Preference-based communication: Why does my phone still ring?

Why do marketers and, for that matter, customer service representatives, ignore preference-based communication when interacting with customers? From 2009, a question raised by Howorth Communications continues to have relevance.

“Consumers prefer email at a rate of three-to-one when compared with any other avenue for marketing communications,” according to findings by Forrester Research summarized by Howorth Communications.

In spite of this, marketers and customer service reps too often opt for the telephone, to the deliberate exclusion of email.

Case in point: I recently attempted to have a telephone carrier stop placing calls and leaving robo-messages in my cell phone voice-mail box. I explained that I have to pay with airtime minutes each time I access these spamming messages.

The person who responded, chose to do so by telephone, thereby compounding the problem. Accessing his messages cost additional minutes when I just wanted the telephone calls to stop!

When marketers and business representatives attempt to corral their customers into a single contact modality, they’ve foregone the “fundamental principles of Marketing 101,” according to Howorth Communications. Businesses, government institutions and nonprofit agencies would do well to review the “basics.”