Be loyal and share your data
Various promotions, offers and rewards are the main reasons why we take part in loyalty programs. Benefits such as pre-releases and pre-sales of products are also important for many of us. However, these offers are not as free as we tend to believe. We usually pay for them by giving access to our personal data. Given name, family name, sex, age, e-mail address and sometimes detailed residence address – this kind of information is often required by the program organizer.
Customers provide such data, but at the same time, they are aware that data confidentiality matters a lot. According to the results of research entitled “The future of Shopping. The key trends in retail today and in 2030" conducted by Comarch and Kantar TNS, buyers increasingly want to know how their data is used and stored by the company. They also expect clear terms and conditions for any loyalty program or contest.
The authors of this research interviewed more than 2 000 people from six European countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Italy. Those surveyed were asked, among other things, about the most important factors related to sharing personal data.
Almost one in six respondents (59%) indicated transparency of rules related to data collected as the highest priority in regard to data confidentiality in loyalty programs. Next, customers like to see clear terms and conditions (56%). More than half of the respondents (53%) want to be able to verify which personal data are collected by the organizer. The same number of people find ease of resignation from the loyalty program important. Being offered rewards as a sweetener in return for providing personal data for marketing purposes was the least important factor (44% of respondents).
Poles Know How to Take Care of their Privacy
Data from the research also shows that 75% of Poles take part in loyalty programs. That is a few percentage points above the European average, which is 71%. The same report shows that Polish customers are aware of the importance of personal data provided to organizers of loyalty programs. Transparency of rules concerning personal data use is the most important to Polish people. This factor was indicated by 58% of respondents, which is a percentage point less than the European median. Clear terms and conditions are of almost the same importance (57%). Poles perfectly fit into the European average when it comes to the possibility of checking which personal data are collected by the company (53%). More than half of the respondents (51%) indicated easy resignation from a loyalty program as an important factor.
“A few years ago, organizers of promotions and loyalty programs mainly convinced people to participate by offering gifts and free novelties. Now, the same argument is no longer as convincing for the contemporary customer”, says Zofia Woźniak, Consultant for Solutions at Comarch CRM & Marketing. “As the Comarch and Kantar TNS research shows, only 41% of Poles decide to join loyalty programs for rewards received in exchange for providing personal data. In this respect, Polish people are an almost perfect fit with the European average, which is 44%. Out of the nations surveyed, only Dutch people pay less attention to material benefits (39%).”
The research shows that customers provide their data because they are interested in offers that are tailored to their personal preferences and shopping history. Program organizers have only to ensure customers that their personal data are safe.
The full report by Comarch and Kantar TNS, entitled “THE FUTURE OF SHOPPING. LATEST TRENDS IN RETAIL TODAY AND IN 2030” is available at: https://www.comarch.com/trade-and-services/loyalty-marketing/resources/future-of-retail/
