Luxury Institute and DataLucent Launch the Data Trust Index

NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Luxury Institute, the world's most trusted luxury research, consulting, training and personal data innovation firm, and DataLucent, the world's first and only patented personal data exchange, jointly announced the launch of the Data Trust Index (DTI). The Data Trust Index is an innovative new metric where consumers answer the one most critical question to your brand's future in the Digital Age. The DTI measures the level of trust that consumers have in licensing their digital platform data (Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) and other personal data, to mass, premium and luxury brands, in exchange for rewards and benefits of value to them. As consumers, especially younger cohorts, continue to go hyper-digital, they are generating far more data than ever before. Consumers are very privacy conscious and are becoming aware of the fact that they own and can control their data. Consumers are increasingly aware that their data is extremely valuable and critical to the long-term success of consumer brands.

Although some brands continue to believe they can continue to access questionable third-party and second-party data in the future, federal privacy legislation, Apple/Google limits on tracking, and deep consumer sentiment are requiring companies to recalculate their data access equation. The only legitimate, legal, accurate, verifiable source of consumer data going forward will be directly from the consumer. Brands, therefore, must build direct, loyal first-party data relationships with their customers for legal access to the most predictive data. Trust that inspires consumer consent and licensing of the most descriptive and predictive behavioral data imparts an incomparable competitive advantage for a brand. This relational change in data access is a profound paradigm shift from the past two decades.

The official launch of the Data Trust Index (DTI) metric follows quantitative surveys conducted in 2021 with two major universities (one in Europe and one in the U.S.) as well as a qualitative study conducted with global brand executives, all on personal data attitudes and behaviors. The current U.S. survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,008 consumers ages 18-49, with a minimum income of $75k (total sample average income of $200k), with 54% male and 48% female participation. Responders reported that YouTube (82%), Google (79%), Facebook (78%), Amazon (76%) and Instagram (75%) were the digital platforms used on a regular basis.

On the most critical core question of the survey: 83% of all responders, including 89% males and 78% of females, are willing to license their digital platform data, under their control, to brands they trust to use and serve their needs, and the needs of other consumers, in a personalized way. As expected, consumers ages 18-29 (84%) and those 30-39 (85%) responded at higher rates than those 40-49 (81%), although all age groups were strong. Interestingly, wealthier consumers with a household income of $150k and above (88%) responded at higher affirmative trust rates than those with household incomes at $100-150k (82%) and those at $75k-100K (80%). This indicates that consumers of all genders, ages from 18-49, and incomes above $75k are all extremely willing to license their data to brands they trust for fair value rewards and benefits

The survey also asked consumers to rate 155 top-tier brands, by categories, and indicate which brands they would trust most to license their data for rewards and benefits of value to them. They were able to select all brands they trust from a list of the top brands in each category, including airlines, automotive, consumer retailers, fashion brands, financial services brands, insurance companies, hotels and resorts, jewelry and watches, and technology/electronics brands. All consumer categories will be rated periodically, or on a custom basis.

Over the next few weeks, the DTI will publish the top brands in each category, as rated by consumers, yet will not publish their exact DTI scores, or the scores of the other brands rated. This is to maintain the confidential, constructive intent with which the survey was designed to inspire brands to earn more customer trust. Brands can purchase their data, and a benchmark vs. category competitors, as well as their data trust opportunity gap.  The opportunity gap is a measure of their DTI score vs the 83% of consumers who are willing to license their data. For an additional fee, the DTI team will run a custom survey with each brand's customer base, by segment, to determine each brand's customer DTI opportunity gaps. Consumers will be asked to share the reasons why they rated the brand as they did. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

"A customer's willingness to share deep information about themselves is fundamentally about their level of affinity with a brand," said Brad Davis, CEO of DataLucent. "I call this a brand's 'Loyalty Quotient'. DTI is about understanding where brand loyalty and affiliation are highest, and applying a measurable, relative quotient to the resulting trust a consumer has for the brand. The higher the DTI, the more prospective the brand's ability to connect with consumers in a first-party, data-based relationship."

"In 2021, first-party customer data access is the lifeblood of all mass, premium or luxury brands. It defines the customer relationship, perhaps more than transactions or recommendations," said Milton Pedraza, Chairman of DataLucent, and CEO of the Luxury Institute. "Over the last two decades, the NPS, (Net Promoter Score), a measure of willingness to recommend, was the benchmark for future business success. That elegant metric is still highly relevant. In the Digital Age, however, the ability of a brand to navigate an uncertain, treacherous competitive landscape depends on critical access to the most predictive consumer data, directly from the customer. Each brand's ability to earn trust from customers and prospects, as reflected in the DTI, is critical to achieving high performance."

About Luxury Institute     
Luxury Institute is the world's most trusted research, training, and elite business solutions partner for luxury and premium goods and services brands. With the largest global network of luxury executives and experts, Luxury Institute has the ability to provide its clients with high-performance, leading-edge solutions developed by the best, most successful minds in the industry. Over the last 18 years, Luxury Institute has served over 1,100 luxury and premium goods and services brands. Luxury Institute has conducted more quantitative and qualitative research with affluent, wealthy and uber-wealthy consumers than any other entity. This knowledge has led to the development of its scientifically proven high-performance, emotional intelligence-based education system, Luxcelerate, that dramatically improves brand culture and financial performance. Luxury Institute has also innovated the Advanced Personalization Xchange (APX), powered by DataLucent, to empower affluent consumers to license their digital platform data to premium and luxury brands they trust legally, securely and privately in exchange for fair value rewards and benefits.

To learn more about Luxury Institute, please contact us at LuxuryInstitute.com

About DataLucent 
DataLucent empowers consumers to access and share comprehensive, historical social media data with brands in return for rewards, benefits and personalization via a legal, ethical, secure, transparent and privacy-compliant process. DataLucent's patent-pending platform navigates consumers through the process of requesting, downloading and transferring personal data from Facebook, Twitter, Google and other consumer platforms, then provides real incentives for individuals to share data with companies they love and trust. DataLucent transforms and integrates data on behalf of consumers across networks to provide unparalleled customer and consumer insights to brands.

To learn more about DataLucent, please visit DataLucent.com

CONTACT: Milton Pedraza, [email protected]

SOURCE Luxury Institute