to meet
your service needs.
At this time, the XX company has developed a privacy
policy to ensure that your personal information is never used in a way that
violates your privacy. We want you to know that you can trust us with your
personal information. This information will be safeguarded as outlined below:
Distribution
of Information:
XXX will not sell, rent, give away or otherwise
distribute your private information, including name, address, telephone number,
email address or sales history to any company, business, organization, individual
or other entity.
Email From Company:
From time to time,
the XX Company would like to send you email messages informing you of specials,
product enhancements or new services that might be of interest to you. To
indicate your agreement to receive these opt-in emails, please send a blank
email to optin@xxcompany.com. Sending email to the address given indicates
your agreement to receive promotional emails from our company.
Thank
you for your attention.
"Both written and verbal communication
is really important because you need to be able to understand people's feelings
about their personal data from a number of different perspectives," says Merri
Beth Lavagnino, CPO for Indiana University. "Because there is no black and
white as to what is appropriate and what is not appropriate."
Chief
privacy officers need to communicate both externally to the public and internally
to the people within their organization.
"People (CPOs) need to communicate
well the benefits of giving your data to the company, but also be able to
communicate to the company what your customers are expecting of you," says
Lavagnino.