2025 State of Customer Communications Research

Keypoint Intelligence has released its 2025 State of Customer Communications Research, a three-part research program examining how consumers, enterprises, and marketing decision-makers create, deliver, and experience customer communications as preferences shift across print, digital, mobile, and emerging AI-enabled channels. Based on three connected surveys with insights from more than 2,000 respondents, the research benchmarks how communication strategies and investments are evolving, including the rising importance of trust, choice, and relevance.

The research includes:

• Consumer Communication Preferences Study
• Enterprise Transactional Communications Study
• Direct Marketing Communications Study

Across all three, the research finds customer communications are in transition, shaped by rising digital volume, fragmented channel behavior, shifting trust dynamics, and expanding AI experimentation.

Consumer Findings: Clarity, Choice, and Trust

Consumers continue to favor digital convenience, but engagement depends on confidence, relevance, and readability, especially for sensitive or high-stakes information.

Key takeaways:

• Trust is a leading driver of whether messages are opened, read, or acted on.
• Message overload is reducing attention, with communications ignored when they lack relevance or value.
• Print remains important for high-stakes communications such as statements, financial notices, and healthcare information where comprehension matters.
• Channel flexibility is expected, with preferences varying by message type, urgency and age.
  
  

Enterprise Findings: Modernization and Complexity

Organizations report increasing system and channel complexity, prompting efforts to modernize workflows, improve consistency, and meet compliance requirements.

Key takeaways:

• Disconnected platforms remain common, increasing the focus on integration, automation, and workflow modernization.
• Investment priorities are shifting toward digital delivery, preference management, personalization, and analytics.
• Outsourcing continues to grow, particularly for print and mail production, digital delivery, compliance support, and omnichannel execution.
• Early AI adoption is underway, supporting automation, fraud and risk detection, content support, customer service, and channel optimization.
  
  

Marketing Findings: Personalization With Expectations

Marketing leaders continue to pursue personalization, but consumers remain cautious about privacy and how AI is used, raising expectations for responsible practices.

Key takeaways:

• Personalization and segmentation are key priorities, focused on relevance and timing across channels.
• Consumers are most receptive to AI when it improves clarity, usefulness, and speed without feeling intrusive.
• Top concerns include privacy and data misuse, along with incorrect or misleading content.

“Across every study, one theme is clear,” said Anne Valaitis, Principal Analyst at Keypoint Intelligence. “Organizations are under pressure to modernize workflows and adopt intelligent technologies, but consumers continue to value clarity, trust, and control. The winners will be the brands that design communication journeys around how people actually behave, not just around how systems deliver.”

The full 2025 State of Customer Communications Research, including detailed data, analysis, and recommendations, is available for purchase. To request access or schedule a briefing with the research team, contact Keypoint Intelligence.