Cash advance apps may be useful, but consumers can be misled by complex fee structures and ads touting “no interest” loans. Experienced users may be even more susceptible, and making upfront costs more salient doesn’t fully mitigate the impact of ads. Regulation may be needed to restrict lenders’ misleading advertising.
Analyzes how ads touting “no interest” drive adoption and use of cash advance apps, potentially misleading even experienced consumers.
Research in this Marketing Science Institute (MSI) working paper shows that privacy regulations can increase consumer willingness to share data. Using behavioral data from a popular U.S. shopping app and complementary evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the research finds that regulations in California and Virginia boosted both the volume and diversity of data sharing—especially among consumers who were initially more reluctant.
Member Only AccessGenAI images crowd out others in creative goods markets, increasing overall quality and variety for consumers but harming creators by reducing the value of original content used to train models. Copyright protections ensuring “fair use” not only compensate non-GenAI producers but can also mitigate crowd-out by increasing GenAI production costs.
Uses difference-in-differences (DiD) analyses to model the impact on the type, amount, variety, quality and sales of images on an online platform prior to and after allowing generative AI images noted as such.
Companies can offer tangible rewards for purchase and other personal data—but what really motivates consumers to share? Aligning with data privacy regulations that require transparency and allow opt out may be even more effective, creating trust, engagement and sharing by reassuring consumers that their data will be used appropriately.
Analyzes how enactment of privacy regulations affects user behavior on an app that rewards consumers for uploading receipts to share purchase and related personal data.
Related Whitepaper: The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Privacy Regulation for Consumer Marketing: A Marketing Science Institute ReportThe data companies need to offer seamless customer experiences can raise privacy concerns at several points in the journey. Privacy fatigue from past data breaches can fester despite apparently renewed customer satisfaction. Companies need to move beyond reactive recovery from data breaches to proactively managing privacy as an ongoing relationship.