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?