How Consumers Progress to More Advanced Levels of Data-based Products and Services: A Scenario-Based Approach

Data-based products and services (DBPS) utilise personal data to enhance their capabilities and provide consumers with a more intelligent and personalized experience. As a result, the experience of DBPS is fluid – the amount of data consumers feed into the product determines their experience. However, barriers such as privacy concerns hinder the progression to a more pronounced level at different thresholds. We developed and employed a scenario-based prospective incident technique to analyse how consumers experience DBPS at certain levels and how they advance from one level to another. Results show that consumers are willing to share non-critical personal data in exchange for mainly utilitarian benefits at basic DBPS levels. As DBPS usage progresses, consumers constantly perform cost-benefit assessments. Providers of DBPS can target these assessments by clearly communicating incremental added value to enable a small-step progression at all levels of usage