MEF survey finds trust still lacking in digital services

According to Barbara Langer, Founder and Director at Insight Angels, the overall trust index is still quite weak in both countries, at 55 per cent in the US and 50 per cent in the UK. Smartphone users who took part in the survey were particularly concerned about control of their own data, which affects the services and applications they use. A growing percentage of consumers are agreeing to share their data in return for services. In the US, the percentage has risen from 45 per cent to 54 per cent in three years, while in the UK it has increased from 48 per cent to 56 percent in the same period.

However, Michael Becker, Founder and CEO of Identity Praxis, commented that people are so used to getting free services that they don’t fully understand what they’re giving up in return, and what the implications are for them. “As we dig deeper into these concepts and ideas, I think we’re going to start seeing those numbers actually come down,” Becker said.

He added: “What this is really saying is half of the people believe they are not getting value. As a business, I would be very concerned with that. Because when they’re not getting value…they are deleting their data or not sharing information with you. They don’t trust you, in other words…This is a problem with the industry I absolutely think we need to address.”