A study between Google and Boston Consulting Group shows 90% of customers will share their email address for a small incentive, such as a discount.

The study aims to find common ground between consumers and marketers when it comes to data sharing.

When it comes to data collection, marketers have to navigate regulatory changes involving privacy, while consumers grow more conscious of how their data is used

However, both marketers and consumers have the same desired endpoint — more relevant advertising.

Google’s research finds that not only do 65% of consumers have negative experiences when ads are not relevant, but 74% of customers only want ads that are relevant.

How can that goal be achieved?

To answer that question, let’s look at some highlights from the results of Google’s study.

How Much Information Are Customers Willing To Share?

It’s not possible to deliver relevant ads without gathering at least some data on who the ads are being served to.

Customers understand this, and are willing to cooperate to a certain extent.

The study finds that consumers are most willing to share information they don’t view as invasive and identifying.

That can include information such as their gender, postal code, age, interests, and previous purchases.

Screenshot from: bcg.com/publications/2022/consumers-want-data-privacy-and-marketers-can-deliver, January 2022.

Gathering this data first-hand is beneficial to marketers and businesses as well, since buying data from third parties can go against privacy regulations.

Screenshot from: thinkwithgoogle.com/future-of-marketing/, January 2022.

Still, customers have concerns about how information about them is used. Specifically, three things matter to them:

• What information is collected?
• How it is collected?
• Why it is collected?

In the next section we’ll look at how the willingness to share information goes up when incentives are offered.

Incentives Increase Customers’ Willingness To Share Data

Google’s study find that nearly 1 in 3 customers are willing to share their email for no incentive.

With the right incentive, such as a discount or a free sample, 90% of customers are willingly share their email address.

Screenshot from: bcg.com/publications/2022/consumers-want-data-privacy-and-marketers-can-deliver, January 2022.

In addition to offering an incentive, it’s also important to build trust.

When consumers trust a brand, they are about twice as willing to share their personal information.

This is even more important when attracting new customers, as 29% start from a place of mistrust of all companies across any industry to protect their personal information and privacy.

Further, 64% of consumers mistrust companies in at least one industry.

Why so much mistrust?

It stems from the idea that companies are selling their data, which is a concern that Google says is exaggerated:

“And while almost 60% of customers believe that companies are selling their data, our research found that very few brands do that.

Marketers understand the value of data and the trust their customers place in them — and how customer-centric, data-driven marketing unlocks significant gains across business objectives.”

The next section includes takeaways marketers can success by creating win-win relationships with consumers.

How To Win With Data Conscious Consumers

Marketers can continue to succeed by making privacy a win-win with customers through relevant experiences and transparency.

In particular, Google’s study recommends focusing focus on three key things:

• Build trust by prioritizing transparency: Make it obvious how you use customer information by overcommunicating how it’s being handled.
• Create great experiences through first-party data: Accelerate first-party data collection by offering an exchange of value that’s inline with customer motivations.
• Build a data-centric organization that respects privacy: Reimagining your role in the data privacy space can lead to greater long term success, such as shifting from third-party to first-party data collection.

Sources: Think With Google, Boston Consulting Group

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