Three quarters of branded communications sent by retailers and educational establishments across Europe are irrelevant, according to research commissioned by Ricoh Europe.
The survey asked consumers across 22 countries about the communications material they received from brands and service providers. The majority of respondents (76 per cent) said the material sent to them by retailers was irrelevant, while 75 per cent said the same about content from educational establishments such as schools, colleges and universities.
Ricoh Europe asked about the communications sent by organisations in seven different industries. The best performing, according to the survey, are financial services companies and public sector organisations, with 39 per cent and 42 per cent of respondents respectively saying these sectors’ communications are normally relevant to them. However, this means that there is no sector for which a majority of consumers feel communications are relevant.
Sectors ranked according to irrelevancy of communications
- Retail
- Education
- Telecoms
- Healthcare
- Utilities
- Financial Services
- Public Sector
The research highlights consumers mistrustful of how businesses handle their personal data. Retail was the industry least trusted with consumers’ data, with 74 per cent of consumers saying they don’t trust retailers. The sectors most trusted with consumers’ data were the public sector, financial services and healthcare, with around half of consumers trusting them (50 per cent 49 per cent and 48 per cent respectively). Perhaps not coincidentally, these are also sectors with rigorous regulations about how customer information is handled and used.
Another key issue is the affect on sales with 63 per cent saying they would spend less with the offending business and 18 per cent saying they have taken their custom elsewhere.
David Mills, CEO of Ricoh Europe said, “organisations need to wake up to their junk mail problem. At the moment they are overwhelming people with poorly targeted material that is eroding levels of trust, alienating potential customers and damaging their revenues. They need to realise that junk mail has a genuine, negative impact on their business.”
Find out more at www.ricoh-europe.com/thoughtleadership
