Commentary

Consumers Would Sell Their Personal Information To Brands For $153

by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, June 13, 2018

Personal data is so valuable that many consumers stopped using an online service or retailer in the past year because they didn’t trust them with their data.

However, it also looks like an actual price can be put on some personal data.

A new survey of 3,000 internet users in the U.S., U.K. and Germany conducted by digital agency SYZYGY found that more than a third (35%) of those in the U.S. stopped using an online service or retailer because they didn’t trust them with their data. The U.K. was almost the same (36%) and Germany was at 25%.

Germans seem to value their personal data more than American or British citizens. Two out of three (67%) Germans would not sell their data at any price compared to 55% in the U.S. and 52% in the U.K.

For those in the U.S. who would sell their personal data already held online about them, they would sell it to their favorite brand for an average of $153. In the U.K., the going price would also be $153 and in Germany it would cost $165.

Many consumers sense that much of their personal data already is available. In the U.S., more than half (53%) of consumers believe that brands and retailers already know too much about them. Only 9% of those in the U.S. would be happy to share their personal data with their favorite brand for free.

In the Internet of Things, personal data is currency.

big data, brands, data, data-targeting, database marketing, international, iot, privacy, retail, uk

11 comments about "Consumers Would Sell Their Personal Information To Brands For $153".

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Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, June 13, 2018 at 10:16 p.m.
Somebody actually did this thinking it was “research” then reported results? The depth of naïveté amount so-called researchers is incredible. (There are many excellent researchers, just not on this team.)
- Consumer reports on money when they aren’t in the process of the exchange are incredibly unreliable.
- it is impossible to get accurate belief data on these issues because a true, random survey will be made up mostly of respondents who do not understand the question being asked.
sigh.
Reply

Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, June 14, 2018 at 9:38 a.m.

As background Doug, the researchers used nationally representative adult samples from the Google Surveys Publisher Network.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, June 14, 2018 at 10:25 a.m.

Chuck, it's not so much the sample's composition that is at question. Rather, it's the ability of the respondents to provide meaningful asnwers to the questions as posed. Even if the sample is truly representative of the population studied---not often the case---if you ask stupid questions you usually get stupid answers.

Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, June 14, 2018 at 11:33 a.m.

Totally agree, Ed, was just attempting to add context.

Gordon Borrell from Borrell Associates, June 14, 2018 at 3:10 p.m.

While I agree with the doubts expressed by Doug and Ed, I more greatly value Chuck's reporting in this research. It gets us thinking. Our manual labor is something of value. Our brainpower is something of value. And now, so is the data stored on our digital devices.

Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, June 14, 2018 at 3:17 p.m.

Thank you very much Gordon, and very good point.

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, June 14, 2018 at 7:58 p.m.

People sell themselves for less all the time.

R MARK REASBECK from www.USAonly.US , June 14, 2018 at 9:50 p.m.

do you know anyone who ever told the truth to a poll taker......me Neither!

IF THEY SELL THEIR DATA, WOULD THESE BE PROSTI-TECHS ????

The Smart phone has become Device-ive.

Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, June 15, 2018 at 9:50 a.m.

There may be something to that, Mark, but it was an online survey of 3,000 people, 1,000 in each of three different countries.

Dan Kidd from Datawallet, June 15, 2018 at 1:59 p.m.

Today most consumers do not view their data as property but this is rapidly changing. As this change occurs, consumers will have the ability to monetize their data to the Brands that they choose.

Datawallet is leading this change with a Personal Data Management Platform for consumers to control the usage of and monetize their the value of their data, their property. A consumer's data is worth thousands of dollars and the revolution has begun.

Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, June 15, 2018 at 2:07 p.m.

Agree that conusmers ultimately determine that their personal data has a true value, Dan, though this is likely to take some time, for numerous reasons.