Consumer attitudes towards disclosing personal data for direct marketing

Abstract

The self-disclosure of individual-level consumer data, such as interests, opinions, beliefs, competitor spending habits and future purchase intentions, for direct marketing purposes is voluntary in nature. This raises the prospect that such information may be to some extent incomplete and unreliable. But the completeness and reliability of voluntarily disclosed personal data for direct marketing purposes have received little attention in the literature. Using 157 personal interviews, this study quantifies typical levels of personal information omission and falsification in voluntary disclosures. The types of personal data that consumers tend to omit and falsify are identified, and an understanding of the underlying reasons is provided with a consideration of the implications for direct marketing practice.