Global spending on Customer Experience is expected to reach over £101 billion by 2022, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).
Their new Worldwide Semiannual Customer Experience Spending Guide, shows that CX spending in 2018 was reported at $97 billion in 2018 and is expected to increase to $128 billion by 2022, growing at a healthy seven percent five-year CAGR.
The European industries spending the most on CX in 2019 will be banking, retail, and discrete manufacturing. Together, these verticals will absorb 33 percent of the European CX spend this year. Retail will also have the fastest growing spend on CX throughout 2022, outgrowing banking by 2021.
Customer care and support, digital marketing, and order fulfilment are the use cases with the highest spending in CX today and will continue to be a strong investment area throughout 2022. The report suggests that investing in CX represents a clear opportunity for industries to differentiate, implementing these use cases to mold a public brand perception around the customer, improving websites, social media interactions, and product and service promotions.
Looking at long-term opportunities, omnichannel content will be the fastest growing CX use case by 2022, with European companies focusing on this space to build organisational experience delivery competency, leveraging investments in content and experience design, to lower the cost of supporting new channels and ensure brand consistency. Omnichannel content reflects the core foundation of the future of CX through the optimisation of content across channels at every point in the customer journey, creating a non-linear experience around the user.
Emerging technologies – such as AI, IoT, and ARVR -and hyper-micro personalisation are fuelling investments in CX together with rising customer expectations, intensified competition, ever-changing customer behaviours, and stronger demand for personalisation.
Andrea Minonne, Senior Research Analyst, IDC Customer Insight & Analysis in Europe, said: “Customer Experience is the top business priority for European companies in 2019. Businesses are moving from traditional ways of reaching out to customers and are embracing more digitised and personalised approaches to delivering empathy where the focus is on constantly learning from customers. As a customer-facing industry, retail spend on CX is moving fast as retailers have fully understood how important it is to embed CX in their business strategy.”