One size does not fit all: Canadians want tailored communications

TELUS/IDC study reports more than 60 per cent of Canadians want new ways to communicate with retail and financial service providers

Toronto, ON – The face of customer interaction in Canada is changing. Personal banking is done on the morning commute, customer support is available around the clock and accessibility often trumps location for service providers. Although customer interaction and communications are evolving, one item remains constant - service is central to the future consumer.
A new study from TELUS in partnership with IDC Canada shares insight into shifting communications expectations of Canadian consumers. The Future Consumer research further discusses implications for service interaction with Canadian retail and financial service organizations. Key findings of the research include:

• One third of Canadians are looking for new ways to communicate with their bank and the majority want to do so in a personalized manner.
• Almost half of Canadians who have a cell phone cannot live without it.
• Age is not a determinant of customer communication preferences.
• The majority of Canadians agree that overall value is the most important factor for recommending a business.
• More than one third of Canadians typically research online when considering purchases of consumer goods including automobiles, music and videos, books, toys, furniture and home furnishings and home renovation products.

The Future Consumer white papers from TELUS and IDC feature new Canadian research to help Canadian retailers and financial service providers better understand communication preferences of their ‘future consumer'. What does this mean for Canadian service providers? They need to adapt to changing customer expectations to deliver a differentiated customer experience.

“The ability to deliver value across customer segments is a strong differentiator for businesses in Canada,” said Ismail Pishori, vice-president of Vertical Marketing at TELUS. “A diverse customer base and the growing competition in today's retail and financial service markets require Canadian organizations to re-examine consumer-facing strategies to differentiate and strategically target consumers.”

Dr. Robert Kerton, professor of Consumer Economics at the University of Waterloo and a consumer issues expert, closely studies the evolution of Canadian consumer habits. “Canadians crave authentic, two-way dialogue and open communications with organizations,” said Kerton. “Effective listening is the first key to a firm's success. For consumers with newer technology, recent research reveals that when they choose their retail and financial service providers they assign increased importance to communication styles, frequency, and approaches.”

The Future Consumer white papers provide further insight into rapidly evolving consumer segments, and how these segments want to interact with service providers. The research confirms that for financial service providers and retailers to provide a positive customer experience, they must balance communication between the tech savvy and traditional consumers for at least the next 10 years. The customer segments are based on communication preferences for customer interaction and the majority of future consumers fall into four categories:

Integrated: Tend to be male and comfortable with all new forms of communication technologies in daily life including laptops, using smart phones and engaging in social networking. They are the first adopters of new communication methods and use the Internet aggressively for information and advice.

Social Networkers: Majority are females and they are enthusiastic adopters of new forms of Internet-based communication tools, and the highest users of social networking, blogs, IM and e-mail.

On the Move: Majority are male students and they are distinguished by their strong adoption of new communication forms based in mobile devices.

Urban Established: The group is tech savvy, but adopts new channels slowly into their lifestyle. They respond to multiple channel approaches to enhance their customer experience including email promotions and notifications.

To further help Canadian businesses better understand how to enhance their customer experience, TELUS Business Solutions has worked with IDC Global Retail & Financial Insights to develop a Customer Experience Assessment Tool. To find out more about this research or the Assessment Canadian businesses can visit www.telus.com/futureconsumer

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.7 billion of annual revenue and 11.8 million customer connections including 6.3 million wireless subscribers, 4.1 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 100,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $137 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

For more information, please contact:
Jeremy Baxter
TELUS Media Relations
(604) 643-4059
jeremy.baxter@telus.com