Your customers don't trust you...and we have the proof

We at Rownd recently commissioned a survey to dig into some of the open questions left by a recent McKinsey paper. Most importantly, we wanted to learn more about trust and personal data. It is easy to understand why 82% of Americans did not trust most industries to handle their personal data. For years, large corporations have been either selling data without permission or doing a pretty bad job of protecting it. For smaller companies, they just don’t have the IT department to really make a difference.

So, some survey results:

First, not shocking if you follow this blog: Over 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they would feel more comfortable doing business with a company that allowed them to control how their data was used. Bottomline: Customers want more control over their data

Over 90% agree: Being able to control data is important

Next, there are real consequences to selling personal data without permission. It is important to note that 90% agreed there should be some sort of consequences to just SELLING DATA. This does not even include a data breach. 61% thought the company should be reported, 50% would tell a friend to not frequent the business. Bottomline: Lack of clear Data Privacy can lead to losing customers and revenue.

Customers are willing to punish those that share their data without consent

Its not all downside either. There are real opportunities to create trust, empowerment, and loyalty through data privacy. Remember the abysmally low trust rates from the McKinsey survey? You can start to turn those around. 60% feel more empowered by giving them control over their data and 50% will trust your website or app more. These are huge numbers that can make a real difference. Bottomline: Data Ownership can increase your brands trust and make your customers feel more empowered – both lead to loyalty and increased revenue

It’s not all gloom: Data ownership and privacy also increase trust.

One of the most surprising results we got was around the value of data ownership and privacy. 80% of respondents would pay something for more control over their data. Taking away the outliers (someone up $10B dollars), the median of those willing to pay for their data is ~$75 a year with an average of $125. This means that although Rownd does not sell directly to consumers, that businesses, apps, and websites should feel comfortable passing through some of the cost of data-ownership to their customers. Bottomline: data privacy and ownership provide real value to customers, not just the app and website owners.

In conclusion, the results of the survey both confirmed our qualitative observations and really gave us a lot of momentum as we at Rownd look to disrupt the world of personal data. Get ready to feel empowered world!