BARCELONA, Spain -- Syniverse, a transaction processing company, said the majority of mobile users in Germany, France and the UK do not trust operators and brands to keep their personal data safe.
The company quizzed 1,000 users in each market in January as part of a broader global study. It found that German users are the most cautious among the three European markets included in the research, with 81 per cent of respondents saying they don't trust brands to keep their data secure and 75 per cent expressing the same lack of faith in their mobile operator.
In France, the figures were 80 per cent and 73 per cent respectively, and 71 per cent and 66 per cent respectively in the UK.
Syniverse CMO Mary Clark told FierceWireless:Europe the results have serious implications for how mobile marketing campaigns are conducted.
"If 'mobile first' is your marketing strategy, how do you overcome that lack of users' trust?" she asked, adding that the global survey of 8,000 mobile users revealed that 23 per cent of mobile users refuse to disclose any personal data at all to brands and operators.
The survey also found that mobile users' trust in brands and mobile operators' ability to safeguard their data has fallen over the past three years.
In Germany, faith in brands fell 54 per cent over that period and trust in operators by 46 per cent. French users registered bigger declines of 70 per cent and 60 per cent respectively, while in the UK the figures are 50 per cent and 43 per cent.
Syniverse also quizzed mobile users in the U.S., Brazil, India, China and South Korea as part of its research. Overall, it found that 75 per cent of mobile users don't trust brands to protect their data, and 71 per cent doubted operators' ability.
Clark said successful mobile marketing campaigns must clearly define the journey towards reaching consumers, how to leverage information that is provided, and what benefits the campaign aims to deliver to consumers.
However, Clark said the survey was not all bad news. "There is some trust out there," she explained, adding that only around 15 per cent of consumers in the global survey said the responsibility for protecting their data lies at the door of regulators.
The majority (55 per cent) said brands should be responsible, with 30 per cent laying the liability at the door of mobile operators. "That infers a lot of personal responsibility for the information users share," Clark said, pointing out that some of the markets where Syniverse conducted its study are famed for being litigious.
For more:
- see this Syniverse release
- download the company's report (registration required)
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