In a recent global survey, lack of consumer trust in brands’ use of personal data stood out as a fair warning…

Based on two surveys conducted April and May 2022 across a total of 3,450 respondents from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States (with a minimum of 250 respondents from each country), a report on customer experience, marketing tech, customer strategies and consumer behavior has discovered that data privacy concerns were highest among APAC consumers (60%) compared to rates nearly half that in other regions.

In terms of consumer expectations, 62% of respondents expected personalization, indicating that a brand could lose their loyalty if their experience is not personalized, while 49% indicated they were likely to become repeat buyers if personalization is offered.

However, only 40% of consumers in the survey trusted brands to use their data responsibly and keep it safe.  

Other findings

The report sheds some light on the lack of consumer trust increasingly affecting buying decisions: 60% of consumers polled indicated trustworthiness and transparency were the most important traits of a brand, up from 55% in 2021. Also:

  • 63% of respondents (consumers) indicated they were fine with personalization as long as brands were using their own data and not data purchased or rented from third parties. Sweeping privacy regulations at both the government and corporate levels are forcing companies to shift from renting to owning their customer relationships.
  • Half of the companies surveyed indicated recent changes to data privacy regulations had made personalization more difficult. But with third-party cookies set to be made redundant from the end of 2023, the shift to first-party data is no longer optional.
  • 43% of business leaders in the survey had embraced first-party data indicated it provided better privacy for customers.
  • Around 60% of respondents reported increased investment in personalization in 2022. The most common barriers cited included “lack of technology”, “unclear ROI”, “lack of accurate data”, and “organizational impediments”.
  • 53% of business leaders in the survey were investing in better technology to manage customer data, such as customer data platforms to achieve compliance while managing first-party data for personalization.

According to Ved Antani, Vice President of Engineering and Managing Director (India), Twilio, which commissioned the surveys, brands need to put in place tools and processes to analyze customer behavior, earn digital trust and “cater to the new reality and expectations of maintaining utmost confidentiality by collecting first-party customer data with robust customer data platforms” to “deliver data-driven, hyper-personalized experiences across the customer’s preferred channel.”