Not in My Name – how SMBs can avoid being caught up in the nuisance communications scourge

The information age has brought many small and medium businesses (SMBs) closer to their customers than ever before, with email, social media and SMS allowing for immediate, low-cost communication. But this access has come alongside constantly evolving consumer expectations. SMBs may not have the resources of their larger competitors, but consumers still expect any contact to be relevant, informative and – most of all – pleasant.

Antony Paul, Global Product Head at Quadient, explains how, with year-on-year complaints around nuisance calls increasing by 31%, businesses need to make sure they don’t cross the line from helpful communications into pestering. Worse, consumers are equally unforgiving of mistakes, no matter the size of the culprit.  Antony believes SMBs must ensure their communications are consistent, accurate and adaptable – helping them to establish and maintain customer trust.

Making a nuisance:

Nuisance communications, such as junk mail or spam, are a prime example of this. This isn’t a new issue – after all, the first spam email was sent in 1978. But it is one that moves with the times so fluidly that it can present a constant thorn in the side for both consumers and businesses, and whose impact can be hard to track.

For instance, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) tracks complaints of nuisance communications, including spam emails, texts and calls. Our own deep dive into this data showed that 2023 was the first year this decade that included spam emails in the total. When we consider that spam has been an issue for more than four decades, one question springs to mind – what other channels don’t we know about?

When a new channel opens up for legitimate businesses, the spammers and scammers inevitably follow. Thanks to this the ICO’s data can only be seen as a snapshot, but it still presents a concerning picture. While complaints about most types of nuisance communications fell, the inclusion of emails mean year-on-year complaints increased by 31%, meaning the scale of the issue is much larger than previously realised. And the end result is frustrated customers, whose trust is on the line. Whether they’re one of the 219 who reported nuisance communications about pensions, the 7,817 complaining about broadband and telecoms, or the 2,907 being bombarded with recruitment texts and emails, consumer patience will inevitably wear thin.

Part of the problem, or part of the solution?

Many will assume “nuisance” communications come from spammers and scammers, but not will be malicious. Without the right tools, resources and expertise, it can be very difficult for organisations to know when helpful, proactive communication crosses the line into pestering. SMBs who cannot afford the sophisticated customer experience (CX) and mailing strategies and technologies their larger competitors invest in are particularly vulnerable to this.

Yet even an organisation that isn’t contributing to nuisance communications can be tarred by association. Consumers dealing with junk and spam from multiple sources are unlikely to consider who exactly the culprits are, and instead will become hardened to any communications.

To avoid being associated with the spammers and scammers, SMBs need to ensure that their communications are clear, appropriate and, above all, trustworthy.

Best of the best practice

SMBs may lack the resources to implement an in-depth CX and communications strategy. But there are still steps to take that can help instil trust in consumers.

First is consistency. Whatever message an SMB sends, and whichever channel it uses to send it, the language, branding, and message should always be familiar. After all, many “nuisance” communications are because the recipient doesn’t understand who is messaging them, or what they are trying to say. The more a consumer recognises that a message is from an organisation they trust, the less likely they are to associate that message and organisation with malicious actors or plain irritants. Similarly, a consistent approach to communications makes it easier to know when an SMB has already made contact with a customer – avoiding follow-up messages that might seem like nuisances to the recipient.

Second is accuracy. Not only in the content of messages, which should go without saying. But in the customer data used to make contact. Being called by the wrong name, receiving another person’s messages, or finding your own potentially sensitive information has been sent to someone else, is a surefire way for consumers to lose trust. Reviewing and cleaning data so it is 100% accurate and there are no duplicates also has the benefit of preventing multiple contacts with customers and reduces the risk of falling foul of GDPR and other privacy regulations – all of which helps protect customer trust.

Finally, there is adaptability. Inevitably, any communications strategy will need to take new channels into account as organisations move to where their customers are. When this happens, SMBs need to be confident that they can use these new channels, while maintaining consistency and accuracy, from day one.

Levelling the playing field 

SMBs face a number of challenges. Consumers are increasingly intolerant of what they deem sub-standard communications. And they are unlikely to differentiate between organisations with more or fewer resources when making their displeasure known. If SMBs can ensure their communication strategy is consistent, accurate and adaptable – either alone or with a trusted partner – they will be in a better place to win and keep their customers’ trust.