We weighed in on the important issues of consumer data privacy, fair compensation and trust in our most recent article for ESOMAR's Research World blog, "What is data and privacy really worth? Balancing data privacy and perceived value with the consumer’s willingness to share information." In the piece, our CMO, Paul Neto, covered two secondary studies - one on the monetary value that consumers attach to specific kinds of data, and the second on behaviors surrounding data privacy.

The first study he summarizes, called “How much is privacy worth around the world and across platforms,” looks at how consumers in six different countries value privacy across six data types based on how much compensation they would require to share that data. For example, individuals say they require much higher rewards to share financial information than they do to share their location. While amounts and sensitivity vary by country, this study gives a good baseline for data sensitivity and required compensation.

The second study. “The Economic Consequences of Data Privacy Regulation: Empirical Evidence from GDPR,” explores the impact of privacy regulations on consumer behavior. Paul writes: "While this analysis was particular to the online travel industry, an interesting finding in this second paper is that implementation of privacy protocols may actually drive more quality engagement, and in turn, greater potential profitability."

Paul then provided some findings from our own research at Measure regarding concerns about data privacy and its increased importance, citing two important statistics that came out of our study:

• 91% are “weary of how organizations and corporations are collecting their data” 
• 85% are “paying more attention to privacy risks today than compared to a year ago” 

So what will encourage consumers to share valuable data? Paul concludes the piece with: "Communicating with consumers and being transparent about topics like privacy protection and rewards and incentives are critical in market research’s evolution. If these studies are early indicators, it may indeed be a trajectory where greater privacy, data control and fair compensation is the foundation of participation and success."

View the complete ESOMAR article here: https://www.researchworld.com/what-is-data-and-privacy-really-worth-balancing-data-privacy-and-perceived-value-with-the-consumers-willingness-to-share-information/