DataStax Survey Identifies The ‘Me’ Culture: Finds Most Adults Around the World Are Willing to Trade Money or Personal Data for a Better Customer Experience

• Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) international adults (from the US, UK, Germany, and France) will spend more money to reduce their wait times for services they care about.
• More than half (53%) of adults in the United States are more willing to share their personal data with a company that personalizes its services/products based on that data.
• More than half of international adults (56%) are more likely to choose digital resources over their significant other for recommendations on products and services.

DataStax, powering the Right-Now Enterprise with the always-on, distributed cloud database built on Apache Cassandra™, announced today the results of a global study analyzing international adults’ patience and willingness to wait for goods, services, and personalized experiences. The survey, which was conducted online by The Harris Poll, polled adults in the US, UK, France, and Germany, and found that, overall, people will spend more money to reduce wait times and that real-time personalization and recommendations are important.

“This is especially true for large enterprises who must effectively scale this right-now, highly relevant customer experience in order to differentiate from competitors. Consumers now expect enterprises to be as flexible and agile as start-ups, respond in real-time, and know them better than ever before.”

“It’s now essential for all brands—especially large enterprises—to serve up a truly personalized experience in real time, and provide data-driven insights for a seamless customer experience—or risk facing customer churn,” said Billy Bosworth, Chairman and CEO, DataStax. “Today’s ‘Me’ Culture demands that services and experience must be relevant, always available, instantly responsive, and accessible wherever and however they want it.”

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The survey findings include:

International adults are willing to spend more money for instant gratification:

• Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) international adults are willing to spend extra to reduce their wait times for services they care about.
• Those willing to pay more will shell out, on average, 21% extra to reduce their wait.
• US adults are by far the most willing to pay a premium: on average 29% more than the asking price. They are followed by the UK at 23%, France at 18%, and Germany, the least willing to fork over additional money, at 15%.
• In the United States, millennials (age 18-34) who are willing to pay more, on average, will pay 40% over the regular price.

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US adults will share more data for real-time, personalized responses:

• More than half (53%) of adults in the United States are more willing to share their personal data with a company that personalizes its services/products based on that data. Adults in the UK, Germany, and France are a bit more cautious:
  • UK (43%)
  • Germany (39%)
  • France (36%)
• But, personalization is still important in several scenarios in the United States, the UK, Germany, and France, with more than half of international adults saying that personalization was somewhat or very important to their experience across almost every scenario provided—from the doctor’s office (78%), to banking (66%), to grocery shopping (58%), to airline travel (52%) among others.
• In particular, American adults are more likely to find personalization important when it comes to car service transportation (58% vs. 43% in the UK, 42% in Germany, and 45% in France) and online d***** site experiences (54% vs. 42% each in the UK and France, and 24% in Germany).

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For recommendations, most adults prefer digital resources to their significant others

• More international adults (56%) prefer to consult digital resources than prefer to consult their significant other (SO) for recommendations for products and services.
  – In the United States, 64% of adults choose digital resources over their SO
  – In the UK, 61% of adults choose digital resources over their SO
  – In Germany, 52% of adults choose digital resources vs their SO
  – In France, 55% of adults choose their SO over digital resources
• US adults are about twice as likely to cite social media as one of the best sources for recommendations (32%) compared with adults in France (14%) and Germany (17%).

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“Brands of all sizes across all markets must adapt to meet the needs of today’s ‘Me’ Culture with their customer experience, products, and solutions,” continued Bosworth. “This is especially true for large enterprises who must effectively scale this right-now, highly relevant customer experience in order to differentiate from competitors. Consumers now expect enterprises to be as flexible and agile as start-ups, respond in real-time, and know them better than ever before.”

If your enterprise wants to deliver personalized experiences that fit the ‘Me’ Culture of your customers, be sure to consider DataStax Enterprise as central to your data solution. You can see what Macy’s, Walmart, Penn Mutual and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) are doing with DataStax and find more information on DataStax Enterprise (DSE) customers here, or listen to this podcast to hear how the largest global brands deploy DSE.

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