Social media channels are not a preferred channel – postal mail has a higher preference than Twitter and Facebook
US Millennials prefer text messaging for customer engagement from businesses, according to new research.
While 72% of Millennials note they text 10 or more times a day and 31% cite they text more than 50 times a day, the leading factor in Millennials’ preferences for texting is its ability for two-way communication with businesses, an aspect which provides convenience, speed, and ease of use, according to the US-based study from provider of enterprise mobile engagement, OpenMarket.
While texting is the preferred channel of notifications from businesses, email comes in a close second, and voice a distant third. Social media channels are not a significant factor for business to Millennial communications as of yet. In fact, postal mail has a higher preference than Twitter and Facebook.
As a follow up to OpenMarket’s first millennial survey earlier this year, this new research aimed to understand not only what communication method Millennials prefer but also why and how they are utilising the channel with businesses.
The results revealed that the mobile-friendly age group is highly accessible to businesses through SMS, with over 83 % of Millennials polled citing they open a text within 90 seconds of receiving it. Millennials prefer to receive texts from businesses for appointment reminders (62%), delivery notifications (59%) and payment reminders (48%). Currently, less than half of Millennials actually receive appointment and payment reminders from business, signalling an engagement opportunity for companies.
The survey also reveals key customer engagement opportunities for companies to use with SMS. Nearly 50% of Millennials polled said they would like to receive fraud alerts from their financial service providers (only 19% currently are). In addition, 60% of Millennials want to be able to text their preferred businesses, but currently they are only receiving five or fewer messages a week from companies, with 20% noting they do not receive any texts from business at all.
When it comes to real time communication, 80% of Millennials would prefer to text a company’s 1-800 customer service line versus dialling direct and waiting on hold.
“The goal of this survey was to dive deeper into the mobile-millennial mindset and learn not only why this age group prefers text messaging as their main communication tool for business interactions, but at what level they are looking to engage,” said Jay Emmet, general manager for OpenMarket. “These results show that the capabilities of SMS are very prevalent with Millennials, who desire more opportunities to communicate through texting, including more personal two-way interactions. Businesses need to further harness the ubiquity of SMS to realise better overall engagement and customer loyalty with the millennial generation.”
The company polled 500 US Millennials, aged 18 to 34, on their use of SMS communications with businesses, with a focus on two-way texting capabilities.
