There is a “drastic” disconnect between the customer experience and digital marketing strategies, according to a CX study released by SurveyMonkey.
The study, which polled 1,000 consumers and more than 600 CX and digital marketing professionals, revealed the two entities do not see eye-to-eye when it comes to the value of AI, the level of post-COVID support, preferred feedback channels and the level of personalization being provided to shoppers.
Insights include:
- CX and digital marketing pros are more optimistic about AI tools than consumers: 63% of CX and digital marketing professionals expect AI to positively impact the customer experience and 82% say it is a priority for their company. However, only 25% of consumers expect AI to positively impact their engagement experiences and 32% expect it to have a negative impact on their interactions.
- There is a significant disconnect about the ongoing impact of COVID on CX: 72% of CX and digital marketing professionals say the level of customer experience their company provides has improved following the pandemic, but only 27% of consumers agree.
- There is a noticeable difference between preferred customer feedback channels: CX and digital marketing professionals want more investment in customer feedback programs (52%) and product feedback programs (47%), and 49% cite the website as the preferred communication channel. However, 53% of consumers select the phone as their preferred means of providing feedback.
- CX teams are far more confident about the personalized experiences they deliver than consumers: 86% of CX and digital marketing professionals said their customers receive a personalized experience all or most of the time throughout the entire customer journey. But only 8% of consumers felt that they received a consistently personalized experience, and 10% expressed that they never received a personalized experience.
The disconnect likely stems from a lack of information, with more than one out of three (35%) CX and digital marketing professionals saying they don’t have the customer data and insights they need, specifically in the consideration stage (57%), purchase stage (53%) and awareness stage (45%), according to a press release on the study’s findings.
“Providing experiences that better align with consumer needs and expectations in 2023 and beyond starts with leveraging the right insights,” Marci Kirkpatrick, customer experience program director at SurveyMonkey, said in the release. “The experience gap we’re seeing stems from limited knowledge across the entire customer journey. This presents a significant opportunity for CX teams to further invest in initiatives that bring them closer to a deeper understanding of how customers perceive experiences throughout their entire journey with a brand or company and explore best practices to optimize those experiences.”
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This article first appeared in www.retailcustomerexperience.com
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