Good morning Marketer, is your website using third-party tools?

Brands are being forced to make massive pivots right now. These actions often involve teams making quick decisions on third-party components for their company’s website — adding features like payment processes or chat functions. Many of these third-party tools come from trusted organizations, but there are some that could be putting your data security at risk.

During a Discover MarTech presentation last month, Jon Wallace, head of product strategy and marketing at Ensighten, said the reality is, while some of these technologies are backed by trusted organizations like Google, there are others that come from less transparent sources. 

“Do you know where your customer data is going? If you were to map all of the interactions on your website, do you actually know which third-parties are interacting with the user data on your website when it’s rendered in the browser?” asked Wallace. “As an organization, you are actually responsible and liable for non-compliance, even if it’s one of the third-party components that you’re utilizing, in terms of CCPA and GDPR.”

The concerns voiced by Wallace are difficult to digest, but necessary to get a handle on how your data may be impacted by third-party tools. Being able to answer these questions means you — and your team — are the first line of defense when it comes to pushing back on problematic third-party tools that put your brand at risk. 

In other news, retailers can now link their PayPal and Google Merchant Center accounts. Businesses using PayPal as a checkout option on their sites can link their PayPal accounts to their Google Merchant Center accounts in order to onboard products for free and paid listings across Google. If you’re new to Google Merchant Center, the PayPal connection can also speed up the merchant verification process.

Keep scrolling for more, including a critical licensing update for brands on TikTok. 

Taylor Peterson,
Deputy Editor