A Single Data Breach Can Rob You of 78% of Your Customers, Study Indicates

More than three-quarters of consumers would completely abandon a brand online if they heard the organization were breached by hackers, and around half would not sign up for a new online service that they heard was breached recently.

These are the findings from a Ping Identity study which reveals consumer sentiments and behavior in a post-breach era. More than 3,000 people were surveyed across the US, UK, France and Germany to find out what they expect from brands when it comes to the safekeeping of personal information, and how data breaches would change their perception of those brands.

“The survey reveals many consumers are making drastic changes to the ways they interact with companies and secure their own personal data following a breach,” according to the report.

Specifically:

• 78 percent would stop engaging with a brand online if the brand had experienced a breach; more than one third (36 percent) would stop engaging on any medium and in any way
• 49 percent would not sign up and use an online service or application that was recently in a headline next to the words “data breach”
• 47 percent made changes to the way they secure their own data as a result of recent breaches
• 54 percent are more concerned with protecting their personal information today than they were a year ago, indicating the extent to which consumers value security and rely on the brands they interact with today

Customers under 35 years of age have greater confidence in data protection practices and are more likely to spend more to ensure their personal information is protected. Customers aged 55 or more tend to guard their sensitive information more carefully and are less likely to have experienced financial loss as a result of a data breach.

Of the polled demographics, Americans are more carefree with their sensitive information than French, British and German consumers.

“While consumers clearly place a high value on security, the data also shows that there are limits to how much effort they are going to make or how much they are willing to pay for it,” shared Garrett Bekker, Principal Security Analyst at 451 Research.

“This suggests that the burden should fall on vendors and service providers to offer a secure online experience—and rightly so,” he said. “Consumers don’t go into a restaurant and expect to pay more to ensure they don’t get sick. And if consumers don’t feel secure, the data highlights the cost to vendors in terms of lost customers.”