Janrain's Value Exchange Survey: Lack of Trust Is

PORTLAND, OR --(Marketwired - February 14, 2017) - Janrain®, the company that created the Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) category, today announced the results of a new survey conducted to determine on what terms United States (U.S.) consumers will share their personal data with brands.

The survey found that brand trust is the biggest requirement or prerequisite for persuading users to share their data, and more effective than special offers or discounts. For 86% of those surveyed, the best way to create and maintain that trust is to provide "positive" customer experiences. Aside from knowing they will be treated well, consumers also found compelling loyalty programs (74%), philanthropic activities (63%) and robust online communities (50%) to be effective mechanisms for instilling confidence in brands.

"With access to personal data, brands can create a virtuous cycle that results in significantly greater customer loyalty," said Jamie Beckland, Vice President of Product at Janrain. "The knowledge that comes with this information can be used to improve user experiences and drive deeper engagement, which in turn helps companies build out more complete customer identities. Identity management is key to improving the customer experience; and the enhanced understanding of the customer leads to increased consumer trust, a win-win proposition for both customer and brand. But, without access to personal data, brands can't deliver on customer expectations."

Retaining Loyalty Is Just as Hard as Earning It

Missteps can hamper brands' ability to preserve their customers' comfort level with them. Honesty, transparency and authenticity are very critical in developing a good rapport with consumers -- false advertising was cited as a significant destroyer of trust by 87% of respondents. Data security is also paramount to consumers, with three quarters citing breaches as having a significantly detrimental effect on brand trust. Investigations of wrongdoing (74%) and product recalls (63%) also greatly erode trust in the customer's eyes.

Once that trust has been earned, marketers should be aware of rules of engagement for obtaining and using customer information. If customers don't know up front which data brands intend to collect and how they plan to use and share that data, they will not share personal information. According to the survey:

• 78% of consumers are likely to share personal info when they retain control over how a brand communicates with them (e.g., text, email, etc.)
• 71% are comfortable sharing info when the brand promises not to share the data with third parties
• 62% feel more comfortable sharing data when the brand promises not to contact friends in their network

How to Get Customers to Register

Aside from assurances of control over how personal data is shared, brands need to embrace the "give-to-get" concept when it comes to getting customers to engage with them more deeply. Discounts are the most popular incentive to get people to register with a site (62%), while loyalty points (47%) also proved to be attractive to prospective registrants. Information and community engagement can also motivate a smaller segment of people to share their data. Twenty-eight percent will register to sign up for a newsletter, while others will exchange data in order to post a rating or review (36%), adjust preferences (27%) or comment on an article (23%).

Offer a free product and consumers will be willing to do plenty for a brand, including:

• Visit a brand's website (76%)
• Watch a video (67%)
• Like a brand's page (47%)
• Share/mention a brand's post/page (24%)
• Check into a location via a social media website (23%)
• Refer friends (22%)

Perhaps not surprisingly, 18- to 29-year-olds are much more likely to interact in social media communities on behalf of a brand -- 39% would watch a video, 37% would consider "liking" a brand's social media page and 23% would share or mention a brand's post or page.

For Janrain's full report and infographic on this topic, click here .

Join Janrain's brand trust experts in an upcoming webinar to learn more about how to increase customer engagement and loyalty. For more details, click here .

For an accompanying blog post on Janrain's Value Exchange survey, click here .

About Janrain Founded in 2002, Janrain pioneered Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM). Janrain's CIAM solution provides management, security and activation solutions that enable seamless and safe customer experiences across their digitally connected world, while providing enterprise organizations with deep customer insights. Janrain's identity capabilities include social and traditional login and registration, single sign-on, customer profile data storage and management, customer segments, customer insights and engagement solutions. The company powers brands like Pfizer, Samsung, Whole Foods, Fox News, Philips, Marvel and Dr Pepper. Janrain is based in Portland, Oregon, with offices in London, Paris and the Silicon Valley in California. For more information, please visit www.janrain.com and follow @janrain.