• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 6, 2004

Trust Is A Must In Business To Consumer Relationship

A survey of U.S. consumers and businesses on privacy, trust and access to personal data, released recently by Accenture, shows that fear of inadequate protection of personal data has compelled half of consumers to reject or cancel doing business with a company. In addition, the survey revealed a wide chasm between business and consumers on these topics. Among the survey's other key findings:

- Businesses and consumers have differing ideas about what engenders, and what undermines, trust.

- Consumers' actions regarding personal data are not always consistent with their stated beliefs about data privacy issues.

- Consumers overestimate the amount of personal information that companies are permitted to collect about them, while businesses acknowledge collecting some consumer data to which they believe they are not entitled.

- 74 percent of businesses blame online security fears for compromising consumer trust, while 67 percent of consumers cited aggressive marketing as the factor that undermines their trust in business.

- 43 percent of business respondents most frequently cite positive customer service as most instrumental in positively influencing trust, while 62 percent of consumers said that trust most frequently results from either company's reputation or length of the relationship.

- While the majority of businesses underestimate the importance of their privacy policies, deeming them unlikely to influence consumer perception, 51 percent of the consumers surveyed said they avoid dealing with companies whose privacy policies make them uncomfortable.

- Although 63 percent of consumers said they worry that sharing personal information would result in unsolicited e-mail and phone queries (spam), 69 percent of consumers said they are willing to readily surrender personal information in exchange for rewards such as cash, convenience and bonus points.

"Companies need to address these very legitimate concerns, as the issue of privacy and trust will continue to grow in importance, particularly with the emergence of radio frequency identification (RFID) and other technologies, which have raised concerns among some who think the technologies can be used to eavesdrop on consumers," said Glover T. Ferguson, chief scientist, Accenture.

You can find out more here.