Branding phone calls improves customer trust

Digital channels offer convenience for consumers seeking help in making a purchase. But sometimes they just want to pick up a phone and talk to a human.

Nearly 80% of consumers said phones were important when communicating with a business, according to a study by TransUnion and research firm Toluna.

But consumers also distrust incoming calls for good reason. That’s why in addition to caller ID, some mobile marketing platforms are offering branded calls.

Branded calls. Branded call services allow rich content to be displayed on mobile screens during incoming phone calls. In TransUnion’s Branded Call Display service, marketers can include a brand logo, company name, location, a printed message and an authenticating check mark.

Twilio’s Branded Calling, built on its Caller ID Names service, allows marketers to include a logo, business name and reason for calling.

Branded calls globally are expected to grow from 1.5 billion in 2024 to over 50 billion in 2029, according to Juniper Research.

More trust. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of consumers said they would be likely to answer calls that displayed a company name and logo, the TransUnion study found in a survey of 1,556 U.S. consumers.

Calls without sufficient identification go unanswered or are blocked. A full 80% of respondents said they block numbers they don’t know. And 68% don’t answer because they assume the call is a robocall or from a solicitor. Also, 70% said they’d left a call unanswered only to find out later it was a legitimate call.

Preferring calls. Marketers might conclude they’d be better off contacting customers through other channels instead of calling them. However, there is a strong appetite for calls in some circumstances.

For instance, 65% of customers said they preferred a phone call from a bank or financial institution to handle suspected fraud on their accounts.

To authenticate calls, 87% of consumers say they want to see the company name. And 61% want to see the logo.

Multichannel approach. “To successfully reach customers, brands must leverage a multichannel outbound strategy which includes the phone,” said James Garvert, SVP of TruContact Communications Solutions at TransUnion.

Garvert pointed to a Forrester study that found while email and SMS are the most used channels for customer outreach, 87% fo consumers agreed that phone was “the most important outbound contact channel.”

“This means that aligning call and digital channel strategy is more crucial than ever,” Garvert said.

Why we care. Customers want omnichannel experiences that are seamless and trusted. It’s all about rising customer expectations. We’ve seen similar calls for authenticity in the realm of new AI agents. If trust falters on one channel, it affects the entire customer relationship. Branded calls provide reassurance so customers can get service on the channel they want, when they want.

Dig deeper: How genAI can fill the trust gap for brands