Privacy.  It’s one of those things people don’t like to talk about. However, new research shows that web retailers need to have a serious sit down with their privacy policy if they are going to make those all important sales.

Research group Forrester found that a growing number of consumers were actually reading retailers’ privacy policy and voting with their feet* if they didn’t like what they saw. Who knew anyone actually read those things.

A total of 37,000 respondents were asked a number of questions about their internet shopping habits, and whether a privacy policy or terms of use statement had put them off. Report author  Fatemeh Khatibloo concluded that “a leaky, bloated, or hidden privacy policy and/or terms-of-use statement will cost [an] organisation substantial revenues.”

“A surprising number of consumers ‘just say no’ if a privacy policy doesn’t pass their sniff test, and the numbers seem to be rising,” he continued.

It seems that the eagle-eyed shoppers are predominantly the over-55s, presumably because they are the only ones with enough time on their hands to read the darned things. In response to the question “Have you ever not completed an online transaction with a company because of something you read in the company’s terms of use or privacy policy?” more than half of respondents over 55 said they had. And I thought it took my Gran three hours to do her online supermarket shopping because she was 88.

But this is not the first time this demographic group have expressed their nit-pickingness. The same question posed to over 55s back in 2008 saw only 40% of people say they had abandoned a transaction because of privacy concerns, a rise of over 25% .

And it isn’t just the silver surfers who are wiping out- overall, the total number of people who had clicked away from a site due to privacy policy fears has risen from 38% to 44% over the same period. Although the walk-away rate was lower among younger web users, Forrester said online retailers should be aware that the trend suggested that customers were likely to change their attitudes. With the retail sector suffering, surely these businesses need to pull out all the stops to keep customers, not lose them to dodgy policies.

So, given that the average Bitterwallet reader is between 30-45, male and would describe themselves as having “excellent IT skills”**, do you read privacy policies and terms of use? Have you ever decided a website is not worthy of your money owing to such policies or are price and value the key to your business?

*Strictly speaking it is their fingers who will be doing the walking.

** We know all about you. We can see you.

[PC Pro]