Consumers Want Personalization -- and Privacy

• Tweet
• Buffer

Personalization remains something most consumers want, though their privacy fears continue to escalate.

According to the second annual personalization study conducted by personalization vendor Choicestream, 80 percent of consumers in the 2005 survey were interested in receiving personalized content. In 2004, 81 percent said they were interested in it.

To get personalized content, 60 percent of respondents indicated they'd be willing to spend a minimum of two minutes answering questions, up from 56 percent in 2004. Over a quarter (26 percent) reported they would be willing to spend at least 6 minutes answering questions, up from 21 percent last year. Only 12 percent said they wouldn't be willing to spend any time answering personalization question, down from 14 percent in 2004.

Types of content personalization respondents seek vary with age. Nearly half (47 percent) of 18 to 24 years olds are more interested in personalized content about music. TV and movie content is of interest to 27 percent, while 24 percent say they'd be interested in receiving personalized content about books.

Among the over-50 set, news was the top category at 28 percent, followed by Web search (26 percent) and books (22 percent).

Across all age groups the study finds retailers are leaving "dollars on the table" because they areno't delivering the personalized content users want and/or need. In particular the study notes 37 percent of respondents of all ages reported they would have bought more DVDs/videos if they had found more of what they liked. A third (34 percent) reported a similar incongruity with music.

Despite the fact users want more personalization and would buy more if they could get more personalized content, they're not willing to share as much personal information as they once were. Respondents indicated decreasing willingness to share preference (59 percent in 2005/65 percent in 2004) and demographic information (46 percent in 2005/57 percent in 2004) to receive personalized content.

Click on graphic to view chart

Click on graphic to view chart

The online survery was conducted in May, 2005. It includes 923 respondents initially contacted via email by online survey provider Zoomerang.