Consumers want personalized experience but worry about sharing the data that drives it

European consumers want the personal touch in marketing communications, but are reluctant about sharing the data that enables it.

A new report, from customer engagement platform Twilo, shows 51 percent of European consumers say they will become repeat buyers after a good personalized experience, while 49 percent will tell a friend or family member, and 33 percent will become a member of the brand's loyalty program for deals and rewards.

However, an impersonal experience would make 36 percent less likely to make a purchase, stop shopping with the brand entirely (19 percent), or even buy from a competitor instead (18 percent), highlighting the value that effective personalization has to offer, and the risks associated with not getting it right.

Despite this desire for personalization though 22 percent are less comfortable about their personal data being used for personalization purposes compared to last year. Only 49 percent say they trust brands to keep their personal data secure and use it responsibly.

Sam Richardson, customer engagement consultant at Twilio says:

This disconnect between data sharing and personalization is creating a real conundrum for brands to navigate -- you can't effectively personalize communications without leveraging customer data. It's a co-dependent relationship. However, consumers have their reservations about data sharing. There is a lot of myth busting work for brands to do to reassure their customers and communicate the mutual gains of sharing data -- including the rewarding shopping experience for consumers.

Whilst brands must recognize the value that personalization strategies can deliver, they must prioritize building that trust and being transparent with how they plan to use it. Transitioning to first-party data retrieval is a logical approach to achieve this.

The full report is available from the Twilo site.

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