The technologies that enable customer experience (CX), such as customer relationship management (CRM), customer data and analytics, personalization & optimization, contact center solutions, and employee experience (EX) solutions, are all integral to companies aspiring to build strong CX programs. However, according to a new report from Dash Research, it is the use of customer insights & feedback technologies that provides the ignition for all of these solutions. These tools provide the direct link between not only customer and company, but also employee. The flow of customer information, both directly asked for and gathered through indirect sources, is critical to the success of CX.

Dash Research forecasts that the global market for customer insights & feedback software and services will grow from $5.4 billion in 2021 to nearly $8.0 billion by 2026, an increase of 48%. The CX market intelligence firm anticipates that insights & feedback platforms will represent 55% of the revenue mix during the forecast period, with services constituting 25% and applications composing 20% of the total.

“Customer insights & feedback has long evolved past simple surveys and outreach,” says senior analyst Sherril Hanson. “There has been an explosion in customer data type and channel options and vendors have responded by offering a wide range of comprehensive solutions to support not just engaging and easy to set up data collection, but also sophisticated data analytics, insight generation, relevant dashboards, and tools to enable those insights to turn into action.”

Hanson adds that at times, this platform evolution is at odds with the widely varying levels of CX maturity in the industry, with some companies lacking the operational processes or company-wide culture to take their CX program to the next level. Consumer sentiment toward feedback is likewise evolving with high expectations placed upon companies to provide timely and empathic responses. Customers want the opportunity to be heard and acknowledged, but on their own terms and via their own channel choice. They also want action taken quickly and in a focused, personalized manner.

Dash Research’s analysis finds that the key market drivers spurring the purchase of customer insights & feedback software and services include the following:

• The move to digital has created an enormous number of channels and sources for feedback.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies allow for the streamlining of analysis, more successful leveraging of unstructured data, and the development of more novel collection methods.
• Consumer expectations for quick response are spurring strong interest in technologies that enable insights to action/closing the feedback loop.
• Insight and feedback technologies provide the needed link between EX and CX.
• A high need exists to better prioritize initiatives and identify churn risk.

However, there are many barriers for organizations when attempting to deploy customer insights & feedback solutions, many of which are internal and operational. The key barriers tempering the growth of customer insights & feedback include the following:

• Lack of CX maturity in organizations.
• Too much outreach can alienate end users.
• Inability to move beyond collection and metrics.
• Internal technologies and priorities lead to data silos hindering information flow.

Dash Research’s report, “Customer Insights & Feedback”, focuses on the customer insights & feedback software platforms, applications, and services that are offered to help companies achieve excellent CX. These solutions are an integral part of a customer’s experience and, if done correctly, will be a positive engagement, resulting in less churn, deeper loyalty, and the potential for customers to turn into promoters. From a company viewpoint, successful deployments can boost CX metrics, which are often then linked to an improved return on investment (ROI). Further, these technologies help companies prioritize and focus on the actions that will cause the greatest positive effect and identify other internal points of friction that affect EX. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

About Dash Research

Dash Research, the market intelligence arm of Dash Network, provides in-depth research and insights on the worldwide CX market including a comprehensive assessment of technology solutions, business issues, market drivers, and end-user dynamics across industry sectors. Dash Research’s global market coverage combines qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to provide a complete view of emerging business opportunities surrounding contact center technologies, customer data & analytics, customer data platforms, customer insights & feedback, customer relationship management, personalization & optimization, and employee experience. For more information, visit www.dashresearch.com or call +1.720.603.1700.