7 Top Preference Management Tools for 2024

What is preference management?

Preference management enables customers to communicate how and when companies can contact them. This prevents overtly aggressive marketing campaigns, and helps organizations remain compliant with rules and regulations.

Preference Management can mean marketing preferences, cookie consent, or a package that includes both services. The two specialties can complement each other because cookie consent provides a degree of preference decisions over different types of cookies.

What is a preference manager?

A preference manager is a centralized repository that stores all user choices. This dashboard gives executives a birds-eye view into consent choices, opt-in rates, and more.

A full preference management system assigns each site visitor an account with access credentials. Users can then enter the account area and set preferences for their contactability, as well as keeping their contact details up to date.  

Why is preference management important?

Preference management is a higher level of consent management. Preference management also provides extra opportunities for user contact. Creating a user account for a site visitor enables businesses to establish a long-term relationship with potential buyers. 

A professional preference management platform is designed to manage potential customers who are members of the public – it is a B2C function. However, the technique of creating a long-term relationship with visitors is a key part in the marketing funnel and it could be applied to B2B sales as well.

The 7 Best Preference Management Systems

When researching the market for enterprise preference management solutions, the problem isn’t that there aren’t many systems available or that they are hard to find – on the contrary, there are perhaps too many. The issue you are going to face when looking for a preference management service is how much time it is going to take to just read through the sales presentations of all of the systems that are available. 

The task of drawing up a short list is a difficult one. How do you know that the first few preference managers that your search throws up are good? How do you know which systems are better and whether there are tools available that offer better service and better value for money than the packages that you have identified?

You don’t have time to research every user preference management software system available and so you will probably come to a point where you have a few candidates and you have run out of time. We have performed extensive research of the entire market and produced a list of the seven best preference management systems. We stressed value for money and affordability as a primary requirement but also removed services from our list if they didn’t provide competent preference management. 

The following sections provide details of the seven preference management solutions that we recommend.

1. Enzuzo

The cloud-based Enzuzo platform provides the cookie consent management element of preference management. This system is offered in a series of plans from a free basic cookie consent service right up to a full data privacy management package with the Enterprise edition. 

This system is one of the most affordable consent management platforms available. However, it doesn’t provide the opportunity to allow separate accounts for website visitors. The Enterprise edition provides data management services that include processes for dealing with data subject access requests (DSARs). Full preference management services don’t need a DSAR unit because the user is able to log in and see the site’s records about them, making adjustments where needed

This package is aimed at website owners and it can integrate with content management systems and eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify. The Enterprise package will cover consent management for multiple domains, enabling the cookie preference expressed by a visitor to one site to be recalled when that same person visits another protected site.

Features

Enzuzo’s six plans cater to a wide range of cost-conscious enterprises thanks to the following utilities:

• Cookie consent management
• Location detection that will deliver suitable headers accordingly
• A multi-tenant edition for managed service providers
• Site scanning to discover third-party cookies
• Control over cookie delivery activation that follows the user’s stated preferences
• A privacy impact assessment
• Data subject access request (DSAR) management

The Enzuzo system provides legal cover for sites and it enhances the reputation of sites because it ensures that the user’s preferences are respected.

Data governance  

For many data privacy standards, the location of the site visitor is really important. For example, the data collected on citizens of the EU can’t be moved outside that zone. The location records of the Enzuzo platform provide compliance with those data storage and processing location rules. 

Multinational operations

Websites operate all over the world and so the Enzuzo forms and generated pages can all be delivered by translation in 25 different languages. The Enzuzo system is able to enforce compliance with GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, LGPD, PDPL, and Quebec Law 25. The system’s banners and notifications can be customized within legal parameters. It is also possible to brand those forms with your corporate logo.

