23 June 2022: Australian consumers remain wary of online surveillance in their digital interactions with brands – their demands for greater transparency, and control over use of their personal information, and what is being personalised to them online, is greater than ever.
The 2022 edition of the Deloitte Australian Privacy Index finds that providing transparency, assurance and control can go some way to alleviating consumers’ concerns.
Key results from Deloitte’s eighth annual assessment of consumer views on privacy, and the privacy practices of leading Australian consumer brands, include:
"Consumers have gone about surviving the last two years defined by COVID, but they’ve shared more personal data than ever before – with governments and businesses – in exchange for various freedoms and access to products and services."
“Working, learning, buying and even entertaining from home and online has significantly shifted the dial in positive and perhaps not-so-positive ways – from consumers benefiting from greater personalisation in their digital experiences, to genuine concerns about how their data is used."
“What is clear is that a disconnect remains between consumer expectations and how brands collect and use personal data. As a result, there needs to be a better balance between consumers finding personalisation helpful and what could be considered over-reaching."
“Many can see value in profiling and personalisation delivered by tracking and advertising technologies, but it’s also not for everyone. Generally, people under 35 see more value in tailored advertising and services compared to those over 35. As we looked through older age brackets, we found that increasingly more consumers perceive personalised experiences as crossing what we call a ‘creepy line’ that hinders the customer experience and, by extension, a brand’s ability to build trust and engage with them."
“Brands certainly need to take their customers on a transparency journey throughout the customer experience, rather than relying on legal documents like their privacy policy, to builds trust before things get ‘creepy’ and, ultimately, counter-productive and even damaging.”