Discounts, offers, and all those points that mean prizes – the business of trading our personal data is nothing new. In fact, we’ve become so accustomed to exchanging details of our histories, behaviours, preferences and habits, it’s only recently that we stop to question why we are trading in the dark, and if what we’re given in exchange for our data, is even a fair deal. How did we get here?
The culture of rewards has ingrained itself into the consumer lifestyle, charting its own success from our experience of individual brand loyalty programmes through to more contemporary applications such as mobile coupons.
It’s a familiar and trusted process about fair exchange, but at the moment there is no fair exchange when it comes to our digital identity. We strike deals by pressing the “yes I’ve read the T&Cs” button, but it’s actually a one-sided deal. The terms that we sign up to are invariably skewed in the provider’s favour, and at their discretion can be changed at any point in the future.
Advertisers and businesses need to ensure they are being fair in their use of customer data but at the same time, they want to encourage users to share even more data. So how do businesses, advertisers, and consumers know what constitutes a good reward?
A whitepaper from Deloitte that future-gazes into a world of open data raises an interesting point around how businesses, whilst asking for more data from its customers, will then be able to give more back and become more transparent. They argue that customers are likely to engage with businesses that are more open with their data, however I would argue that transparency should be a given, or condition of the trade, and not the reward itself.
Recent research from Microsoft and IPG Mediabrands suggests that greater transparency has a positive influence on our willingness to trade our personal data: 46% of consumers are willing to share data for more relevant advertising, while 48% believe their digital identity has a value, and as many as 59% are willing to share their data in exchange for a reward.
However, as the trading of our digital identities already occurs, often without our knowledge, we are left in shadowy territory – which becomes a breeding ground for mistrust and scepticism.
What we can be sure of is that as data becomes both more granular and contextualised, the value increases for advertisers, and by extension, the consumers who contribute it. These conditions force the need to define ownership and boundaries for use of our digital identities.
It’s reassuring to know that this time isn’t far away – the government is already making moves to make data more open, whilst setting out guidance for businesses on how to keep consumers’ data safe, and hold themselves accountable as data controllers, to what is fair and transparent.
Businesses now need to move forward and give consumers the opportunity to openly participate in a fully visible and rewarding data exchange, or, if they prefer, ensure their data is excluded and is not used by any businesses.
We know that if consumers believe that they will receive something in return for sharing their data they are more likely to make it available. Rewards could be in the form of an understanding of how their data will be used, and when it is, to be notified. Or it may be that they only receive targeted advertising that is useful and beneficial to them. There could be a financial or voucher driven incentive – when data is used, then the individual who owns it reaps the rewards to spend as they wish. Ultimately however, the real reward is greater transparency.
Every individual citizen has the right to govern the use of their own data, and we envisage a move into a world where consumers commercially benefit from personal data ownership and its selective ‘leasing’ to others. As we move out of the shadows of dark data dealing and towards a culture that supports greater openness and transparency, we look forward to a time when consumers themselves (individually and collectively) will dictate the value and terms of trade for use of their personal data and digital identity.
By St John Deakins, Founder of citizenme.
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