Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends (InfoTrends) recently completed its annual transactional communications survey of 2,000 consumers in the U.S. and Canada. After taking some time to analyze the results from our 2018 survey data, we’ve uncovered some surprising shifts in consumers’ opinions about paper-based and electronic communications. This article provides a brief overview of our most recent transactional communications survey findings and explores what these findings might mean for consumer preferences in the future.

Since InfoTrends began tracking the customer communications market, the transition from print messaging to paperless delivery has consistently lagged behind projections. Electronic adoption rates vary by industry, audience, and geography. The migration to digital increases by a few percentage points annually in some markets, but other areas have remained relatively stagnant for several years. Even in today’s digital age, many consumers are reluctant to give up paper statements. For one thing, they serve as a reminder to pay. For another, some enterprises have been quite slow to execute an effective digital delivery system. Some of the more traditionally-minded print service providers also haven’t done much to help their clients embrace new ways to communicate with customers. Finally, concerns about the security of electronic communications persist. For all of these reasons, the adoption of digital communications has been slower than anticipated.

Although government mandates have traditionally required enterprises in highly-regulated markets to deliver printed correspondence to their customers to maintain a paper trail and prove compliance, governments on a global basis have begun to relax these laws. As a result, the trend has begun to shift in favor of electronic messaging. When the barriers of regulation are eventually removed, the question of digital adoption will rest solely with the audience. To that end, enterprises have begun experimenting with a variety of methods to entice consumers to adopt digital messaging. Some have even started penalizing consumers who continue to receive printed versions of bills and statements. Despite these efforts, many believe that these methods will only be effective to a certain point because consumers believe that the transition to electronic messaging primarily benefits the sender. Nevertheless, the Millennial demographic is becoming a dominant recipient stakeholder in customer communications. As more of these “digital natives” enter the market, the transition toward electronic transactions will naturally grow.