The landscape of customer communications has evolved since our last annual review. For many organisations, the same challenges and opportunities exist – similar cost, operational and regulatory pressures are still very much apparent. But technological developments in AI, increased data security requirements and disruption in physical mail have changed the game somewhat.
At our Beyond Compliance event in October 2024, industry leaders and practitioners came together to discuss these changes and share insights on navigating the increasingly complex world of customer communications.
The consensus among speakers and attendees was clear: while digital transformation remains crucial, organisations must now balance innovation with heightened security concerns, changing postal services, and the emergence of AI as both an opportunity and a challenge. The pressure to deliver excellent customer experience while maintaining security and compliance has never been greater.
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One striking revelation from our October event came from our audience polling. A staggering 84% of attendees reported either experiencing a data breach notification themselves or knowing someone who had. Even more concerning, when asked about their organisation's readiness for these kinds of incidents, 46% didn't know if their company had a consumer response plan in place, while only 12% confirmed they had none.
These statistics paint a sobering picture of the current state of data security in customer communications. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, organisations must shift from reactive to proactive security measures.
Our 2024 Voice of Consumer report, Communication Calibration, found 68% of consumers frequently worry about data security. According to IT Governance data there were 2,814 data breaches in 2023, with over 8 trillion breached records.
Jim Steven, Head of Crisis & Data Breach Response at Experian emphasised that the numbers of attacks are only going to grow – so for all organisations, it’s not a case of if but when.
While consumers care about data security, many feel overwhelmed or fatigued by technical information, leading to a lack of engagement on this topic. How should you communicate a data breach to customers when take-up rates are less than one in six?
To overcome inertia, organisations can simplify and personalise their communication around security measures.
The implications for customer communications are clear: security can no longer be treated as a separate concern from customer experience. Organisations must integrate security considerations into every aspect of their communication strategy, from channel selection to content delivery.
Organisations face a fundamental tension in their adoption of AI for customer communications: while AI technology offers unprecedented capabilities for personalisation and efficiency, these very capabilities are often met with resistance from the customers they're designed to benefit.
The tools that could most improve customer experience are the ones customers are most wary of trusting.
Our Communication Calibration consumer report highlighted this disconnect. Customers increasingly expect instant responses, 24/7 availability, and highly personalised service – all of which AI is uniquely positioned to deliver. Yet these same customers express deep skepticism about AI handling their personal information or making decisions about their accounts.
The challenge for organisations isn't just technological – it's about building trust while delivering innovation.
The path forward appears to lie in transparency and controlled implementation. When organisations are open about their use of AI and give customers clear control over how it's used in their interactions, acceptance increases significantly.
The organisations seeing the most success are those that use AI to augment rather than replace human interaction, creating an "AI-enhanced human touch."
As our speaker Morgan Lewis, a senior associate in Brabners’s commercial and IP team, explained at our event, the AI market is worth more than £16.8 billion (US International Trade Administration), and is expected to grow to £801.6 billion by 2035. The artificial has already got real – AI technology is here to stay.
In anticipation of the EU AI Act’s impact on UK businesses, Lewis advised our audience to:
As the regulatory environment continues to evolve, and the UK's approach to AI regulation takes shape, this has implications for how organisations can implement AI in their customer communications.
Cross-border considerations have become more complex, particularly for organisations operating in both the UK and EU markets. The challenge lies in maintaining compliance across jurisdictions while delivering consistent customer experiences.
The reduction in Royal Mail's universal service obligation and significant price increases have forced organisations to rethink their physical mail strategies. With postal costs rising by double digits and delivery frequency reduced in many areas, businesses must optimise their use of physical mail while ensuring they don't alienate customers who prefer this channel.
This disruption has accelerated the adoption of hybrid mail solutions, which offer a bridge between digital and physical communications and digital mailroom technologies that can adapt to varying delivery schedules while maintaining cost efficiency.
The key to success in this new landscape appears to be flexibility – maintaining physical mail capabilities while building in the agility to shift between channels as needed. I.e. a robust multi-channel communications infrastructure and careful attention to customer preferences and behaviour patterns.
One of the most pressing questions raised during our October event was how to balance cost considerations with customer channel preferences.
The answer lies in sophisticated channel optimisation strategies that consider both customer preference and operational efficiency. Not in forcing customers toward digital channels but in making digital options so compelling that customers naturally gravitate toward them.
This doesn’t mean a full switch to digital, nor replacing human interaction with chatbots. Some companies who’ve tried this have encountered resistance and negative customer reviews. Retailers who moved to app-only service lost customers who preferred the website or didn’t have smartphones. And utilities providers couldn’t solve their customers complex problems – like billing errors or service outages – through chatbots.
Our research shows that consumers also like to keep paper records of transactions, feeling that postal communications offer reassurance.
Our keynote speaker at the event, Tom Cheesewright, makes a living thinking about the future and advising organisations on how to alter strategies in order to innovate. He pointed out that our digital overload and lack of trust in technological communication are fueling a craving for ‘real’ interaction.
Consumers want the selective reintroduction of high-touch interactions. And by offering them, organisations can create opportunities for increased loyalty and reduced long-term service costs.
Cheesewright suspects that as AI becomes more able to mimic human behaviour, consumers will become more sophisticated at differentiating what is ‘real’.
The desire for human service is not going anywhere, which means the option for person-to-person touchpoints must remain a part of a multi-channel service.
Gerwyn Baker from Liberata, raised the point that councils have to take into account the needs of vulnerable people, those who are hard to reach, or speak different languages. Before any public or private sector organisation decides to go digital first, they must be conscious there are certain demographics that struggle with digital-only interactions.
The operational landscape for customer communications has grown more complex, with organisations needing to manage multiple channels, security requirements and regulatory obligations while controlling costs. Success requires a strategic approach to resource allocation and technology investment.
Organisations are increasingly adopting modular approaches to technology investment, focusing on solutions that can be implemented quickly while building toward longer-term transformation goals.
The state of customer communications in 2025 reflects a sector in transition, balancing multiple imperatives: security, efficiency, regulatory compliance, and customer experience.
Successfully navigating these pressures means taking an integrated approach to security, efficiency, and compliance rather than treating them as separate concerns.
Adopting a multichannel strategy and maintaining a consistent experience across all touchpoints will keep customers on side. More than that, employing diverse communication channels is good for operational resilience and disaster recovery. As does partnering with suppliers who can demonstrate both technical capability and regulatory understanding.
Success means organisations assessing their current communication strategies and effectively balancing security with innovation. The path forward isn't about wholesale change but about smart, incremental improvements that add up to significant transformation.
In other words: small steps, everyone.
