Chapter 03
Customer updates are the unsung heroes of digital communications, and they deserve some recognition. Every informational message your organization sends should be timely, relevant, and personal to the customer on the receiving end.
It's easy for both consumers and brands to take automated transactional messages for granted. But while these communications may lack the flair of an engaging marketing campaign, keeping people informed is an irreplaceable part of the customer journey.
From order confirmations and shipping updates to appointment reminders and onboarding efforts, your strategy for delivering information impacts the customer experience directly. These transactional messages keep people up-to-date and keep your business running smoothly. Sinch experts weigh in with more on why customer updates are crucial.
Email, phone, or text? Is there a “right way” to deliver transactional communications to consumers?
When asked to identify what they believe to be the best channel for receiving informational messages from brands, half of consumers chose email.
While 12% prefer “Just a text” for informational messages, twice as many (24%) want to receive both an email and a text. Nearly 1 out of 10 consumers say they want a message on all three channels: email, text, and voice.
The truth is – the right digital communication channel depends on the customer’s preference as well as the situation and information you need to deliver.
There are some differences of opinion among age groups when it comes to receiving informational messages.
While baby boomers are the most likely to want only an email (54%), Generation Z consumers were the most likely to want the trifecta of informational communications sent via email, text, and via phone (13%).
As you’d expect, Gen Z and millennial consumers were slightly more likely than average to want customer updates delivered via text only. However, boomers were more likely than younger generations to choose the option of both email and text.
All this suggests that, no matter the age of your target market, there’s a strong case for a multichannel digital communications strategy that keeps consumers informed.
As with their complaints on promotional messages, consumers say they’re most frustrated by informational communications that are too frequent or excessive (48%).
Along the same lines, more than 30% find redundant informational messages frustrating. Both findings suggest there is such a thing as overinforming your customers.
Not far behind the top two, nearly 28% of customers are upset when they are unable to ask questions in response to a transactional message. That two-way conversation with support or an AI chatbot is something texting and other messaging channels can enable.
Timeliness of informational messages is also a key factor. More than 19% are frustrated when these communications don’t arrive on time or arrive at an inconvenient time. Similarly, more than 20% don’t like it when these messages lack real-time information.
No one would discount the importance of order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery notifications. These e-commerce communications are part of everyday life for consumers. But what about customer updates beyond activities like online shopping, food delivery, and ride sharing?
We asked consumers to rate the importance of informational messages from other industries, including healthcare and financial services. It’s clear that when a message contains time-sensitive or urgent information, consumers view them as very important. The importance and immediacy of these messages often makes messaging (SMS, MMS, RCS) an ideal communication channel.
More than 50% of consumers want informational messages delivered via email. That means you’ve got to land in the inbox and avoid spam.
Sinch Mailgun research found 71% of people would search through their spam folder to find a missing transactional email. Another 16% would do so if the information was important. That’s a testament to the significance of informational communications – not an excuse to be unconcerned with deliverability.
Mailgun’s research also found consumers are likely to have negative reactions to messages ending up in spam. 33% said they find it annoying or frustrating when this happens, 10% lose trust in the brand, and another 10% would unsubscribe.
An effective way to improve your chances of reaching the inbox is to separate transactional and promotional email traffic on different subdomains or sending IP addresses. However, Mailgun’s State of email deliverability report found 50% of senders aren’t using this tactic. Another 13% are unsure if they separate email traffic for deliverability.
* Email and the customer experience
** State of email deliverability 2025
of consumers would check their spam folder for a missing transactional email. *
of consumers find it annoying or frustrating when emails they’re expecting land in spam. *
of consumers would lose trust in the brand or unsubscribe if messages kept going to spam. *
of senders are not separating transactional and promotional email traffic (or are unsure). **
“Email is a channel that is often celebrated for its high return on investment. However, that ROI decreases as email deliverability issues increase. If you’re not following best practices for email deliverability, it’s going to catch up with you eventually. Once you’ve invested in the right infrastructure, authentication, and marketing technology, focus on maintaining good list hygiene while delivering high-quality, relevant content to engaged subscribers.”
Informed
The native messaging inbox on smartphones has become a familiar place to receive informational messages such as appointment reminders. We asked survey participants to select the type of text they preferred for a healthcare appointment reminder:
1. A basic SMS reminder
2. An MMS reminder with an image of the location
3. A branded RCS message with buttons to confirm or reschedule
The competition was close. While 41% of participants chose the RCS message, 40% preferred the MMS message with an image. Perhaps the image helped reinforce where to go for the appointment. Keep in mind, an RCS message can also deliver images and other media along with branding, suggested actions, and much more.
Informed retail
Our research found 28% of consumers are frustrated when they’re unable to ask questions to get more information. The good news is that 96% of retail respondents in our industry survey say they’re using conversational commerce for two-way customer communications.
Well over half are using chatbots through text messaging and/or on their websites. Additionally, more than 40% say they use social media direct messaging (DMs), OTT channels like WhatsApp, or digital voice assistants.
While the goal of conversational commerce is to engage consumers and increase sales, supporting that experience with helpful information can increase conversions.
INFORMED RETAIL
One of the many ways retailers stand to benefit from AI is by providing consumers with answers to basic logistics questions. Wondering when to expect a package? Why not ask an AI chatbot for an update?
Our survey found more than half of consumers (52.3%) would trust AI for basic order tracking and shipping information. Around a quarter wouldn’t be comfortable, and 22% are unsure if they’d trust the AI.
A generational breakdown shows younger consumers were more likely to say “Yes” to trusting AI for retail information.
• Generation Z: 67%
• Millennials: 63%
• Generation X: 54%
• Baby boomers: 38%
informed healthcare
Just how important are those appointment reminders from healthcare providers?
Around 25% of consumers told us they’d be somewhat likely to miss an appointment without a reminder message. Another 7% admitted they’d be very likely to miss the appointment. That’s 32% in total.
Imagine if nearly one out of every three patients missed their scheduled appointment. That could cause an operational nightmare of rescheduling and rearranging.
These informational messages, which are often delivered via text message, benefit the business as well as the recipient. “No shows” in healthcare may lead to lost revenue, wasted time/resources, longer wait times, and even negative impacts on patient health.
INFORMED HEALTHCARE
There are many other informational messages that help guide the patient experience in healthcare. That includes everything from post-visit follow ups and medication refill updates to reminders to schedule preventive care.
Nearly 55% of consumers want these reminders and say that they are helpful. Additionally, almost 30% want the ability to choose the types of informational healthcare messages they receive.
Keep in mind that around 15% of patients would prefer not to receive these communications. So, make sure you let people opt in and opt out.
informed financial services
Sinch research shows 43% of consumers find account balance updates to be at least somewhat important and 37% say the same about notifications on their savings goals.
We also learned that receiving informational messages too frequently is a common frustration. So, how often do these customers want to be updated on personal finances?
Results suggest the sweet spot for this information is somewhere between weekly and monthly updates. More than 50% of people chose one of those cadences. However, it’s probably best to let customers and clients set the frequency they find most convenient.
Customer Story
The EasyPark mobile app helps people around the world solve the problem of finding and paying for parking.
Watch this Sinch customer story to find out how informational texts drive the overall customer experience and see how EasyPark uses both SMS and RCS to deliver important customer updates to its users.
