Trustworthy communication channels: A study of the foundation of customer relationships
Ever since Sendbird’s platform expanded to support more business-to-customer conversational use cases, we’ve been curious about consumer preferences for communicating with businesses. Put simply, we wanted to answer the question: How do consumers prefer to communicate with businesses, and why?
We were particularly interested in how various communication channels rank in terms of usage, attention, and trust among consumers. To find out, we decided to conduct an exhaustive market analysis. Therefore, we commissioned a global consumer study with Arion Research. The study involved an online survey of 1200 mobile consumers aged 18+ in 14 countries.
The study revealed that consumers use a variety of channels to connect with businesses, but not all channels are equal when it comes to attention and trust. One key highlight of the study was:
- 1 of 2 consumers (50%!) miss or ignore communications from businesses over the phone, email, and SMS
According to the survey, in the past 12 months, consumers reported more fatigue and less trust in SMS as a channel for communicating with businesses. This finding was particularly true for communicating with banks and healthcare providers.
Other key highlights include:
72% of consumers say SMS is the least trusted channel for communicating with businesses
34% of consumers reported getting unwanted SMS spam
19% of consumers blocked businesses from an SMS
24% of consumers stopped doing business with a company that sent too many SMS messages
It’s quite apparent that based on growing consumer fatigue and a lack of trust, SMS is not the most effective channel for business communications. When businesses build trust with how they communicate with customers, they are more likely to build lasting relationships with these consumers (82% of consumers say they will remain a customer!).
Register for our live webinar with Arion Research to discuss the results, and for ideas about how you can apply these to your own business.
Check out the infographic below to learn more about the study.
