LIVE FROM CES 2014: The heads of Twitter and marketing agency Publicis this morning discussed the importance of privacy in online marketing, with a prevailing opinion that transparency is an important way of building customer acceptance.

Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, said: “It boils down to trust. We’ve implemented ‘do not track’, and right on the very first page of your settings you can opt-out of tailored ads and tailored content. As long as it’s clear to users in simple language, in one place.”

While the executive would not be drawn on the number of Twitter users who have made use of this option, he said that offering accurately targeted promotions is an effective way of stopping consumers from opting-out completely.

“When we think about the services we are providing to advertisers, marketing teams, it’s all about how we help connect in the context of the conversation people are having right now. So that it doesn’t feel like an interruption, and you do see these lower opt-out rates”, he noted.

Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis, said that with consumer opt-out rates at a low level in many markets, keeping a focus on the preferences of consumers is key to maintaining engagement.

“For the time being, what we are seeing in France or in Europe, is [opt-outs] below 5 per cent. Put yourselves in the shoes of the consumer. They don’t want to miss good information, they don’t want to miss entertaining content, they don’t want to miss a relationship with a brand,” he said.

“But they don’t want to be overloaded with a lot of information or the wrong messages, what they don’t want is to be harassed, but to get the right message at the right time delivered in a nice and emotional manner that is right for them,” Levy continued.

“There are 95 per cent who have not opted out, and they are absolutely aware that they can,” he said.