• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 17, 2021

Email is the top brand communication, preferred by 33% of consumers in North America and Europe -- far outpacing any other channel, according to the Personalization Pulse Check Report 2021, a study released Thursday by MoEngage. 

Second is websites (18%), followed by social media (14) and mobile (12%).

This preference holds up across genders and even corporate titles, although mobile usage is growing among some groups.  

For instance, 35% of women ages 18 to 24 prefer email and 18% have a preference for mobile. But females above that age list websites as their second choice. 

In contrast, 28% men in the 18-24 cohort choose email, while 16 choose websites and 15% prefer mobile. And males over that age list websites and social media over mobile. 

Meanwhile, 33% female corporate board members prefer email and 16% mobile. Among men in that group, 28% cite email, 19% websites and 13% mobile. 

Moving to the C-suite, 24% of men at that level and 23% of women want email. But women prefer websites over mobile, at a margin of 23% to 14%, and men see those channels as equal, 17%-17%. 

Frequency is another matter. Overall, 39% of executives desire weekly brand communications -- 25% monthly, 16% daily and 5% quarterly. Another 14% don’t care how often they receive messages as long as they are relevant.  

And consumers don’t seem to mind that brands collect information on them. Across four global markets, 26% want experiences to be personalized based on previous purchase history data and 21% on known interests. 

What frustrates consumers? For starters, 27% are bothered when brands send inconsistent messaging in different channels. And 27% dislike receiving irrelevant content or product messages. 

"The research confirms our belief that the average consumer is well aware that brands are collecting information about them. All they are asking for in return is a more personalized customer experience from brands, regardless of which medium is used to communicate with them,” concludes Raviteja Dodda, CEO of MoEngage. “Now is the time for brands to deliver on that promise.”

MoEngage, a consumer engagement platform, surveyed 1,000 consumers across four markets: U.S., UK, Canada and Germany.