Study Reveals Opportunity for Brands to Improve Consumer Data Privacy Education and Communications; Data Collection Remains at the Core of Consumer Trust

75% of brands report greater difficulty building and maintaining trust with their customers post-pandemic, although online shopping is up 63%

Jebbit, the provider of the world’s leading Zero-Party data platform, announced the release of their annual Consumer Data Trust Index (CDTI), a report surveying consumer trust in 100 of the world’s leading traditional, small, and D2C companies. The survey methodology asks adult consumers in the United States to rate, on a scale of one to 10, their level of trust in brands to use their personal data in exchange for more relevant offers, goods and services, and elicits feedback on how much control consumers want over their data and how it is utilized. The recurring study, first published in 2018, indicates consumers’ distrust in major brands continues to increase as many businesses that once held top spots on the consumer trust index have made major shifts down the ranks.

“As Google, Apple and federal legislative policies continue to shine a spotlight on data privacy issues, the stakes for consumer trust have never been higher for brands, and trust starts with consumer education and transparency”

In 2021, data privacy took center stage with the passage of the Data Protection Act of 2021, Google and Apple’s hallmark operating systems privacy changes, and Google’s announcement of their plans to phase-out the use of third-party cookies. This year’s report revealed 71% of consumers surveyed support federal data privacy legislation, yet 30% were unaware that Apple and Google made data privacy changes at all, indicating there’s a huge opportunity for brands to better educate consumers. In fact, 49% of consumers polled stated that data transparency communications, cookie consent banners, and privacy emails make them trust a brand more. The report supports the rise of first-party data and trends like quiz commerce, which has become the leading strategy for brands across the globe to exchange privacy-safe data in a way that builds, rather than erodes, consumer trust.

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CDTI Highlights Include:

• This CDTI edition’s rankings reflect the largest shifts in brand trust rankings to date – Google fell from #4 most trusted brand to #89, Apple fell from #17 to #43, and Netflix went from #8 to #43, indicating there’s room for brands to improve the education (and communication tactics) that they provide to their users regarding data privacy changes.
• Brands must be thoughtful and strategic with the data points they seek to capture as 30% of consumers said ‘asking for too much information,’ again ranked as the #1 factor that results in brand mistrust.
• Pandemic trends are here to stay with 63% of consumers surveyed saying their online shopping usage has increased since the start of the pandemic, and 40% say they’re seeing more irrelevant online ads than ever before – 46% agreed that irrelevant online ads from a business based on past purchase data decreased trust in that brand.
• D2C brand Bonobos jumped to #9 from #90, indicating that legacy brand awareness doesn’t guarantee a high trust index ranking – 43% trust brands in both D2C and traditional brand categories the same.

“As Google, Apple and federal legislative policies continue to shine a spotlight on data privacy issues, the stakes for consumer trust have never been higher for brands, and trust starts with consumer education and transparency,” said Tom Coburn, CEO and co-founder of Jebbit. “Brands stand to gain a better chance of gaining consumer trust by proactively communicating how they collect and use their data, and demonstrating they are using the information in a way that delivers value back to the customer. Jebbit is the dominant platform to exchange this data, personalizing all stages of the customer journey from engagement, education, and conversion and consistently beating benchmarks for onsite conversion rates, email open rates and overall engagement rates by providing a better and more personalized consumer experience.”

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