We often hear about the customer experience but what does it really mean and why is it so important? Basically, customer experience boils down to all the interactions a consumer has with your brand. This can include interactions on your website experience, with customer service, during purchase and check-out, through email, a mobile app or on your social media sites. It is the relationship between you and your customer.
In research by PWC, the importance of the customer experience is put into great perspective. Take a look at some of these fascinating stats:
1. 73% of all consumers say customer experience an important factor in their purchasing decisions. Yet only 49% of U.S. consumers say companies provide a good customer experience today.
2. 43% of all consumers would pay more for greater convenience and 42% would pay more for a friendly, welcoming experience.
3. Among U.S. customers, 65% find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising.
4. Nearly 80% of American consumers point to speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service as the most important elements of a positive customer experience.
5. More than 40% of respondents in PwC’s survey say they would pay extra for same-day delivery.
6. Consumers are willing to pay more for good experience. While every industry saw a potential price bump for providing a positive customer experience, luxury and indulgence purchases benefit the most with coffee up to 16% for customers.
7. For a service they say they truly valued, 63% of respondents said they’d be more open to sharing their data. However, 88% of U.S. consumers say that how much they trust a company determines how much they’re willing to share personal information.
While great experiences can lead to great results, bad experiences can be costly:
8. In the U.S. 59% will walk away after several bad experiences, 17% after just one bad experience. One in three consumers (32%) say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience.
9. The personal element remains important in how consumers perceive experiences. 64% of consumers feel companies have lost touch with the human element of customer experience. 71% of Americans would rather interact with a human than a chatbot or some other automated process.
10. 46% of all consumers will abandon a brand if the employees are not knowledgeable. Only 38% of U.S. consumers say the employees they interact with understand their needs.
With the pandemic, the way consumers and brands interact with each other has been transformed. This is placing more focus on customer experiences, particularly the digital experience.
11. According to research by Acquia, brands are trying new things to engage customers online, which in turn, is driving CX innovation. 48% of brands created new content for customers, and 45% diversified the digital channels they use to interact.
12. A Gartner CMO study found that 68% of CMOs intend to increase spending on martech, and digital initiatives are expected to account for 80% of multi-channel budgets.
13. Portions of this budget will be geared towards improving a customer’s interactions with a brand. In Acquia’s research, brands are planning on the following areas of spend:
- Marketing automation platforms (63%): These allow brands to automate personalized communications across digital properties and channels.
- Customer data platforms (54%): A CDP gathers, cleanses, dedupes, stitches, and enriches data into a holistic customer record in order to offer personalized experiences.
- AI and machine learning (44%): Enable marketers to get better insights from the data they have.
- Personalization (43%): These tools collect customer data and build visitor profiles that can be used to deliver outcomes such as tailored website content.
14. However, skills gap and talent shortage make it harder for some organizations to deliver an effective CX strategy. 43% of companies struggle with a lack of data analysts and data scientists, and 40% cite a lack of machine learning engineers. (Acquia)
15. 33% of organizations report that reductions in workforce in response to COVID-19 have strained workloads and made it challenging to build better digital marketing campaigns. (Acquia)
With the escalation of ecommerce and digital channels, getting the customer experience right will be more imperative. Brands will need to invest in the right technology and talent to adapt and win the ever-changing economy.
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