New Study Shows Millennials Are Guarded With Their Personal Data

LexisNexis Risk Solutions on Wednesday (Oct. 19) released a report, dubbed “Millennial Study: Privacy vs. Customer Experience,” which charts the digital consumer preferences and behaviors of millennials in seven global markets — the U.S., U.K., Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico and Brazil — and found millennials are guarded about sharing their personal data.

According to a press release, LexisNexis said the survey of over 2,800 millennials across all of these markets uncovered a disparity between millennials’ trust in sharing their information and businesses’ need to gather critical data for better fraud prevention. The study upends some previously held assumptions about millennials, including its finding that, despite their digital connectivity, millennials are extremely guarded about sharing their personal information. A chasm exists between millennials’ desire for secure access on all connected devices and their discomfort and unwillingness with sharing data — a wake-up call that businesses need to find ways and solutions for that minimize the amount of data they collect.

“The general discomfort millennials are expressing with information sharing, beyond a couple of the most basic data points, shines a light on the need to educate this major and growing portion of the consumer population. Likewise, it begs the question of retailers and financial institutions: Are your business processes optimized for the millennial customer?” said Kimberly Little Sutherland, senior director of fraud management at LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

Across global markets, millennials exhibited similar tendencies in their use of payment methods and digital equipment, as well as their attitudes toward information and security measures. The study also identified U.S. millennials as foremost among the “power users” — those who not only have and use many digital devices but use them for a large variety of purposes.

“To mitigate risk and balance consumer expectations, companies looking to enhance the customer experience and improve friction will need to ask only for the data they need. Currently, many companies are asking for information required by their existing technology systems, but that is not actually needed in their workflow. For example, some companies in the U.S. ask for Social Security numbers when their businesses don’t actually require this information,” Sutherland noted in the press release.