There seems to be no definitive consensus —not yet, anyway — to the tug-of-war between texting and telephoning when it comes to customer service. But text certainly tops talk for some.
New research, based on surveyed users in the U.S. and Germany, suggested 44 percent of people prefer to send a text. They cited time efficiency and convenience as the major reasons.
“Nearly a third said that sending a text was less frustrating than calling the company, and more than a quarter of respondents said it enabled them to ask the company to text or call them back,” reports eMarketer.
On the other hand, subsequent market research also took a hard look at the channels preferred by consumers for communication with business enterprises.
“While SMS was on the list, respondents were far more likely to prefer the traditional phone,” according to the eMarketer summary. “Indeed, the survey revealed that 29.7 percent of U.S. mobile buyers—a population for whom texting is definitely a possibility—preferred the telephone to communicate with companies. Only 9.7 percent preferred text.”
Age may be one factor. Older mobile users often tend to regard customer service as something best handled via conversation, while younger consumers gravitate more and more to text for both business and personal communications.