Merkle: Gaps Found Between Self-Assessment of Brands and Customer Perceptions
A new report from global CX management (CXM) company Merkle finds a big disconnect between the high marks that brands give to the CX quality they create versus the comparatively low grades awarded by consumers.
For instance, while most leaders (85%) give themselves high marks in CX maturity, only a small group meets best-practice benchmarks. Just 32% of respondents utilize data across the entire enterprise; less than 25% have migrated all customer data to the cloud; and only 24% manage all their campaign data in a central repository. These results highlight the rough patch that brands and consumers are experiencing and the critical pitfalls many companies need to address.
Related Article: Twilio Research: Significant Gap Revealed in CX Qualities Most Desired by Consumers
“Customers’ changing expectations and the need for data integration have long been documented, but even as brands attempt to deliver personalized experiences, there still remains a breakdown between what is ultimately delivered and what customers are actually seeking in these relationships,” says Courtney Trudeau, vice president of technology strategy at Merkle. “We’ve identified the tough conversations brands need to have to ensure they aren’t driving consumers away. Even the most brand loyal consumers aren’t safe if this disconnect in both priorities and business practices isn’t addressed.”
These and additional findings can be found in Merkle’s Q3 2022 Customer Engagement Report, highlighting priority areas for CX, data, and technology leaders.
Talkdesk: More Progress Needed for Healthcare Providers With Patient Engagement
At least 71% of healthcare leaders report having limited to no integration of their patient engagement capabilities, reveals the new report from contact center solutions provider Talkdesk, done in collaboration with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), a professional organization for senior healthcare IT leaders.
Fragmentation in patient interactions is a widespread problem for healthcare providers, the report says, and can lead to critical information gaps, failure to effectively address patient issues, and even worsened patient outcomes. The problem can also cause friction for patients as well as patient services staff, and survey respondents cite inconsistent (63%) and disjointed (58%) patient experiences as among their most pressing challenges.
“Consistently high-quality experiences before, between, and after clinical encounters are critical to the health and well-being of patients, but more progress is needed in the healthcare sector’s evolution to a journey that is truly patient-centric, transparent, and accessible,” says Lorren Pettit, vice president of CHIME digital health analytics. “Unifying the disparate components of patient interactions to deliver experiences that are straightforward and easy to navigate is a clear opportunity for bringing that vision to life.”
These and other findings are available from the new report, The Future of Patient Experience: Unifying Interactions in Healthcare, which examines the causes and far-reaching consequences of disconnected patient experiences, and sheds light on the barriers to technology consolidation.
SAS: Companies in the Middle East and Africa to Invest More in CX But Face Challenges
Companies in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region recognize the importance of CX, but many experience difficulty in collaborating successfully, according to a new survey jointly conducted by analytics and AI solutions firm SAS along with MIT Sloan Management Review Connections from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
By 2024, 84% of companies in the MEA region plan to increase their investment in solutions that improve CX. Of that figure, 62% intend to raise their investments by up to 50%, while the remaining 22% aim to increase current spending levels by more than double for technologies such as analytics, personalization, and smart assistants. Expectations are correspondingly high, as companies are forecasting a 100% increase in return on investment (ROI) from 19% at present to 38% during the next 24 months.
An important factor for successful CX is the allocation of responsibilities to cross-departmental teams that make recommendations to managers. Similarly, solutions and platforms that support collaboration are needed to create a single base of information and to centrally manage CX processes, the survey notes.
Companies in the region, however, face distinct challenges when trying to build momentum for CX collaboration. An indifferent organizational culture is one such issue, as is the strict adherence to ISO quality standards and similar requirements that leave many business leaders with little time or energy to focus on much else beyond the fulfillment of essential duties.
What will play a key role among CX technologies in the region during the next two years is straightforward access to a human and to live chat, 68% of MEA participants say, followed by personalization technology for 67% of the group, and cloud-based computing and edge computing, both tied at 66%.
IRIS: Contact Center Calls Are Failing Because of Background Noise
Many customer service calls fail because of contact center background noise, with 42% of all consumers hanging up immediately and abandoning calls, according to a new survey from IRIS, the provider of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software solution that removes background noise from VoIP and customer calls.
In a survey of 1,000 US and UK consumers on their interactions with call centers, all respondents indicated they use voice channels in some way for customer service inquiries. And with more than half (54%) saying they use voice only for critical issues, the failure of voice to deliver underscores the acute gravity of the problem, the report notes.
Noise around the agent is not the only problem; the caller’s location also has an impact on call success. Nearly 60% of consumers have hung up because they felt they were in an inconvenient location, the noisiest ones being public transport (39%), the street (36%), and at a place of work (31%). Repetition is likewise a key frustration for consumers, with ‘how to spell my name’ (45%), address (43%), and banking information (36%) as the most frustrating information to repeat. And both sides—87% of customers and 86% of agents—have had to repeat themselves because the other side could not hear what was being said.
“In an ideal world, consumers would phone a call center agent and there wouldn’t be any background noise on either side, but this isn’t the case,” says Jacobi Anstruther, founder and CEO of IRIS. “We know the power of voice and the survey clearly shows that ignoring its potential has significant ramifications on the customer and call center experience. The immediate abandonment of half of call center calls due to noise should raise red flags with call centers everywhere, if only because it’s a huge operating expense.”
Verint: Good CX in Retail Matters Given High Inflation Today
Quality CX in retail is key to earning the discretionary dollars of shoppers during this current period of high inflation, according to a new study from Verint, the New York-based provider of customer engagement management solutions.
With many consumers struggling with inflation and economic uncertainty, the survey shows the fiscal benefits of customer retention and keeping existing customers happy. More than 90% of consumers shop at their favorite mass-market retailer at least once a month, with 83% spending $50 or more on average.
Related Article: Is Cutting Customer Service the Answer for Companies to Cope with Rising Inflation?
Retailers that delight first-time shoppers can also benefit greatly. Three-quarters of consumers who tried a new mass market retailer for the first time in the past six months shopped there more than once, with 90% of first-time shoppers making purchases at least once a month thereafter.
After having an amazing customer experience, 88% are likely to make a repeat purchase, 82% are likely to recommend to friends or family, 68% are likely to join a loyalty program, and 63% say they are likely to write a positive review.
“At a time when global inflation has become one of the biggest issues facing consumers, leaving them with less disposable income, maintaining ‘share of wallet’ is critical for retailers,” says Jenni Palocsik, vice president of marketing insights, experience, and enablement at Verint. “Creating exceptional experiences should be at the heart of every retailer’s engagement strategy. And our study shows ‘to the retail customer experience victors, go the spoils.’”
The study also shows that a negative customer experience can send shoppers packing. Among the reasons that consumers are likely to stop purchasing from a retailer include failure of customer service to resolve an issue after a single attempt (62%), inability of shoppers to communicate on their channel of choice (57%), forcing customers to repeat themselves (55%), and having to endure long wait times (50%).
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
