A new survey by global data privacy management company TRUSTe has found that consumers are becoming more concerned about privacy than they were - and they are changing their online behaviour accordingly.

As reported by Katy Bachman in the AdAge article "Consumer Confidence in Online Privacy Hits 3-Year Low" fewer consumers trust marketers with their data, down to 55% from 59% two years ago.

This concern is reflected in them being less likely to click on an online ad, use an app they don't trust or to enable location tracking. What they were doing more of was checking the privacy fine print.

No longer can privacy be regarded solely as a legal issue; it's also impacting on brand and marketing.

Of specific interest and concern for online retailers was that consumers were more concerned about shopping privacy than banking.

So, in an age where differentiation is the key, consider using the great care you take with your customers' data as a selling point rather than just treating it as a compliance issue.