86% of Consumers Open To Mobile Communication by Brands

What types of mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tions do con­sumers pre­fer for which types of infor­ma­tion?

Danny Goodwin By Danny Goodwin from Momentology. Join the discussion » 0 comments

Research shows that, sur­pris­ing­ly, mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tion with con­sumers by busi­ness­es of all types is not as “off lim­its” as per­haps pre­vi­ous­ly thought. The research high­lights what types of mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tions con­sumers pre­fer for which types of infor­ma­tion.


In a research report by the appli­ca­tion-to-per­son text mes­sag­ing com­pa­ny, Mblox, data shows there is a mis­match of expec­ta­tions in the expe­ri­ence con­sumers want with the busi­ness­es they engage with, and the expe­ri­ences they are receiv­ing in terms of lev­el of care and com­mu­ni­ca­tion meth­ods.

The research, con­duct­ed by Mil­ward Brown Dig­i­tal, sur­veyed 1,650 mobile phone owners/users over the age of 18 in the Unit­ed States, the Unit­ed King­dom, and Aus­tralia.

High­lights of the find­ings include:

  • Only 36 per­cent of con­sumers say busi­ness­es do a great job of pro­vid­ing care, while 73 per­cent of busi­ness­es say they pro­vide good care to cus­tomers.
  • Eighty-six per­cent of con­sumers indi­cate they are open to engage­ment through mobile devices, but only 58 per­cent of com­pa­nies use mobile as a way to com­mu­ni­cate.

The oppor­tu­ni­ty to close those gaps, says Mblox, is mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the tar­get con­sumer. Mblox CEO Tom Cot­neyFrom said in a press release on the report:

The dis­ci­plines of cus­tomer ser­vice, mar­ket­ing and infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy are con­verg­ing, and the more holis­tic con­cept of the cus­tomer expe­ri­ence has emerged. Mobile mes­sag­ing cross­es all dis­ci­plines to ensure con­sumers feel cared for. A company’s abil­i­ty to demon­strate care in a way that res­onates with its cus­tomers is essen­tial to cre­at­ing pos­i­tive brand expe­ri­ences, estab­lish­ing healthy rela­tion­ships and achiev­ing long-term suc­cess.”

Just some of the take­aways high­light­ed in the announce­ment include the fol­low­ing:

  • Use mobile chan­nels to enhance cus­tomer ser­vice, focus­ing on “those mobile chan­nels with small gaps and high­er con­sumer pref­er­ence – email and SMS.”
  • Make cus­tomer care a pri­or­i­ty in the mobile strat­e­gy, “think­ing beyond mar­ket­ing mes­sages.”

Show Them That You Care: Addressing The “Care Gap”

Con­sumers want to feel like they mat­ter, and even when busi­ness­es believe they’re an exem­plar of care, the data shows dif­fer­ent­ly.

It also varies by sec­tor, with some gar­ner­ing a high­er per­cep­tion of care than oth­ers. How­ev­er, even the health care indus­try – a sec­tor dri­ven by “bed­side man­ner” prin­ci­ples – is not immune to the “care gap.”

Mblox says the oppor­tu­ni­ty lies in the way busi­ness­es com­mu­ni­cate with cus­tomers using the right tech­nol­o­gy at the right time – with mobile being a prime exam­ple.

Through mobile, Mblox says busi­ness­es can cul­ti­vate deep­er cus­tomer rela­tion­ship and enhance oper­a­tional effi­cien­cies.

Going Truly Mobile With Your Marketing: Mobile Consumer Communication

The idea of tex­ting your con­sumer direct­ly might make some brands ner­vous. But, accord­ing to research report, only 14 per­cent said mobile was off lim­its as a method of com­mu­ni­ca­tion between con­sumer and brand.

When con­sumers were asked what the best method of mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tion was, 57 per­cent said email received on their mobile device, 41 per­cent said text, and 38 per­cent said phone calls or a voice mes­sage.

The way con­sumers wish to receive infor­ma­tion varies on the type of infor­ma­tion being com­mu­ni­cat­ed, accord­ing to the data. For exam­ple, retail con­sumers said they pre­ferred email while text mes­sages were best for:

  • Out­age noti­fi­ca­tions (telecom/utility/cable)
  • Appoint­ment reminders (telecom/utility/cable and health­care)
  • Ser­vice repairs and sta­tus updates (telecom/utility/cable)
  • Fraud alerts and bal­ances (finance) Just like the “care gap,” Mblox high­lights a mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tion oppor­tu­ni­ty.

From the report:

Mobile presents an enor­mous oppor­tu­ni­ty for busi­ness­es inter­est­ed in clos­ing the Care gap. While only 58 per­cent of com­pa­nies cur­rent­ly use mobile tech­nol­o­gy to con­nect with cus­tomers, only 14 per­cent of con­sumers don’t want to be con­tact­ed in this man­ner, cre­at­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reach 86 per­cent of con­sumers who own mobile devices.”


How will you expand your mobile mar­ket­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tions in 2015?

Danny Goodwin

Written by Danny Goodwin

Managing Editor, Momentology

Danny Goodwin is the former Managing Editor of Momentology. Previously, he was the editor of Search Engine Watch, where he was in charge of editing, content strategy, and writing about search industry news.

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