Research released today by Australian communications workflow platform Whispir reveals that interactive messages delivered via SMS or chat apps are 44 times more effective than email in prompting people to take action during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study showed first-time response rates of 72-88% to an interactive message when using SMS with mobile web-apps, compared to 15% open rates and less than 2% response rate over a 24-hour period when the contact is by email alone.
Whispir examined more than 120 million communication interactions from a cross section of its global enterprise customers who are using the communications workflow platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study analysed send rates, receipt rates, open/read rates, and action/feedback rates on all channels on the hi-tech platform to determine the most effective channel for generating a response and action.
Whispir CEO, Jeromy Wells, said, “Although email is useful for non-immediate but essential information delivered daily, the data shows that in a crisis, most people delay viewing email messages, putting themselves at risk during time-sensitive events such as mass lockdowns, evacuations or updated procedures or protocols.
Email should not be the sole channel for communicating in a crisis. This is because we’re not conditioned to use email for immediate activity. Email typically experiences delays in open rates and is lost among other messages, delaying the consideration of information that may be critical.
Interactive mobile web-apps delivered via SMS, Messenger and WhatsApp are far more likely to get people to act because we use those channels for personal messaging – so we immediately place extra importance and priority on them. Interactive messages also provide alerts when a new message arrives – whereas overwhelmingly email users have new email alerts turned off.
“For organisations with teams spread over multiple geographic zones, messages using a combination of voice, SMS and mobile web apps at the same time, to deliver interactive content and escalate action have been far more effective in prompting action compared to email or internal collaboration tools alone (which have very limited action tracking capability).
“Tools such as Slack, Teams and Skype can’t provide complete communications coverage and aren’t designed for auditable communications, making post-event reporting time-consuming and expensive to compile.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts business, Whispir’s research shows the need for communications processes to be agile with the ability to send real-time communications to people at the right time and in the most effective channel as conditions evolve. Organisations need to do this at scale, while receiving prompt feedback so their responses can become more targeted and effective as new insights emerge.
“Organisations consistently issuing multi-channel communications with actions built into them, achieved 90%+ engagement rates from recipients within 20 minutes and more than 98% within two hours – much higher than one-way, single channel messages.
“Where recipients are conditioned to anticipate interactive communications, they are also more likely to consume the content.
“In effective crisis communications, organisations need to know if the relevant person has consumed the intended content, rather than just whether their device received it. The data shows organisations are using more engaging mobile web-app capability to capture responses from the field; those responses can be monitored in real time for better decision making and contact traceability.
“Activation of templated crisis communications was extremely high (99.5% of COVID-19 related messages sent to date). Preparing structured, pre-approved communication templates in advance, allowed organisations to respond quickly to new developments and effectively inform people using multiple channels simultaneously.
“Staff safety and public health are critical organisational considerations; this research has been released by Whispir to highlight the material and positive impact comprehensive multi-channel messaging can have on the effectiveness of an organisation’s COVID-19 communications.
“These findings validate Whispir’s focus on developing innovative communications technologies that enable the accelerated digital transformation of critical organisational communications with appropriate use of AI and machine learning. Whispir’s capabilities enable organisations at this critical time to master their COVID-19 communications, improve productivity, better serve the community and build enduring competitive advantage in response to quickly changing operating conditions.”
