Americans with Doubts: Brands Misuse Their Personal Data

8 February, 2024

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Attest, a consumer research platform, found that 84% of americans are concerned about privacy when interacting with brands online, MarketingTech reported.

Among survey respondents, those between the ages of 55 and 64 were the most concerned (87%).

Surprising results indicate that even members of Generation Z experience a dose of worry when brands turnover data online. 82% of consumers between the ages of 18-24 said they are concerned about the way brands collect information about them.

Now that cookie-free third-party marketing is almost here, a new research report released today shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t trust a single brand when it comes to protecting their privacy.

Consumers still refrain from sharing data online

The Zero-Party Data Revolution report reveals that eight in ten (85%) consumers opt out of being added to a company’s mailing list at least in some cases, and 58% say it’s common for them to decline such offers in most cases.

Survey data also shows that almost a third of users (31%) would reject cookies on websites if asked.

Users who reject cookies are most likely to do so because they don’t want to be inundated with ads afterwards, and because they don’t trust the website in question with their data (both 36%).

At the same time, 27% of respondents fear that hackers will steal their data.

Again surprisingly, 52% of Generation Z members indicated that they do not trust websites to keep their data private.

Likelihood to opt-out of first-party cookies by website type:

Social media websites: 47%
Travel websites: 42%
Food and beverage websites: 40%
Financial services and retail websites: Both at 39%

If you take into account the fact that zero-country data involves explicitly requesting information from users, this is done through interactive data collection methods.

Attest attempted to discover which methods users preferred most, finding that:

Interactive surveys topped the poll: 47% of respondents said interactive surveys were their preferred way for a brand to collect data about them, followed by loyalty cards (i.e. purchase history), and 27% liked online forms. Cookies and chat services/chatbots to talk to customers are at the bottom of preferences (18% each).

Popular with all groups: Consumers who need information to benefit from it:Consumer surveys are the most popular method of data collection across all age groups: 66% of consumers aged 18-24 say they prefer them, as do 41% of those aged 55-64.

The Zero-Party Data Revolution report surveyed 1,500 nationally representative U.S. consumers, and the survey coincides with the dropping of third-party cookies in Google Chrome this year, marking one of the biggest changes in digital advertising since the invention of cookies in 1992.

Attest’s report aims to enable marketers to understand why this change represents a transformative chance to use an alternative data source – zero-party data – to continue to reach target audiences, regain trust and create ads that are compelling, not invasive.