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July 23, 2004

A majority of consumers are willing to provide demographic and preference information in order to get personalized content.

The ChoiceStream Personalization Survey found that more than 80% of consumers were interested in receiving personalized content. Their enthusiasm varied by age, however.

Younger respondents tended to be much more interested in personalization, with 87% of 18 to 24 year-olds expressing an interest in some type of personalized content.

Older consumers, ages 35 to 49, were less interested, only 76% of them indicated an interest. Even so, a strong majority of all age groups want personalized content, according to the Cambridge, MA-based online personalization services company.

In good news for marketers, consumers also exhibited a willingness to give something in order to get personalization. Exactly 63% of 18 to 34 year-olds said they would be willing to give data such as age and gender in exchange for an elment of personalization, and 49% of consumers 35 and older indicated that they too would be willing to provide demographic data.

Consumers were even more willing to provide information on preferences and interests, with 64% of them overall responding positively. Though, again, younger consumers were more willing than older consumers.

The most surprising finding of the survey was how much time consumers were willing to spend giving their information. Over one-half of respondents said they would spend two minutes, and 21% said they would spend up to six minutes answering questions about themselves in order to receive the personalized content they wanted to see.

On average, women were willing to spend more time filling out online forms than men.

Source: eMarketer.com