Mobile messages lack real-time context, causing 90pc to opt out: Forrester
While consumers are interested in receiving notifications that provide timely information, marketers have not yet mastered the use of real-time contextual data, resulting in 90 percent choosing to stop receiving this content, according to a new report from Forrester Research.
The report, Mobile Messaging Fails Customers Today, underscores how messaging, rather than becoming obsolete as newer technologies come along, is growing as services continue to innovate. While messaging is a great way for marketers to serve customers in their moment of need, too few digital business professionals leverage real-time data to send the types of messages that consumers expect.
"Despite preceding most mobile technologies, mobile messaging is evolving rapidly,? said Nicole Dvorak, a data scientist at Forrester Research, and co-author of the report.
?Simple text messages may seem obsolete, but combined with contextual data, they provide a new opportunity for digital business professionals to communicate with customers,? she said.
"Most consumers receive some type of notification, but nine in 10 have opted out when notifications were not timely or contextual."
An encompassing approach
Mobile users have numerous moments throughout their day when they glance quickly at their phones to get information, interactions that Forrester refers to as mobile moments. Contextualized messaging is one way to deliver simple, relevant information during these interactions.
However, marketers do face several challenges leveraging messaging.
There is the need to reach consumers across a multitude and growing number of messaging channels.
Forrester?s research shows that 96 percent of U.S. smartphone owners receive some type of notification, with 83 percent using both SMS and email while 61 percent receive push notifications, 51 percent use in-app notifications and nearly six in 10 have downloaded a messaging app such as Facebook Messenger, Snapchat or WhatsApp.
Frequency of messages
Marketers also need to encourage users to opt in to push notifications. The issue is especially relevant on iOS, where consumers must opt in to receive push notifications. On Android, users are required to opt out.
Forrester?s research shows that consumers are more willing to receive notifications from social media than from retailers, banks, travel firms of healthcare providers.
The main reason consumers opt in to receive notifications is for timely information, with 57 percent taking some kind of action the last time they received a notification.
On the other hand, 52 percent have opted out because notifications arrive too frequently. The report contends that consumers think messages are arriving too frequently because they are irrelevant.
Only 23 percent of ebusiness professionals use push notifications today, per the report, and most do not use contextual data to score relevancy.
?There is no right number of messages,? said Julie Ask, vice president at Forrester Research. ?Consumers would receive an unlimited number of messages if they were relevant and delivered value.
?Imagine if your flight were late or there were a gate change,? she said. ?You would want to receive that information as frequently as it changed."