Americans Don’t Think Personal Data Is Secure, Still Trade It For Coupons

Image courtesy of Chris Blakeley

What information are you willing to give up to get a discount or other benefits from a retailer? The consulting company Accenture wanted to know how comfortable we are with all of this, and what information we might be willing to give up for rewards from merchants. Broadly speaking, it depends on what they’re offering.

In a world where a store’s marketing department knows that you’re pregnant before your family does and data brokers scoop up every piece of information on you that they can, it might feel like consumers no longer have anything to hide. 80% of survey participants agreed that total privacy is now impossible or obsolete, and 87% don’t think that companies that hold their personal data are taking precautions to protect it.

Surprisingly, though, a minority of people who took part in the survey believed that their data is for sale.

In the least surprising piece of news from this survey, while most people (93%) are fine with receiving e-mails from brands, only 25% said that they’re comfortable receiving phone calls. These must be the people who robocalls are for.

U.S. Consumers Want More Personalized Retail Experience and Control Over Personal Information, Accenture Survey Shows [Accenture]

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