Study: Consumers want personalisation, yet are cautious with sharing data

Three in five APAC consumers are bothered by a lack of data privacy, compared to rates nearly half that in other regions. Yet, according to Twilio's State of Personalisation Report 2022, 62% of consumers expect personalisation, saying that a brand will lose their loyalty if their experience is not personalised. For instance, 49% said they will become repeat buyers if personalisation is offered. Meanwhile, nearly 80% of business leaders say consumers spend more (34% more on average) when their experience is personalised.

As delivering personalised experiences require personal data, changing customer attitudes towards sharing data online creates a paradox for businesses. Nearly 60% of consumers said trustworthiness and transparency are the most important traits of a brand, up from 55% in 2021, and 63% said they are fine with personalisation, as long as brands are using their own first-party data and not data purchased or rented from third parties. 

Consumer privacy a generational challenge — and an opportunity

Companies have long “rented” customer relationships from advertisers and social networks. These companies collect behaviour and demographic data and then resell it as targetable audiences. However, sweeping privacy regulations — at both the government and corporate levels — are forcing companies to shift from renting to owning their customer relationships.

This pivot is not a simple one. Half of the companies Twilio surveyed said recent changes to data privacy regulations have made personalisation more difficult. Many companies are already responding to these changes in consumer preferences, regulations, and technology, with 43% of business leaders embracing first-party data because it provides better privacy for customers. Even so, 65% of consumers worry their data is being collected by brands without their permission, and only 40% trust brands to use their data responsibly and keep it safe.

Data and technology hurdles to personalisation at scale

Technology remains a hurdle for many companies. While tech giants have fleets of data scientists and massive budgets to achieve personalisation at scale, Twilio’s report showed that majority of businesses are still struggling to achieve omnichannel personalisation. Despite 6 out of 10 respondents reporting increased investment in personalisation in 2022, only 35% of companies feel they are successfully achieving omnichannel personalisation, up from 24% in 2021. The most common barriers include lack of technology, unclear ROI, lack of accurate data, and organizational impediments.

Technologies such as customer data platforms give businesses the tools they need to achieve compliance while managing first-party data for personalisation. About two in five (41%) businesses reported they are now using a customer data platform to activate real-time data. Business leaders are embracing such technologies, with 53% investing in better technology to manage customer data. These companies are equipped to build deeper customer relationships, as 67% of consumers said that they want to be able to interact with a retail brand on more than one channel.

Kathryn Murphy, general manager of Twilio Engage, said, "A customer data platform is the brain behind a company’s customer engagement strategy. The ability to act on first-party data in real-time empowers businesses to go beyond the surface level to deliver hyper-personalisation at scale.”

Twilio’s State of Personalisation Report 2022 is based on a consumer survey targeting adults who purchased something online in the past six months, and a business survey targeting B2B and B2C business managers and above who are familiar with their company's customer experience, marketing tech, or customer data strategies. There were a total of 3,450 respondents from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and United States, with a minimum of 250 respondents from each country.

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