Consumer evaluation of cookies for marketing: case study of portuguese consumers

Abstract

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Marketing Intelligence ; The word web cookie has been around for almost three decades. However, to many consumers this word comes as an assault to them and their privacy. There have been controversial cases where consumers' data collected through web cookies was sold to third-party entities, creating a fear regarding data handling. Due to these cases, many governments as well as the European Union has created laws to regulate web cookies, in order to guarantee that web cookies are used with the consent of the user. This study aimed to understand the Portuguese consumer perception on the web cookies. Also, the impact of the web cookie notifications on opinion and trust that users have in the website that contains them. It also intends to analyze how different types of content and options provided to the consumer can influence their attitude towards cookies and cookie notifications. The results of this study demonstrates that the Portuguese consumers has a faint knowledge about web cookies and associated the concept to unwanted advertisements and data leakage. To what concerns the web cookie notification, it was possible to identify that consumers have higher confidence and satisfaction with information when notifications allow them to choose from several options (e.g. accept all, reject all, manage) as well as when the notification has an honest disclosure of information.