KashKick says its June 2026 digital tracking survey found a messy bargain at the center of the post-cookie web: many users distrust companies with personal data, yet 48% would switch tracking on for rewards or discounts. The KashKick tracking survey points to a consent problem adtech cannot solve with better copy about “personalization.”
The survey covered KashKick users, a useful caveat because the company operates a rewards platform that pays people through PayPal, Venmo and gift cards. That audience is already familiar with value-for-action exchanges. Even so, the result is a blunt signal for publishers, advertisers and data brokers trying to replace ambient third-party tracking with direct opt-in.
Consent has become the hard gate. Google ultimately kept third-party cookies in Chrome and wound down most Privacy Sandbox alternatives in late 2025, while Safari, Firefox and Brave still block third-party cookies by default. KashKick’s announcement also notes that about a fifth of web traffic is already cookieless, and regulators increasingly expect explicit permission before data collection.
What did KashKick's tracking survey find?
Rewards were the strongest reason users gave for allowing tracking. In the survey, 48% said they would enable tracking for rewards or discounts. Personalized content drew 24%, personalized product recommendations also drew 24%, and relevant ads drew 20%.
That matters because first-party data strategies depend on people agreeing to be known. A first-party data program collects information directly from users through a site, app or account relationship, rather than relying on third-party cookies set elsewhere on the web. The mechanism is cleaner only if the consent is clear enough and valuable enough for users to accept it.
The same survey found a conditional middle. KashKick reported that 34% of users said their comfort with tracking depends heavily on the situation. That group is the audience consent designers fight over: people who have not rejected tracking outright, but want the terms spelled out before they click.
Users still do not trust the data machine
The rewards finding does not mean users have warmed to surveillance-style advertising. KashKick said 66% of respondents were either skeptical of how companies handle their data or did not trust companies at all. It also found that 68% said companies should get explicit consent before collecting data, either always or in most cases.
Yasmin Marinaro, KashKick’s vice president of consumer marketing, framed the result as a split marketers now have to work within: distrust remains high, while a concrete reward can still persuade about half of surveyed users to opt in. Her argument is convenient for a rewards company, but the numbers are still useful for anyone building consent flows.
The concerns are specific. Location tracking was the top worry, cited by 63% of users, ahead of social media behavior tracking at 36%. Users also reported taking defensive steps: 74% said they had used at least one privacy tool, such as private browsing, a VPN or an ad blocker, and 48% said they had changed device or browser settings to limit tracking.
KashKick compared its results with a 2023 Pew Research Center survey that found 67% of Americans said they understood little or nothing about what companies do with their personal data, and 81% expected that data to be used in ways they would find uncomfortable. In KashKick’s survey, 62% said they understood little or only some of how their own data is used.
For adtech, the practical lesson is uncomfortable: browser privacy defaults are taking away passive collection, and users appear more responsive to an explicit transaction than to a promise that ads will feel more relevant. A rewarded tracking opt-in survey is not a universal model for the web, but it shows why consent design is becoming product design rather than a legal pop-up stapled to the bottom of a page.