Policy statements

Starting up a website can be a complicated legal nightmare. Most of the risks of dealing with the public can be mitigated by having the right notification pages on your site. Every Enzuzo account holder gets access to legal page generators. These include:

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Cookie Banner
• Returns Policy
• Shipping Policy
• End User License Agreement (EULA)
• Subscription Service Agreement

Getting all of these pages generated for your site gives you legal coverage without the extra expense of hiring a law firm.

👉 Start building legal pages for free

Free services and guides

Enzuzo is an attractive platform for new businesses. The website has many free tools available, including a website scanner that will assess a site for compliance with several data privacy standards. The Enzuzo site includes a blog with tips and advice, and subscribers—even the users of the free edition — get access to a knowledge base. 

Customer Support & Onboarding

All customers of the Enzuzo platform get access to customer support. The Free edition is very easy to set up and not many site owners will need assistance to tailor its limited services. The Top plan is a lot more complicated and subscribers to this package get extensive consultancy services from Enzuzo technicians. Subscribers to Enzuzo plans don’t need to go to the expense of hiring compliance management consultants in order to integrate the service. 

The review below was written by a small business owner who has little time for complicated software setup routines. 

The ease of setup of the Enzuzo platform was the first attribute she chose to applaud when writing the five star review.

Pricing

Enzuzo is one of the most affordable services on this list. Its six plans start with a Free edition, which is free forever, not just a free trial. All of the plans are within the budgets of small and mid-sized businesses. Enzuzo provides a monthly subscription rate but businesses that opt to pay yearly get a 20 percent discount.

Overall Thoughts

Enzuzo is a very good choice for small businesses that just need to ensure they are covered for all of the legal requirements surrounding website operations. This platform offers six plan levels with increasing lists of services. The top plan is very extensive and includes compliance management services.

The service can generate cookie consent forms for mobile apps and websites. The consent management service is suitable for sites that attract visitors from multiple countries. 

Looking to integrate a preference management platform? Book a complimentary 1-1 demo to learn how Enzuzo can help

2. OneTrust

OneTrust is a very large platform that is designed for big businesses. This platform is so large, that the company divided it up into four segments, called cloud. The service includes a Preference Management module as part of its Privacy and Data Governance Cloud. OneTrust realizes that it is missing out on the market for small businesses and so produces a version of the platform for companies with fewer than 500 employees. 

Pros of OneTrust

• Extensive data privacy services that include discovery, classification, and cataloging 
• Website compliance scoring
• Suitable for multinationals

Cons of OneTrust

• An expensive and complicated platform
• Requires the services (and expense) of an external consultancy to set up
• Multiple brands provide access to the same platform

Overall Thoughts 

OneTrust covers the big business end of the data privacy market. However, it doesn’t provide the option of setting up site visitor user accounts, so you are paying a lot more money for this platform without the benefit of extra services.

Small businesses struggle to see how OneTrust can justify its high prices.

However, it has the largest customer base worldwide of all the data privacy platforms. 

3. Ketch 

Ketch is a cloud-based data privacy platform that offers a Free edition and two paid plans. This service covers cookie consent management and also preference recording for email contacts. The platform is able to manage user preferences across platforms. Preferences gathered on one domain will be applied to other domains held by the same company. 

Pros of Ketch

• Free plan with a cookie banner that collects and stores consent responses
• Location detection
• Automated DSAR workflows

Cons of Ketch

• Marketing preferences management is only available in the top plan
• The Preference Center could be expanded to a full user account system
• No price list

Overall Thoughts 

Ketch gets good reviews from its users. This system is relatively new and still seems to have teething problems. Users report that the Customer Service team is exceptional. All of the staff on the Help Desk are highly knowledgeable about the platform.

However, the skills of the Customer Service team are so heavily relied upon because the platform is glitchy and poorly documented.

4. Didomi 

The Didomi consent management platform includes modules for cookie consent management, compliance management, DSAR management, and preference management. The units on the platform provide a range of strategies. The preference management can be deployed instead of cookie management and DSAR management because it provides sufficient self-service utilities to render those other units unnecessary. The Preference Management unit is part of the Core Privacy UX and Privacy UX Plus plans.

