Digital customer experience budgets are rising, but brands still face several hurdles in achieving superior customer experience (CX), including lack of internal resources, according to Digital CX
Transformation In Retail, a study by Gatepoint Research, sponsored by iAdvize.
Of the firms polled, 49% are increasing their spends on digital CX, while 37% are maintaining their budgets
and 14% decreasing them.
Among the obstacles are:
- Availability of internal resources — 57%
- ROI is not clear — 33%
- Systems integration seems
daunting — 31%
- Leadership buy-in/understanding/support — 20%
- Website sale are not a priority for the business — 7%
Websites are leading the way
when it comes to providing a strong customer experience. Brands list:
- Website — 79%
- Social media — 51%
- In-store or offline events — 38%
- Engagement with our call center — 30%
- Influencer marketing campaigns — 30%
- Advertising — 29%
- Apps — 11%
In addition, 71% cite
authenticity as the main driver digital CX excellence. Second was personalization, listed by 64%, followed by positive emotions (59%), 24/7 real-time assistance (41%), message consistency (40%) and
human interaction (34%).
Personalization was specified as a top priority by 81% COVID-19-era respondents, versus 55% of pre-pandemic ones.
However, 64% say they are
delivering successful shopping experience with personalization, compared to 41% doing so with community. However, the latter reflects a rise in maturity, the study notes.
Gatepoint
surveyed over 100 large retailers and ecommerce leaders before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.