Customers want to talk to telcos via apps - Omdia

The survey was conducted by Telecoms.com sister firm Omdia as part of its Consumer Engagement Strategies Intelligence Service, which is in its second year. It surveyed 3,000 consumers in Brazil, the UK, and the US.

When asked which communications channels they prefer their broadband or mobile provider to use, 43% of respondents said telco apps – which is up from 35% in 2023.

However only 33% said they are currently using telco apps, which Omdia says suggests “telcos need to up their game and launch and improve apps for their customers.”

The number of customers using telco apps was up from 2023, which it says reflects an increased trust in them, claiming “telco apps are popular because customers see them as less likely to be compromised or hacked.”

The survey also found that email and text message remain the most popular engagement channels, with over two-thirds of respondents claiming their telco used this platform for consumer engagement, followed by over half pointing to text.

Meanwhile satisfaction is apparently improving, with 63% of survey respondents saying they felt satisfied and valued with their telco engagements, which is an improvement of 3% on last year’s study. Well over a third felt neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, or dissatisfied and undervalued.

When asked what their telco could do to most improve engagement, ‘close to half’ of respondents said the person they speak with needs to be empowered to make decisions or find resolutions, which stands to reason, while others said being put through to a real person instead of a chatbot “would improve their telco engagements.”