Our latest research has revealed that just 29% of people trust retailers not to misuse their email address when sending an e-receipt. Do you have concerns?
An e-receipt can be a good way to cut out clutter and allow you an easy way of searching through your old records should you ever need to refer to them.
Personally I’m all for digitising records like this – I find it much easier, and it’s good to know you have access to those records wherever you are, via your smartphone.
But according to our survey, I’m in the minority. Four in 10 felt there weren’t any benefits to them in receiving a digital receipt, while as many as 79% of people had at least one concern about them.
Top five e-receipt concerns
Despite the benefits, I have to admit that I also share the top concern from that list. When I bought a new TV a few months back I was asked for my email address so they could sent the receipt.
I’ll give the store credit in this case – they did promise that my email address wouldn’t be used for any other purposes, but I couldn’t help but feel it’d be easy to end up receiving marketing comms I didn’t ask for.
Our mystery shop
When we sent shoppers to do a snapshot test on stores, they made it clear to staff that they wanted no marketing when handing over their email address for the e-receipt.
Except for one instance, the retailers did not send any subsequent direct marketing emails, but we did see several instances of some including promotional marketing of other products and services in the e-receipt itself.
We suspect that some retailers aren’t aware that having a marketing message in the e-receipt template counts as marketing.
Take a look at the examples we found in our snapshot mystery shop
Which? managing director of home products and services Alex Neill said:
More and more shops are offering e-receipts, which can be convenient for shoppers, but our investigation suggests not all shops are aware of the law.
Retailers must do everything possible to ensure shoppers can have confidence that they won’t be bombarded with unwanted marketing emails and that their personal details are safe
Which? has undertaken the ‘Control, Alt or Delete’ policy project to explore the consumer data landscape and help improve understanding of how online data is being collected and used.
Have you opted to take an e-receipt recently instead of a traditional paper one? If so, did you receive any subseqent marketing emails or promotions?
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