Consumer Insights: Key Factors to Restoring Trust in Voice

A new eBook from TNS: “Consumer Insights: Spoof Protection and Call Authentication are Key to Restoring Trust in the Voice Channel” explores the insights provided by a recent TNS commissioned independent survey among US consumers. The survey gathered perceptions and the current mood around robocalls and identifies areas in which consumers believe businesses could be doing more to protect their customers.

TNS data shows that in 2023 American citizens were subjected to almost 60 billion unwanted robocalls. Data from the Federal Trade Commission highlights that American consumer’s lost $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, and that the highest median loss of $1,400 per head was through scam calls. With statistics as astonishing as that, it’s small wonder that consumers are demanding that enterprises do more to protect them.

So, what did consumers have to say?

AI is a Growing Concern

Bad actors are becoming more sophisticated and innovative in the ways they attempt to defraud their victims, including using artificial intelligence (AI) generated deepfake calls, such as the ‘imposter grandchild’ scam. And the survey responses suggest that bad actors making use of AI is a growing concern among consumers:

• 73% of consumers are concerned about AI-generated deepfake robocalls that mimic the voice of a loved one to try and scam them out of money.
• Over half of all respondents have received, or know somebody who has received, an AI-generated deepfake robocall

The eBook goes deeper, exploring not only emerging threats such as AI, but explores the observations of US consumers when it comes to the level of protection offered by the businesses they use – do consumers believe businesses are doing enough?  Enterprises may come away asking themselves ‘when it comes to the voice channel, are we doing enough to restore trust and modernize the customer experience?’

The Scale of the Problem

US consumers are subject to an onslaught of potentially fraudulent calls that have eroded trust in the voice channel. Yet, for enterprises, the voice channel is still an important part of their revenue mix, and a vital cog in customer outreach. However, it’s getting harder for enterprises to reach customers, with 68% of Americans stating that they refuse to answer calls from unknown numbers.

It’s estimated that 70% of scam calls in the US are facilitated through number spoofing to deceive victims. Typical spoofing examples including neighborhood spoofing – when a call has your area code – or brand spoofing, when scammers use a well known enterprise telephone number.

The problem for businesses is that they often don’t know their numbers have been spoofed until it’s too late and their reputation has been damaged, penalties applied, trust broken, and customers defrauded.

The Business Case for Spoof Protection and Enterprise-level Authentication

The good news is that there is common ground. Businesses, regulators and consumers are on the same page and are striving toward a common goal – increased protection for consumers.

Consumers are willing to pay a premium for services from organizations they feel adequately protect them.

• 80% of Americans would prefer to use enterprises that use branded calling solutions to protect customers.
• 3 in 4 consumers would pay more for services from an organization that offered the highest levels of customer protection.

For businesses looking to offer the highest levels of customer protection, and restore trust in the voice channel, selecting the correct tools is vital. With number and brand spoofing playing such a prevalent role in fraudulent activity, a good foundation would be to invest in tools, TNS Enterprise Authentication and Spoof Protection, that help eliminate spoofing and protects the consumer and business.

To modernize the customer experience, boost call answer rates (read how one financial services company increased call answer rates by a staggering 133%) and enjoy greater brand trust, forward thinking enterprises trust TNS Enterprise Branded Calling. If you choose TNS you’re in good company, TNS supports over 2,500 enterprises and has delivered more than 1 billion branded calls.

For additional information on TNS Enterprise Authentication and Spoof Protection visit: https://tnsi.com/enterprise-authentication-spoof-protection/

To take a deeper dive into recent consumer insights, you can download the eBook below.

Jim Tyrrell is Vice President of Enterprise Product Management at TNS with specific responsibility for TNS’ Communications Market solutions