People are more willing to share personal information in order to get more customized experiences, a survey by independent advertising and analytics company Innovid found.
According to Innovid, consumer data is core to ad personalization, so it asked consumers how willing they were to share personal information with brands compared to 1-2 years ago. Nearly a quarter of consumers are more willing than years prior, and see value in sharing personal information in exchange for a more relevant, individualized experience from brands.
After polling more than 1,000 U.S. adults in July 2020, the findings show that nearly a third of respondents like the ads they see to be personalized and 30% like brands more when they personalize ads.
“Make no mistake, despite this increase, consumers are overall more discerning about the information they share with third parties today,” said Stephanie Geno, senior VP of marketing at Innovid.. “This comes as no surprise as privacy concerns on platforms like TikTok have recently come to light, making consumers reassess what and how they’re sharing information with brands and platforms. However, if their data is used to deliver a better overall experience and true utility, the incentive for data-sharing becomes much stronger. Marketers need to provide a clearer value exchange to win consumer consent and buy-in.”
The study found that consumers are most comfortable sharing data about the things they like and dislike. They’re also comfortable sharing gender information, location and their birthday. They were less willing to provide browser histories, employment information and income.
Consumers said they would be even more comfortable with sharing personal information if brands were more transparent about how the data was being collected. Among the respondents, 35% said they wanted to be able to dictate data collection preferences, 12% said they wanted brands to share data collection policies and 7% would like a data collection certification.
Overall 57% said there were methods that could make them more comfortable with sharing data and 43% said they just weren’t comfortable sharing data.
“The data show brands aren’t doing enough to personalize across channels, although consumers have voiced a desire for it, which leads to a consumer ad experience that is lacking or low impact,” said Geno. “To adapt to the needs and wants of the Now Consumer, marketers need to prioritize personalization and make it a key part of their omni-channel strategy.”
