Nearly three-quarters of U.S. consumers favor a national data privacy law that applies to all 50 states equally, according to a new survey.
Adults are most comfortable handing over their email address and birth date, and least comfortable handing giving up their address and phone number, the survey found. Nearly a third will share information in exchange for the right rewards and incentives.
Most Americans are okay with trading personal information in exchange for financial and knowledge rewards, but they also want to know their data privacy is being respected, according to the survey from Arm Treasure Data.
The online survey of 600 American adults was conducted in November, and has a margin of error of +/- 4%. It shows just how big the challenge is in balancing the use of customer data to improve experiences and grow revenue while not crossing the data privacy line. It’s a wrestling match that CMOs and executives across retail, marketing and technology have grown used in recent years as privacy breaches made worldwide news.
The survey results show how carefully companies must treat customer data in order to be able to win in an era when it is used to inform more personalized experiences and drive conversion.
Here are some key takeaways from the survey that point out what marketers and organizations need to do, and what consumers are demanding.
- More than three-quarters of respondents have not asked companies to delete their data and are not considering doing so in the future
- Only 15.1% said they have asked a company to delete their data; 8.5% have considered it
- More than three-quarters (77%) believe they are being tracked by technology companies
- 72% favor a national data privacy law
- 4% would give consent to using their data for discounts, offers and product samples
- 20% would do so for early access or priority service
- 9% would do so for access to company news
- 4% would consent for how-to information
Respondents who do business with or receive information from companies are comfortable handing over the following items in order:
- Email address (32.4%)
- Birth date (25.3%)
- Browsing or shopping habits/history (19.2%)
- Information preferences for deals (16.9%)
- Location (11.7%) and phone number (8.9%)
A third of respondents expressed concern about large technology companies monitoring their behavior, but are doing nothing to limit what they track; a little less than one-third singled out Facebook, Amazon Alexa and Google in particular. Nineteen percent said they’re not bothered by this, while another 16% said they don’t know what to do about it.