Email is the slowest and least useful way for customers to communicate with companies, according to research.

The study carried out by vendor Transversal polled 100 companies and found that less than half (46 per cent) of customer service questions received via email were answered satisfactorily. Some 28 per cent of firms – the majority from the insurance sector – failed to respond at all to emailed questions.

The average time to respond to emails is nearly two days. By comparison, 55 per cent of customer phone calls to call centres are answered within two minutes.

“With consumers increasingly demanding personalised service, email should be at the forefront of delivering tailored responses that help convert browsers into customers,” said Transversal director of marketing Dee Roche.

“Some organisations are doing this extremely well but the general picture is of lazy, generic replies – if companies eventually respond.”