The Coming Battle for Customer Information

Companies have good reason to collect information about customers. It enables them to target their most valuable prospects more effectively, tailor their offerings to individual needs, improve customer satisfaction and retention, and identify opportunities for new products or services. But even as more and more managers begin to build strategies based on capturing information about their customers, a major change is under way that may undermine their efforts. We believe that consumers are going to take ownership of information about themselves and demand value in exchange for it. As a result, negotiating with consumers for information will become costly and complex. That process has already begun to unfold, but it could take several years to play out across broad segments of customers and products.