TransUnion Research Finds Outdated Contact Data Negatively Impacts Customer Contactability, While Increasing Susceptibility to Compliance And Other Risks

Close to half of consumers maintain inactive email accounts and one in five changed mobile phone numbers in the past two years

CHICAGO, Aug. 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) research featured in a newly released eBook shows outdated and changing customer contact data used across the omnichannel experience is a key factor in enterprises’ inability to reach customers.

Prior research showed close to 90% of business calls to consumers go unanswered and only one in five emails are opened. The challenge is largely due to enterprises calling inactive phone numbers, sending emails to blocked or inactive accounts and/or mailing to outdated physical addresses. As a result, many businesses are left with operational inefficiencies, reduced revenue, an increased susceptibility to compliance violation risk, and a poor customer experience.

“Enterprises have a lot of customer contact data, but what matters is the accuracy and quality of that information,” said Robert McKay, TransUnion senior vice president, TruContact Customer Contact Intelligence solutions. “By leveraging predictive intelligence on how, when and where to reach customers, our solutions provide enterprises with insights that help them strategically connect with customers efficiently and effectively — resulting in improved communication and overall engagement.”

As part of the research, TransUnion surveyed 1,510 U.S. adults to better understand how often they change their phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses. The compete findings—including implications for financial institutions—are available in the eBook, “Can’t Find Your Customers? A Roadmap for Optimizing Connections.”

The TransUnion research indicates that among participants:

• 63% have multiple email addresses;
• 45% did not delete inactive email addresses within the past year
  • 64% of those with inactive accounts rarely or never log in to check those inactive accounts;
• Younger generations are more likely to have given up inactive accounts, reflecting a changing attitude toward email;
• 18% currently use email masking, a feature that allows users to protect their email from misuse;
• 52% plan to use a feature to hide their email address;
• 21.5% changed their mobile phone number within the past two years; and
• Nearly one in five have moved in the past 12 months. Of those, 29% changed their email addresses and 41% changed their mobile phone numbers.

Ensuring customer contact data is fresh and active with the assistance of solutions like TransUnion’s TruContact Email Behavior Intelligence and TruContact Phone Behavior Intelligence can help drive an increase in right-party contact rates, customer engagement, and revenues. It can also supplement current efforts to reduce privacy, compliance and financial risks. Learn more about other TransUnion TruContact Customer Contact Solutions, powered by Neustar here.