Any regular readers of my posts here on Forbes will probably have realised by now that I’m keen on a little bit of research and, particularly, research that is a component of a time series.
One such piece of research that recently caught my eye was Twilio’s fourth annual State of Customer Engagement Report, released at the tip of March.
To conduct the research, Twilio gathered views from greater than 4,700 B2C leaders from around the globe and across a wide range of sectors, views from greater than 6,000 global consumers and data from each their very own engagement and customer data platforms.
After reviewing the research, listed here are the three themes that emerged for me:
1. Progress: Investment in digital customer engagement has increased during the last yr and is generating significant returns.
- Despite operating in an environment of economic uncertainty, 87% of brands report that they increased their investment in digital customer engagement in 2022. That is up from 72% in 2021.
- Brands that Twilio identified as customer engagement leaders, i.e. those who have the very best level of maturity of their implementation of personalization initiatives, use of first-party data, and the execution of omnichannel customer engagement, saw their investments in digital customer engagement drive increases in revenue by a median of 123%.
- At the opposite end of the size, even the brands that Twilio identified as customer engagement beginners saw a 67% increase in revenue from their digital customer engagement investments.
2. Work To Be Done: Customers still want and value personalized experiences. Brands need to deliver these experiences too, but the biggest majority of consumers say that brands are still failing to deliver.
- 86% of consumers say that personalized experiences increase their loyalty to brands.
- Conversely, 66% of consumers say they may quit a brand if their experience isn’t personalized. That number rises to 75% amongst Gen Z consumers.
- Consumers spend, on average, 21% more with brands that deliver a customized experience compared with those who don’t.
- Nearly half (46%) of brands consider they’re doing a superb job of personalization. Nevertheless, only 15% of consumers agree. Those numbers were 27% and seven% in 2021, respectively and represent a growing perception gap between brands and their consumers.
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3. A Delicate Balance: Data privacy, transparency and security are paramount within the minds of consumers. Brands have to take this into consideration when developing invaluable, trusted and engaged relationships with their customers.
- Just about all (98%) consumers want brands to do more to ensure the privacy of their data, in addition to be more transparent about how their data is used.
- If a consumer’s data privacy and transparency requirements aren’t met, 4 out of ten report that they may stop buying from a brand.
- Nearly 90% of brands plan to implement first-party/zero-party data so as to protect consumer privacy. Nevertheless, they’ve work to do on this front, as only 4 in 10 of them rate their collection of and access to zero-party data as excellent.
- Indeed, over 80% of brands report that they’re still reliant on third-party data, and only 60% report that they’re prepared for a world where third-party data will not be available.
- Striking a fragile balance between security and customer experience is the primary challenge for brands in 2023. Protecting customer data comes a detailed second.
Now, I don’t find out about you, but those three themes generate a mixed bag of feelings in me.
On the one hand, I’m heartened by the extent of investment that brands are continuing to make in digital customer experience and each the progress that leaders are making and the returns that they’re making.
Nevertheless, however, the incontrovertible fact that brands are still not meeting customers’ expectations concerning personalisation and that also they are failing to assuage their concerns about data, privacy, and security is disappointing.
These have gotten perennial concerns.
That, in and of itself, is alarming and suggests that many brands are either not being attentive or acting fast enough on these issues.
The issue is that customers are showing signs of becoming increasingly impatient around these issues.
And, as they indicate within the research, their patience won’t last ceaselessly.
Those brands which are the primary to tackle these issues are more likely to be those that may win the hearts, minds and support of consumers within the not-too-distant future.
