ACCORDING to the 2024 Consumer Preferences Report, brand trust and effective communication through the right channels are key determinants of whether or not consumers wish to engage with a brand.
The report provided by customer engagement platform Twilio was based on a global survey of 3,900 consumers, including 900 individuals from APAC, and explores current communication preferences, including the channels consumers prefer, how branded communications influence consumer trust, and how brands’ response times impact their experience.
PH: Hotbed of scams
The proliferation of fraudulent digital interactions has made it harder for consumers to distinguish between trusted sources and scams, undermining consumer trust in brands. PHOTO BY JING GARCIA at Twilio Signal Singapore 2024.
In the report, the Philippines was identified as a “hotbed of scams” within the Asian region. One major telecommunications provider reported that it had intercepted more than 230 million spam SMS or text messages in the second quarter of 2024 alone.
“The proliferation of fraudulent digital interactions has made it harder for consumers to distinguish between trusted sources and scams, undermining consumer trust in brands,” the Twilio report said. “Against this landscape, trust has become a pivotal factor in consumer decision-making when interacting with businesses. Twilio’s research reveals that 56 percent of consumers in APAC will not purchase from a brand due to a lack of trust.”
The recent announcement of Twilio on the global availability of Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging via its Programmable Messaging and Verify APIs is a platform tool to help their clients “strengthen brand identity and foster customer trust.”
“In today’s discerning market, trust has become the cornerstone of customer-brand relationships,” said Robert Woolfrey, vice president of Asia-Pacific and Japan for communications at Twilio. “With tools like branded communications at their fingertips, businesses now have the unprecedented opportunity to build trust, strengthen brand recognition, and deliver personalized experiences at scale. As richer communication channels emerge, the opportunities for deeper customer engagement will only grow.”
In the study, close to 7 in 10 Asia-Pacific (APAC) consumers (68 percent) will trust a brand’s communication more if it includes a verification badge, while 57 percent report that receiving a branded text message will make a brand more trustworthy.
To meet the rising demand for trust, brands looking to gain customer confidence must ensure their interactions are easily recognizable and secure, be it by including a verification badge or incorporating branding into their communications to consumers.
Critical response time
In the 2024 State of Customer Engagement Report, the study found that Filipino consumers rank responsive customer service as the second most effective way for brands to earn their loyalty after the quality of products or services.
However, the majority of brands are said to miss the mark. The report indicated that only 31 percent of APAC consumers reported that brands meet their response time expectations, while 43 percent of consumers expect brands to respond within an hour, but the average expected response time of brands can extend up to 27 hours.
These delayed responses can lead customers away from the brand, with a reported 53 percent of consumers choosing to purchase from another brand due to slow response times. On the other hand, 39 percent of APAC brands that “prioritize rapid communication have seen higher customer retention rates, demonstrating the importance of responsiveness in business success.”
AI strategy on trust
AI capabilities and machine learning are often on top of mind in terms of how companies are thinking about the experiences they can deliver to their end customers and build trust at the same time.
In a roundtable discussion with Twilio executives at this year’s Twilio: Signal Singapore 2024, an annual event that brings together the company’s customers, partners and experts.
“We often get asked, ‘What is Twilio’s AI strategy?'” said Thomas Wyatt, president of Twilio Segment. “The truth is, AI is just an enabler of the business strategy you’re trying to deliver for your end customers. We infuse AI into everything we do — whether it’s back-office capabilities to make our products work better, using AI to simplify product implementation, or end-user features designed to improve the experience of using Twilio.”
Definitely, there are questions about AI’s potential to increase productivity, drive better experiences and create revenue growth. But, at the same time, enterprise customers are asking, “How do they use this safely and securely?” Many are worried about issues like “AI hallucinations” and how that could impact their brand if AI outputs don’t reflect their values. There are also concerns about security, privacy and legal issues surrounding AI.
“It’s important for customers to understand how to use AI, what capabilities it has, and how the data sets we create can build trust,” said Wyatt. “AI is only as good as the data behind it. What matters is the usability, quality and quantity of that data to train AI models.”
In addition, real-time analytics could show how users engage with brands, whether it’s web or mobile interactions, product usage data, or purchase history. All of these objective elements of data, according to the executive, are needed to create personalization and drive workflows.
“But fundamentally, AI is just an ingredient in how we build the platform,” said Wyatt. “The most important thing is the data set that AI is leveraging. That’s what truly transforms these experiences.”
“Twilio has a platform advantage because we process billions of phone numbers and trillions of messages. Our CDP [Segment] leads in integrating with other data sources and destinations, allowing customers to build applications on Twilio’s platform,” Wyatt said.
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