Marketing research and insights news and information. This issue's keywords: customer service; technology; entertainment; airline etiquette; parenting

E-mail delivers faster and more accurate customer service in retail compared to social media and other channels, shows a study by customer engagement software company Eptica, Boston, where retailers surveyed could only answer 20 percent of Twitter questions and 54 percent of Facebook messages, versus replying to 73 percent of e-mails received. E-mail responses were also found to be over three times faster on average than social media, though there was a gap between retailer performance and consumer expectations. Fifty-eight percent of consumers would like to receive an e-mail reply within two hours but the average response time was about eight hours. Eighty-five percent of consumers expected an answer on Facebook within six hours but retailers took over 27 hours on average. On Twitter, 64 percent of consumers wanted an answer within 60 minutes but it took retailers on average over 31 hours to respond.

A recent survey by The Harris Poll shows that many American adults are divided on how technology impacts our lives, with 71 percent saying they believe technology has improved the overall quality of their lives and 68 percent say it encourages people to be more creative. Conversely, 73 percent believe technology is creating a lazy society and the same percentage believes technology has become too distracting, while 69 percent say it is corrupting interpersonal communications and 59 percent believe it is having a negative impact on literacy. Sixty-three percent say technology has a positive effect on their ability to learn new skills, while 46 percent say the same about their relationship with friends, 45 percent say it has a positive effect on their ability to live life the way they want and 43 percent say it has a positive effect on their happiness. Additionally, many Americans say they could only make it a week or less without Internet access (67 percent), a computer/laptop (60 percent), mobile phone (59 percent) or television (55 percent). 

Teenagers (ages 13 to 18) use an average of nine hours of entertainment media per day and tweens (ages 8 to 12) use an average of six hours a day, not including time spent using media for school or homework according to a report by San Francisco non-profit organization Common Sense Media. On average among teens, 39 percent of digital screen time (computers, tablets and smartphones) is used for passive consumption (watching, listening or reading), 25 percent is used for interactive content (playing games, browsing the Web), 26 percent for communication (social media, videochatting) and 3 percent for content creation (writing, coding or making digital art or music). Tweens engage in TV most often, with 62 percent doing so every day, while teens listen to music most often, with 66 percent doing so every day.

An airline etiquette study released by Expedia, Bellevue, Wash., asked Americans to rank the most frustrating behaviors exhibited by fellow passengers. "Rear seat kickers" topped the list of most aggravating co-passengers, with 61 percent of Americans citing them, followed by 59 percent who cited "inattentive parents" and 50 percent citing the "aromatic passenger" who exhibits poor hygiene or is in some other way giving off a strong scent. Three-quarters of Americans said "small talk is fine" but they prefer to keep to themselves most of the flight, though 16 percent said they use flights as an "opportunity to meet and talk to new people" - a subgroup whom 66 percent of Americans said they would "dread" sitting next to. Additionally, 32 percent of Americans said they would either prefer to have reclining seats banned entirely or at least restricted to set times during short-haul flights, though only 31 percent of Americans refuse to recline their own seats.

Parents across seven countries (U.S., U.K., France, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Mexico) who are in charge of getting their children to bed say it takes an average of 17.5 minutes each night to do so, according to a study conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, New York, on behalf of Netflix. Additionally, 61 percent of parents say their children have come up with creative tactics to delay their bedtime and 44 percent further agree those stall tactics frequently work. The most common age cited for when children begin to display those stall tactics across markets is between 3 (23 percent) and 4 (20 percent), although 18 percent say their child's stall tactics started as early as age 2 or again not until age 5 (14 percent). When it comes to the types of stall tactics, the "just five more minutes" negotiator (42 percent) or the "super starved/so thirsty" routine (41 percent) are most commonly witnessed by parents across all markets, followed by the use of flattery (33 percent) or their children acting "slow as snails" (31 percent).

These reports were compiled from recent issues of the Daily News Queue, a free e-newsletter digest of marketing research and insights news and information delivered each business morning. Not already in the Queue? Sign up here!