NEW YORK: A significant proportion of consumers are open to brands that use intelligent technology to personalise experiences, but establishing digital trust is crucial if consumers are to be won over, a new survey has found.
According to Accenture, the professional services firm, 44% of US consumers get frustrated when brands fail to deliver relevant, personalised shopping experiences.
Yet in a sign of how difficult it is for brands to evolve into “living businesses” that anticipate and act on their customers’ needs, almost half (49%) of consumers remain concerned about their data privacy as they sign up to these intelligent services.
“Digital trust remains a critical barrier to enabling hyper-relevant experiences,” the Accenture report stated, especially as a full 92% of US consumers say it is extremely important that companies protect the privacy of their personal information.
The survey of 2,000 US consumers, which is part of wider research involving 25,000 consumers around the world, also revealed that 79% of Americans find it frustrating to realise that some companies cannot be trusted to use their data appropriately.
Meanwhile, 43% fear “intelligent new services” will come to know too much about them and their family, while two-thirds (66%) want companies to earn their trust by being more open and transparent about how their information is used.
Elsewhere, 43% of US consumers say they would be more likely to shop with companies that always personalise experiences, as long as their trust isn’t compromised.
And nearly a third (31%) say they would find great value in services that intuitively learn about their needs over time to customise product, service or content recommendations.
“Digital trust will become increasingly challenging for companies to achieve as they look to capture new categories of customer data, such as biometric, geo-location and even genomic data, in their drive for greater relevance,” said Kevin Quiring, Accenture’s advanced customer strategy lead for North America.
“Customer concerns will inevitably rise, so it’s critical that companies have strong data security and privacy measures in place, they give customers full control over their data, and are transparent with how they use it,” he added.
According to Accenture, the professional services firm, 44% of US consumers get frustrated when brands fail to deliver relevant, personalised shopping experiences.
Yet in a sign of how difficult it is for brands to evolve into “living businesses” that anticipate and act on their customers’ needs, almost half (49%) of consumers remain concerned about their data privacy as they sign up to these intelligent services.
“Digital trust remains a critical barrier to enabling hyper-relevant experiences,” the Accenture report stated, especially as a full 92% of US consumers say it is extremely important that companies protect the privacy of their personal information.
The survey of 2,000 US consumers, which is part of wider research involving 25,000 consumers around the world, also revealed that 79% of Americans find it frustrating to realise that some companies cannot be trusted to use their data appropriately.
Meanwhile, 43% fear “intelligent new services” will come to know too much about them and their family, while two-thirds (66%) want companies to earn their trust by being more open and transparent about how their information is used.
Elsewhere, 43% of US consumers say they would be more likely to shop with companies that always personalise experiences, as long as their trust isn’t compromised.
And nearly a third (31%) say they would find great value in services that intuitively learn about their needs over time to customise product, service or content recommendations.
“Digital trust will become increasingly challenging for companies to achieve as they look to capture new categories of customer data, such as biometric, geo-location and even genomic data, in their drive for greater relevance,” said Kevin Quiring, Accenture’s advanced customer strategy lead for North America.
“Customer concerns will inevitably rise, so it’s critical that companies have strong data security and privacy measures in place, they give customers full control over their data, and are transparent with how they use it,” he added.
Sourced from Accenture; additional content by WARC staff
