Eight of 10 Americans have little patience for merchants who don’t answer the phone - and for the key demographic for buying most home and professional services (adults 35-44) that figure rises to nearly 88%, according to a study conducted in August for FastCall411 by Synovate.

According to the survey, four out of five Americans (82%) regard “immediate availability” by phone as an “important” or the “most important” consideration in selecting a local service provider (e.g., plumber, locksmith):

• 28% overall described immediate availability as the “most important” factor - 31% of women, 25% of men.
• 54% described immediate availability as “important, but other factors matter almost as much” - men more than women (57% to 51%).
• 13% of the sample said “other factors may be more important” - cited equally by men and women.

Additional key findings from the survey:

• There is a disparity in consumers attitudes, based on age:
  • The youngest group is relatively less likely to put a premium on instant response - 65.5% of those 18-24 ranked immediate availability as essential or “important” vs. 87.5 of those 35-44, the group that values it most.
  • More than any other age group, those 55 to 64 regard immediate availability as the “most important” consideration (34%).
• Those on the lowest rung of the income ladder - making less than $25,000 annually - regard immediate availability as “the most important” consideration (33%), compared with 26% for those with incomes above $75,000.
• A higher percentage of those who aren’t married ranked immediate availability as “most important” (31% vs. 26% of marrieds)
• The demographic difference on the issue of customer service is most pronounced by race:
  • 26% of white Americans described immediate availability of local service providers as “most important.”
  • 40% of non-whites described immediate availablity as their top concern.
• While 81% of respondents who own their own homes consider immediate availability of local service providers: (26% “most important” and 55 “important”).

The implications of the study, according to Richard Rosen, founder and CEO of FastCall411, are two:

1. “Voice mail, answering machines, unreturned calls, and unanswered ringing will send your customer straight to a competitor.”
2. “The message to online local directories is equally clear: clean up your list. Your users have no patience with online searches that turn up six bad, disconnected or wrong numbers out of every 10.”