A global research study by Oracle has found that brands could lose as much as 20% of their annual revenue due to poor customer service, with 95% of executives agreeing that delivering a great customer experience is critical to business results.
The "Global Insights on Succeeding in the Customer Experience Era" report is based on a survey of 1 342 senior-level executives from 18 countries in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The report highlights the need for new approaches to improve the customer experience.
"This report demonstrates that organisations around the globe and across many industries are beginning to understand the real business impact of not offering great customer experiences," says David Vap, group VP for Oracle.
The report also found that 93% of business executives view improving customer experience as one of their top priorities over the next two years, with 91% hoping to become customer experience leaders in their industries. Despite these intentions, 37% of companies are just starting to implement formal customer experience initiatives, and only 20% consider their customer experience initiatives to be advanced.
"The significant factors driving customer reaction to the experience they have from a company/service/product are quality, consistency, applicability at the right time, friendliness and appropriate value," says Graham Mansfield, senior director of CRM for Oracle ECEMEA. He adds that the research, although not conducted in SA, is still very applicable within a South African context.
According to the research, 71% of executives surveyed strongly agreed that customers have more power today than they did three years ago. Over half of the respondents acknowledged that customers will switch brands after having a bad experience, while some 89% admitted to actually having done so.
"Never before have customers been so much in the driving seat with so much potential influence and power over the suppliers of products and services and their associated quality," says Mansfield, adding that companies can no longer dictate to their customers.
The survey describes social media as an amplifier of the customer's voice. Eighty-one percent of respondents believe delivering a good customer experience requires leveraging social media effectively. Despite this, 35% of respondents do not have social media for sales channels, and the same percentage do not have social media for customer service.
The executives cited inflexible technology, siloed systems and organisations, and insufficient investment as challenges to improving customer experience. "By empowering customers and employees, breaking down organisational silos, and implementing flexible processes and technology tools, organisations can deliver personalised, seamless customer service through the entire experience life cycle," says Vap.
"A good customer experience strategy requires fundamental organisational changes. Successful initiatives that have improved the customer experience span people, process and technology," Mansfield concludes.
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