Pros of Didomi

• Website scanning for cookies
• Provides a preference-based consent option
• Rapid response Customer Service team

Cons of Didomi

• Requires the services of consultancy to plan a consent management strategy
• No sensitive data protection measures
• No price list

Overall Thoughts 

Didomi provides cookie consent management and DSAR management as well as the preference management services that can replace those first two options. Preference management enables the site visitor to access and maintain PII without any need for a DSAR process. So, companies can trial both consent management and preference management strategies. 

The only problem with Didomi is that its API slows down a site’s response time.

5. Cassie

Cassie is a consent and preference management platform. This service is designed to cater to large businesses and currently manages more than 1.2 billion customer records worldwide. The Cassie system is a little more complicated than a standard cookie consent service because it requires the storage of personally identifiable information (PII). Storing PII brings the system under a lot more legal restrictions than services that avoid storing the details of private individuals.  

Pros of Cassie

• Creates a Customer Services portal
• Encourages site visitors to register
• Maintains contact with potential buyers

Cons of Cassie

• A more sophisticated preference management service, so will be more expensive
• Integrates essential sensitive data protection, so more complicated
• No price list

Overall Thoughts 

Cassie should be thought of as a marketing tool rather than a technical system. It provides a user account space for each site visitor that encourages long-term communications and is flexible enough to allow a business to add on its own custom services that require consent. It is particularly useful for fine tuning email marketing. The company doesn’t publish its price list – expect it to be expensive. 

6. Transcend

Transcend is a sensitive data management platform that includes a Consent and Preference Management module. Each user gets an account where privacy and contact settings can be managed personally. The Preference Store can be accessed from websites or mobile apps providing a central location for preference management for multiple channels and domains. 

Pros of Transcend

• Replaces the need for consent management
• Removes the need for DSAR management
• Includes email marketing preferences

Cons of Transcend

• Part of a sensitive data management platform
• Not suitable for small businesses
• No price list

Overall Thoughts 

Transcend is more of a sensitive data discovery and management service than a preference management tool. Consent and preference management are more of a sideline in this platform rather than its main focus. Businesses that already handle PII and want to add on a preference management service would be most interested in the Transcend package. Overall, buyers of this service are very satisfied. However, some report an irritation with the layout of the user preference center screen.

7. Usercentrics 

Usercentrics is a cookie consent management service. that provides compliance for GDPR, LGPD, POPIA, and several US state privacy rulings. This system also provides legal pages for websites, such as Terms of Service and Privacy Policy statements. The platform detects the location of a website’s visitor and adapts the banner language and compliance processes accordingly. 

Pros of Usercentrics

• Location detection 
• Serves different consent banners according to the visitor’s location
• Seeks permission for marketing emails

Cons of Usercentrics

• DSAR management is a paid add-on and not included in any plan
• Doesn’t manage sensitive data
• Doesn’t create user accounts for site visitors

Overall Thoughts 

Usercentrics provides three services: cookie consent for websites, cookie consent for mobile apps, and preference management. These are three separate subscription packages. The preference manager operates through a popup and once the user has subscribed to marketing emails, the mechanism to change that preference is access through a link in any email that gets sent – it doesn’t create a user account for each site visitor. Usercentrics doesn’t give a price for its Preference Management service. Overall, users report that the platform is a little overpriced.

Summary & Conclusion

You will notice that we have chosen a wide array of platforms for our recommendations from the vast data privacy platform offered by OneTrust to more SMB-friendly systems such as Enzuzo. 

Preference Management is a relatively new approach to seeking and recording user consent for marketing actions. It is an attractive strategy to enhance the user experience of a website and it has the advantage of establishing a long-term rapport with potential buyers. However, the technique has to be handled competently because a badly implemented preference management strategy will damage your brand reputation.