Teens & Tech: Have your cake and eat it – the fine line between personalisation and privacy

Our recent research among teenagers and their attitudes towards technology and hospitality reveals how data collected by businesses is a source of some conflict for teenagers. On one hand, we have 58% of teens telling us they’re more likely to buy a product if it is tailored to them specifically, while on the other, only 33% are comfortable with brands keeping track of them by the things they buy.

Even fewer, 27%, are comfortable with data being gathered from their social media accounts. They seem to want brands and businesses to understand them but without their online habits being monitored via traditional data collection methods.

However, there are signs this could change. While only 14% of 16-17 year olds are comfortable with data being gathered via their phone being tracked, this percentage increased to 24% for 13-15 year olds. This is a possible indication of more tolerance in this area coming through.

Providing personalised customer experiences, which many teens want, along with tracking their online habits – which most are not comfortable with – will be a delicate balance for venues looking to make the most of this developing hospitality trend.

Our surveys and focus groups with more than 500 teenagers aged between 13 and 17 reveal more eyebrow-raising findings – download the full report to discover more!