New Communispace Report: Consumers Tell Financial Brands They Want to Be Courted For Their Data

BOSTON, April 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Communispace, a global customer collaboration agency, today released results from a study about consumer attitudes towards their data, privacy, and relationships with financial brands -- in particular, how consumers feel about financial services companies tracking and targeting them through personalized marketing.

The study, What is Privacy Worth to Your Customers?, found that when it comes to financial services, customers give companies with whom they have relationships more permission to use their data in exchange for personalized products, services, and offers than they do in other industries. And, the study describes how consumers' ideal relationship with a financial brand is one that alleviates their pain points while helping them remain in control of their finances and their privacy. 

Building on learnings from the 2014 Communispace report Beyond the Bull's-eye: Building Meaningful Relationships in the Age of Big Data, the study's major findings underscore the fine but firm lines consumers draw between appropriate and inappropriate behavior by financial brands when it comes to their data:

What's Fair Game and What's Crossing the Line: While 68 percent of consumers say it is "OK" for financial services companies to use information from their customers for personalized marketing, 79 percent say it is "not OK" for financial services companies to track their online behavior or to buy their demographic data for targeting purposes.

Privacy is at a Premium: Communispace found that 30 percent of consumers would actually pay more to avoid being tracked by brands, while 70 percent would sell their data for a comparable discount. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Millennials are more likely than older generations to view their data as an asset for sale.

Consumers Want to Control the Relationship: When asked how they want to start a new relationship with a financial services company, nearly half of consumers (47 percent) say they would like to go to a centralized site to compare multiple brands and offers. But one-third of consumers (33 percent) opt for even more control, saying they would like to invite financial services to "bid" for business.

"Financial services companies have been conducting business on their terms for years," said Katrina Lerman, Associate Director of Research at Communispace. "But today's consumers have a lot more power than they did 10 years ago, or even last year for that matter. Consumers expect financial services companies to adapt to the way they want to conduct business, anticipate their evolving needs and exceed their expectations. To do this, brands need to build relationships with customers that will inspire the innovations they really need."

Communispace conducted this study with 3,479 consumer participants across 19 of Communispace's financial services communities.

About COMMUNISPACE
Communispace, a global customer collaboration agency, connects the world's best-known brands with the people they serve to create Customer Inspired Growth. In a time when consumers have more choice and power than ever before, building ongoing relationships with customers is the most important investment a company can make. Our range of services builds customer-centric cultures, and enables our clients to act with confidence and agility because they have designed the customer into their entire organization. Through private online communities, immersive storytelling, activation events and innovation projects, Communispace fosters new connections between companies and their customers, allowing them to design better products and experiences, improve business performance and achieve measurable growth.

Headquartered in Boston, Communispace has offices in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Paris and Shanghai. To learn more, visit www.communispace.com or follow us on Twitter @Communispace. Communispace is a part of the DAS Group of Companies.

About the DAS Group of Companies
The DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. OMC (www.omnicomgroup.com), is a global group of marketing services companies. DAS includes over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: specialty, PR, healthcare, CRM, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Operating through a combination of networks and regional organizations, DAS serves international, regional, national and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.

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SOURCE Communispace