• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 28, 2021

The surge in online buying is putting new pressure on brands to meet customer expectations. 

Three fourths of consumers will spend more with firms that provide a good experience. Half say the customer experience (CX) is more important to them now than it was a year ago, according to the Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2021, a benchmark study by Zendesk.

In addition, 65% will buy from companies that provide hassle-free online transactions.  

And brands are gearing up to meet these demands. Of those represented here, 50% say digital adoption has accelerated by one to three years. And 25% say it has been speeded up by four to seven years. 

Moreover,  63% of CX managers worldwide say their company prioritizes CX more than it did a year ago. And 67% of companies overall say CX is more key to their success than it was in the prior year.  

At the same time, 35% companies are investing more in offering service across multiple channels, and 29% in more agile technologies. In addition, 27% will spend more on the digital workspace. 

In another finding, 85% of support teams say they have added a channel, proactive and self-service content over the past year.  

But enterprise companies are much more likely to increase their spend on CX and Internal Help Desk in 2021 and 2022. And mature organizations are more likely to make large investments and exceed their retention goals. 

This is no small thing, given that 50% of customers will switch to a competitor after one bad experience. And 80% will jump after more than one unsatisfactory encounter. 

Email remains a workhorse of sorts, and has seen a spike in first-time users.  Among millennials, only Messaging (social, SMS/text, embedded) is ahead of email. 

GenXers and baby boomers are following a similar pattern, except that boomers are less likely to embrace SMS. 

More companies are embracing email, although they are turning more to messaging (SMS, social/text, embedded), social media posts, video chat or conferencing and phone. 

And email falls behind What’sApp, chat, Facebook messaging, self service, social media when consumers are making support requests. 

Whatever the channel, 54% of consumers want to support firms that support diversity, equity and inclusion at work and in their communities. And 63% seek socially responsible brands. 

When they call, 49% want the agents to be empathetic.  

This data was provided by companies participating in the Zendesk Benchmark in 2020.