Consumers ranked the marketing strategies and missteps that most significantly impact brand trust, which 73% say is their biggest motivator to share first-party data, according to The Rules of the Marketing Game, a 2023 report from Pantheon.
As marketers rapidly approach a cookieless digital world, the findings demonstrate that the ability to create frictionless digital experiences that build, cultivate, and protect customer trust is a competitive advantage.
Consumers said a brand's website is its most important digital touchpoint, with user-friendliness (87%) and speed (81%) as top expectations.
Ability to contact a brand through preferred methods (66%) and a modern website and/or mobile app interface (64%) also are important to consumers.
The study also uncovered the lengths to which savvy consumers will go to avoid sharing personal information with brands that haven't earned their trust. Nearly half (48%) say they use guest checkout in online transactions to avoid providing data, and 42% won't create a user profile. Personalization also proves polarizing for consumers; 48% of those who prefer generic communication say it's because they don't want to be tracked. For marketers targeting Gen Z, the dynamics are even more difficult. Only 35% of these consumers are willing to share their data with brands.
Consumer reluctance to share personal information is not the only barrier marketers face. Negative digital interactions, experienced by 90% of respondents, also erode trust. In fact, more than half of respondents (51%) stopped engaging with a brand altogether following a negative interaction. The top complaints were being spammed with emails (52%), unhelpful customer service (44%), issues with a brand's website (41%), difficulty canceling a subscription (37%), and inability to interact through their preferred communication method (32%). However, on the bright-side, even after negative brand experiences, 81% say they're willing to grant second chances.
Methodology: The survey, conducted by Pantheon and Hanover Research, asked more than 1,000 US and UK consumers to share what they expect from their digital experiences.