Beyond the personal and family safety and logistical challenges presented to marketers by COVID-19 is the difficulty on the professional side in getting a read on the attitudes of customers and prospects.
Certainly, there is no uniformity in behavior, risk tolerance, and buying patterns. And there never will be in one country, much less globally.
It’s unwise to guess or rely on a hunch.
At Sinch, a global leader in cloud communications for mobile customer engagement, we decided to ask.
In a survey of consumers across 14 countries, we found the following:
COVID-19-induced behaviors such as avoiding crowds, flying, and dining out are here to stay, even in a post-pandemic world.
According to the study (downloadable here), even when the pandemic is over, 58% of people will continue to avoid crowds, 52% will avoid unnecessary travel, 46% will spend less time inside stores and 45% will dine out less often.
The study also found that, despite a decade of digital transformation, brands have yet to deliver the most useful digital and mobile experiences people say they want in a post-pandemic world, like making and confirming appointments by text, receiving personalized videos, or being able to message with banks, doctors and other service providers. The research report explores the opportunities available for brands nimble enough to transform the value they bring to customers.
What makes this moment particularly powerful is that just as customers are turning away from physical interactions and transactions, the ecosystem of tools and channels that empower digital conversations is exploding. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, the most popular messaging apps in the world, now claim 3.3 billion monthly active users. And yet, the research shows enterprise brands have been slow to innovate via messaging.
This opportunity is quantified by the gaps between the services customers already use and what they say would be very useful. For example:
· 91% want mobile notifications of suspicious activity (e.g., banking), but currently, only 31% receive them
· 89% would find notifications about a service outage useful, but only 27% today receive them
· 88% would consider it valuable to have information about urgent public health care issues delivered by text or messaging, but only 24% currently receive this service
· 73% want to receive personalized videos (e.g., an illustration of services performed by an auto mechanic), but only 16% currently do
· 88% want to make an appointment by text or messaging, but today only 36% of people are able to
· Similarly, 52% of respondents today have confirmed an appointment by text or messaging but 94% would value this service
· 75% would appreciate getting reminders by text about items left in an online shopping cart, whereas just 39% currently do
· Just 14% of people today use any kind of mobile or online health assessment with a medical provider, something that 78% would like
· 41% currently receive personal discounts via text or messaging but 86% would value this offering
Using next-generation messaging, voice, video, and chatbots, global companies can now have highly personalized conversations with their customers at scale. Not only does this drive better customer experiences but real business value in terms of increased sales, decreased costs, or an uptick in customer loyalty.
Is this the end-all study? Certainly not, but it provides important insights into what an industry analyst told us is part of the “new normal”.
