Yes, it’s true, according to a new MessageSystems survey, that just over 50 percent of consumers don’t want interactions or notifications from brands via email.
Of course, the upside here is that fully half of consumers prefer this method — a fact not to be shunned.
“Of those that indicated a notification preference, the majority preferred email,” explained MediaPost in a story on the survey. “For all the hype that social marketing has gotten in recent years, just above 5 percent of respondents actually prefer seeing ads or deals in their social channel over anywhere else.”
Authors of the survey surmises that even though many “unsubscribe,” there’s a blessing inside the brush-off. It helps brands refine mailing lists of consumers who actually do want to engage via email communications.
“Consumers will always want options to connect with a company when there are any issues, says the report, but email is the top choice (32 percent) for them to initiate contact when they need to get in touch,” according to the survey. “When they do reach out, they have an expectation that they’ll hear back in a reasonable time. It’s important that your email systems are integrated with those of your service department so they get an automatic reply of acknowledgement, followed then by a more personal note, suggests the report.”
What forms of communication and what information appeal to a broad range of consumers? For starters, email (50.08 percent) beats texts, social media, and snail mail.
Consumers still like email as a medium for interacting with brands – in fact, “it’s what they want and what they expect the majority of time,” concludes the report.
To see a host of other date from the survey, click here.
