Business executives back multichannel customer experience but fail to ‘walk the walk,’ according to latest survey results
Business executives back multichannel customer experience but fail to ‘walk the walk,’ according to latest survey results
Boardroom executives typically understand the importance of multichannel customer experience, but are failing to invest in the processes and frameworks to make this happen, according to research published today.
The second annual Multichannel Customer Experience Report, published by Foviance in association with Econsultancy, is based on a survey of more than 650 companies and agencies carried out earlier this year.
The research gives a state-of-the-nation perspective on the extent to which organisations are committed to delivering an integrated experience in a world where the customer journey is becoming increasingly complex due to evolving technology and the proliferation of devices.
The study, which looks at what the most successful multichannel companies are doing differently, has found that ‘mature’ companies have overcome technical challenges and are using a much wider range of data sources than other companies to understand the customer experience.
Board-level buy in a must
A commitment to customer experience from the top of the organisation was the attribute regarded as a key requirement by just under half of companies (46%) surveyed, higher than for all others deemed to be important. More than half of responding companies rated themselves either as ‘excellent’ (21%) or ‘good’ (37%) in terms of internal buy-in at the top of their organisations.
But only 26% of respondents said their companies have a well-developed strategy in place for improving customer experience, just a slight increase on 22% last year.
The research has also found that ‘complexity of customer experience’ is now seen as the greatest barrier to improving multichannel customer experience, overtaking ‘organisational structure’ since 2010.
Richard Sedley, commercial director at Foviance, said: “Companies that have benefitted most from improving their multichannel customer experience are those that have recognised the importance of combining quantitative and qualitative customer insights. If your company isn't already capturing 'voice of customer' via onsite surveying and social listening and integrating it with data from web analytics and search there has never been a better time to start."
As part of this year’s research, responding organisations were asked to rate themselves across five key areas which are crucial for delivering a joined-up and compelling multichannel customer experience. These emerged as systems and processes, leadership and culture, alignment with brand, customer touch points and use of insight.
‘Mature companies’ are those that scored highly across the five key pillars of the Foviance Multichannel Customer Experience Maturity Model.
Customer endorsement rules
In addition to this survey, Foviance carried out five consumer surveys about customer experience, covering retail, travel, online banking, mobile phone providers and gaming /gambling. It found that 69% of the 4,000 consumers surveyed had dealt with a company online and 73% of people would be likely to recommend a retail brand based on good customer experience.
Linus Gregoriadis, Econsultancy research director, said: “The understanding about the importance of customer experience is there, but many business leaders are talking the talk without walking the walk. Evidence of ownership of customer experience among company executives has not necessarily translated into clearly-defined strategies, frameworks and processes for making it happen.”
The research found that mature companies are more likely to have overcome technology and data-related issues. ‘Immature’ companies, because they are still worried about technology and systems, are losing sight of the importance of customer service and empowered staff.
Other findings included just over a quarter (28%) of companies who said there is ownership of customer experience at board or ‘c- level,’ but without full commitment across leadership teams. Almost a fifth of companies (18%) said there was ‘c-level ownership of the total customer experience’.
Technology makes the difference
The gap between mature companies and others was typically more pronounced for integration of digital channels, such website, email and internet advertising, into the overall customer experience.
The gap was less obvious for offline touchpoints (for example, retail outlets, direct marketing and events), with the notable exception of telephone support and sales, where mature companies are way ahead of the curve.
The research also shows how mature and ‘immature’ companies had a different perception of the attributes required for delivering a positive customer experience. Mature companies were far more likely than the least mature organisations to regard motivated and empowered staff and efficient customer service as being among the most important attributes. By contrast, immature companies were more focused on visibility of customer behaviour across channels and the need for a single or joined-up customer database.
