GDPR 'making consumers more confident over data'

Brands may be bracing themselves for the fall-out from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal but, according to new research carried out by the DMA, two-thirds of consumers (62%) feel more confident about sharing data with businesses by the incoming GDPR.
The figures are revealed in the ‘GDPR: A Consumer Perspective’ report, commissioned jointly by the DMA and Acxiom to explore the attitudes of UK consumers towards data exchange and the new regulation.
Although the study was conducted before claims that Cambridge Analytica had unlawfully acquired data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles, it found that the majority of people in the UK (57%) prefer to receive some form of personalised marketing from companies.
Most of whom (62%) also understand the need for companies to access their data in order to help stop them receiving marketing that is not relevant to them.
In fact, even among those shoppers that don’t like marketing at all, 40% are comfortable with sharing data to avoid irrelevant offers or recommendations.
The survey also found that consumers fall into five groups when it comes to their preference for personalised marketing:
Personalisation fans (36%): Favouring personalisation of offers and don’t see the appeal of random offers
All the offers (21%): Like personalised offers, but also want random offers that they might not be aware of, not wanting to “miss out” on things outside of their filter bubble
Surprise me (10%): Would rather see random offers than have them personalised, preferring to be surprised or discover offers for products and services
Indifference (15%): Indifferent towards offers, they are neither positive nor negative towards either personalised or random offers
Resistant to marketing (18%): Resistant to marketing in general and don’t like receiving either personalised or random offers
DMA managing director Rachel Aldighieri said: “At its heart, GDPR is about transparency and honesty in how organisations collect and use customers’ data. This is essential to building and maintaining trust between businesses and consumers.
“The new laws offer an opportunity for organisations to put the consumer front and centre of their company’s culture. An essential part of that is talking to customers about their data and how the new laws benefit them in a way that they can understand.”
Acxiom vice-president Jed Mole added: “[This research] shows us the majority of people want to see data drive a more personalised world as opposed to random. It also shows awareness and understanding are growing. This is pivotal as only with reasonable understanding can people form reasonable expectations. Increasingly, consumers accept data helps create better experiences and personalisation, something desired by consumers and marketers alike.”