Ask a researcher: Here’s what people really think about online privacy

My family still don't really understand what I do at Google, even though I've been here for 12 years doing pretty much the same job.

The best explanation I have for them is to say that I ask people about how they use the internet.

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Ask a researcher

[ON SCREEN TEXT] How do people think about their online privacy?

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Jonny Protheroe, Head of Privacy Insights for Europe, Google

Privacy is a really complex space where there's all sorts of nuanced behaviours and attitudes and sometimes these things are contradictory.

We conducted research in partnership with Ipsos, which involved talking to more than 7000 people across five countries in Europe.

What we found was that they not only want their data to be safe and secure, but they want companies to use their data in pretty sophisticated ways in order to give them some kind of extra value or reward.

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Research insight:

[ON SCREEN TEXT] It’s all about providing value

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Make your marketing meaningful

When companies ask people to share information about themselves, people are willing to share their data when there's some meaningful value in doing so.

Some of the things we heard from people that constituted value were offering something of monetary value, doing something that would save them time, showing up in the right moments and not in the wrong moments, and also providing information that could be educational or even entertaining.

Some of our participants highlighted instances where brands were able to use information about them to give them really relevant and timely messages.

And a good example of that is somebody who'd shared information with an airline about their family size, their available budget and their destination, and they then received messages that were actually tailored according to that information and they really appreciated that the company had used their information in such a sophisticated way to make the messages relevant.

Someone gave the example of a clothing retailer who used information about their waist size and height to provide them with suggestions of clothing that they wouldn't have otherwise looked at.

And we also found one of our respondents had bought a piece of art from an art dealer and subsequently received emails from them that taught them about the art world.

And they found that those subsequent emails were continuing to add value to them long after the original interaction and transaction.

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Research insight:

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Customers want control

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Make the experience manageable

People want to feel in control of their data like they want to feel in control of any other parts of their lives.

The way that brands can put customers in control is partly by making their relationship with their data manageable, and that starts off by making sure they're collecting the right user preferences at the point of sign up, enabling people to easily change those preferences and also just to step away and opt out any time that they like.

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Research insight:

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Memory is crucial

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Make the experience memorable

We all share data with dozens, if not hundreds, possibly even thousands of companies, and that can be a very difficult thing for us all to keep track of.

People didn't think it was enough to have consented to share their data with some company in the past.

They really wanted to remember having done so in order for it to count.

Brands could perhaps more often contact customers to remind them what data they shared, why they shared it, when they shared it, what it's being used for.

By reminding people about what they shared and why it makes that person feel better about the relationship and more trusting in the brand and its ethics.

[ON SCREEN TEXT] What does this mean for marketers?

Privacy is a really complex space where there's all sorts of nuanced behaviours and attitudes, and sometimes these things are contradictory.

But what we found clearly was that if marketers can make experiences for their customers meaningful, manageable and memorable, that that all adds up to giving customers a feeling of control.

Our research shows that when people felt in control, they felt that ads from a brand were twice as relevant and they felt three times as emotionally positive about them. What this suggests is that privacy and performance don't need to be at odds with each other.

[ON SCREEN TEXT] Think with Google