Dowload the summary - Global version

The Consumer
Data Value
Exchange
Building better terms of
engagement for data
(and why the future of
brands depends on it)
Data is becoming the fundamental
currency in brand-consumer relationships,
and yet it is a currency that only one
party in the transaction fully understands.
For marketers looking to unlock future
customer value and build stronger
customer loyalty, lack of data
understanding on the part of their
audience is becoming a critical challenge.
In The Consumer Data Value Exchange, a
groundbreaking study into consumer
attitudes towards data sharing, Microsoft
partnered with The Future Laboratory and
Sentient Decision Science to uncover
what consumers are truly willing to share,
and how they feel about doing so. Using
innovative techniques to probe both
automatic System 1 responses and
conceptual System 2 understanding of
data, we looked beyond the debates
around privacy concerns that have
dominated research in this area to date.
The result is a wholly new set of insights
as to how consumers really perceive
brands’ use of data, how those
perceptions shape their daily responses in
the digital environment, and why the
challenge for brands is not just
persuading consumers to share their data
– but demonstrating why it is in their
interests to do so.
Among the key findings to emerge from the
study are:
• Consumer perceptions of data as
personal information mean they struggle
to understand how it can be used to their
benefit. Incentivizing consumers to share
data, as many brands currently do, can
be an easy way to encourage data
sharing, but moving beyond
transactional benefits can be an easier
way to sustain proactive sharing.
• Globally, people prefer cash, followed
by discounts and loyalty points.
When taking into account implicit
and explicit tradeoffs, 89% would
take discounts, but 63% would also
share to remove steps (e.g. automatic
logins).
• * The Sharing Gap dominates consumer
perceptions of the data exchange, with
a consistent belief that brands collect
more data than consumers willingly
share. 41% of consumers say they
actively share data with companies
while 56% believe that companies
collect data, a 15pt gap.
• Educating consumers, increasing the
visibility of data and relating it to
emotional needs are the essential
strategies for brands looking to foster
willing data sharing. However, people
have gotten accustomed to free
services. 92% would try new digital
services if they were free, though 63%
would opt to pay with ads and 62%
would allow more information about
them to be known.
Ranking of preference to share data types in exchange for new digital services
(from most to least willing - global average across all benefits and costs)
Activities/
preferences
Demographics
Organization
/movement
Social
identity
Communications
Personal
information
The lower the preference, the more obvious the benefit has to be for
the consumer.
Biometrics
Microsoft
Consumer
Insights
While many tech and media companies conduct market research that describes what
consumers are doing, the Microsoft Advertising Consumer Insights team believes
innovation stems from getting to the why. As a result, we take a consumer-centric
approach. We go beyond behavior to focus on why consumers do what they do—
whether that’s choosing one brand over another, or exhibiting a preference for a specific
platform. Our goal is to humanize digital behavior and motivation, enabling brands and
agencies to put consumer needs at the center of their marketing strategies.
Contacts
Natasha Hritzuk
Sr. Director, Head of Global Consumer Insights
[email protected]
Ivy Esquero
Senior Consumer Insights Manager, (Study Lead)
[email protected]
Kelly Jones
Head of Thought Leadership
[email protected]
Esther Burke
Consumer Insights Manager
[email protected]
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