At Pressroom, we are committed to helping brands make the most of their digital strategies. With one of the largest trends of the moment being openness and engagement with customers, a timely piece of research has suggested that honesty really is the best policy.

An extensive new study by Intent HQ into data gathering and advertising personalisation has shown that  people will respect firms that are upfront, rather than those sneaking around the back to get their hands on customer information.

According to the poll, 79% of people respect firms seeking data via a social login over those using cookies to capture the same information.

The findings also had some eyebrow-raising news for marketers lauding the rise of personal ads. According to the research, a mammoth 86% said they do not like it when ads are targeted at them from their browsing history stored in firm’s cookie data.

Opinions on how irksome such ads were varied, but many said that they were irritating and invasive.

Far more acceptable to the 2,000 users surveyed was an exchange of data. Fifty-nine percent were happy to provide basic login details for a special offer, for example, with 71% not bothered about handing over their name and email address.

Discussing the findings, the boss of Intent HQ, Jonathan Lakin, said:

“…advertisers and publishers are now increasingly using permission-based social logins to collect this [user] information. By combining this with online behavioural data and then applying sophisticated new methods involving artificial intelligence to target ads and content more accurately, they are enjoying a dramatic rise in conversion rates.”

However, the research found that online privacy is still a major concern, with 84% of survey respondents admitting as such. However, nearly half of these (47%) reported that their concerns did not prevent them from giving their personal details out, if they were in need of information.

Richard Bell

Richard has a First in English Literature and Creative Writing, and has experience writing fiction and short stories (which he has published both online and in magazines).