Experts addressing the En-Gage Loyalty World Middle East 2012, which opened on Wednesday at The Address, Dubai Marina Mall and brought together over 150 leaders in the global loyalty market, predicted to be worth over $100 billion by 2015.
The survey findings that where shared during the conference revealed that banks were the most trusted users of private data and the UAE government is more trusted in the responsible use of this data than in the UK, are just some of the findings from an extensive survey by global loyalty leader Aimia.
The research measured people’s perception of how their personal data is used in the UAE compared to those living in the UK and shows over 73 per cent of regional respondents trusted their bank, which is by far the most trusted industry, while over 48 per cent of UAE residents trust the government (the second placed sector) with their private data, compared to only 38 per cent in the UK. Loyalty programmes are also recognised as a trusted partner, coming in third place out of the eight industries included in the survey, with over 27 per cent confident in their use of personal data.
Data privacy in the region is one of the hot topics at the Middle East’s two-day customer engagement conference.
“The results are extremely interesting, showing that – despite the recent financial crisis – it seems banks have established a high degree of trust in managing data responsibly. Our findings also show most consumers are not concerned about the amount of data companies hold and are willing to allow them to use it, particularly if they believe it will be used effectively. However, overall consumers do not currently feel rewarded for sharing data with many companies, but loyalty companies are better placed than most to change this,” Air Miles Middle East CEO, Mark Mortimer-Davies, said.
“Customers are becoming more aware of the way companies are using their data and they expect to be rewarded for providing this information. Loyalty programmes like Nectar and Air Miles are well placed to reward their customers and give them more relevant offers based on the data they have provided. We are very aware of the importance of keeping our customers data safe and secure and only use the information in the way we agreed. Data and privacy will continue to be hot topics for our industry and it is important we continue to get the balance right for all of our customers,” Jan Pieter-Lips, Managing Director Nectar UK and Aimia Middle East, said.
In addition, the survey found that over 52 per cent of UAE respondents are happy for organisations to use their information to personalise product and service offers. However, only 13 per cent would be keen to offer up more detailed information than they already have to.
And UAE residents would be happier buying and paying online from international brands (77%) than regional brands (67%) and 74 per cent would be keen to have information stored about their shopping habits used to send vouchers relating to frequently bought products or recommend other potentially interesting products.
Aimia, a global leader in loyalty management, owns 60 per cent of Air Miles Middle East (AMME), the region’s leading coalition loyalty programme, which has over 1.3 million members throughout the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain and its members can collect Air Miles at over 130 market-leading companies, including HSBC, Spinneys, Lamcy Plaza and Damas.