Australian consumers are being delivered better digital experiences by companies, and in return are becoming more willing to disclose personal information to brands, according to new research.

SAP’s Australian digital experience report for 2016, released this week, shows a “strong correlation between how delighted consumers are with their digital experience and their willingness to provide private data.”

“Overall, those delighted with the digital experience were more than five times more likely to disclose personal information,” SAP said.

Just what we are willing to turn over to brands depended on our satisfaction with them, and the type of information they were looking for.

Among what SAP called “delighted” consumers, 41 percent would disclose their occupation and 39 percent their education level and buying preferences.

Almost one in three would also be willing to share their “social media usage” data, 24 percent their web browsing history or medical records, and 21 percent would even offer details of their personal finances.

However, brands with customers that had unhappy digital experiences with them could look forward to seeing far less data.

Only one in ten dissatisfied customers would turn over even basic information in this case, and 2-3 percent was willing to part with more contentious data sets like web browsing history or details of the state of their personal finances.

“In today’s digital economy, where data is currency, responsible and respectful access to customer information can trigger a virtuous circle: the better the digital experience, the more information the consumer provides, the better the brand can tailor the experience, and repeat,” SAP said.

SAP’s report is based on ratings given to 9000 “digital interactions” by 3500 people.

At a high level, SAP saw a year-on-year decline in the “proportion of consumers unsatisfied with digital experiences” from brands.

This roughly correlated with an increase in the proportion of consumers that were “delighted” by their digital experiences, suggesting that more brands are getting digital right.

“The good news is things are getting better for Australian consumers, and more brands are delivering the digital experience basics,” SAP A/NZ president and managing director John Ruthven said.

“Digital transformation means different things to different people, but the motivation behind it is always the same: the customer.

“Every time customers gain more power, organisations need more power to keep up with their demands.

“Brands that perform best are those who unite their people and processes on a single system to deliver on their customers’ relentlessly increasing demands.”

The research also found that “delighted” customers are even ‘stickier’ with brands they liked than a year ago.

Now they are “nearly five times more likely to remain loyal to a brand than those who are unsatisfied”, SAP said.