We’re bringing you the latest roundup of industry news. Last week, featured new Zendesk research, British consumer purchase reconsiderations, CMO data into customer behaviours, and Zoho’s growth in the UK.
Key news
- Twilio have launched new research exploring the way the cost-of-living crisis is changing how consumers interact with companies in the UK and across Europe. The report highlights how customers are craving more thoughtful, emotionally receptive responses from businesses they interact with.
- Africa is the latest area to be attained by Chattermill in collaboration with YOUKNOW Digital, who will act as the African reseller, distributor and support arm. This comes as Chattermill’s latest global expansion.
- According to Gartner’s 2022 State of the Customer survey, just 15% of B2B customers with fully resolved customer support issues report only using self-service. To improve self-service success rates, leaders need to design self-service experiences that guide customers to resolution.
- Qualtrics and Miami International Airport (MIA) have shared their use of Qualtrics AI to communicate with travellers more effectively. These communications include resolving customer service issues, parking updates, delays, and important travel policy updates. This has reduced traveller enquiries by 50%
Zendesk report 66% of customers are becoming impatient with businesses failing to meet expectations
Meeting customer expectations has always been a challenge of any business. New Zendesk research has found that organisations are especially now not meeting these rising expectations as they should be striving for ‘exceptional’ standards.
“With the economy getting tougher and global competition increasing, now is the time for businesses to implement smart strategies that accelerate their CX and gain greater competitive edge in the long term”
Peter Lorant, Chief Operations Officer EMEA, Zendesk
The new research report has found that:
- More companies are utilising bot and human hand-offs – this jumped from 52% to 64% in the space of a year
- 57% of companies cite agent productivity as the biggest advantage to using bots
- Half of the companies surveyed use between six and 15 apps to get a full view of the customer journey, with slightly more than a third (37%) saying they are “very strong” in delivering personalised experiences
- 90% of businesses Zendesk surveyed reported using bots to route customers to the right place, which frees up agents to focus on more complex, high-value tasks
- 66% of customers are increasingly less patient when dealing with businesses, with companies also being 18% more likely to report that customer satisfaction is somewhat or significantly below expectations
Are you doing enough to satisfy your customers’ needs? If not, what can you take away from these findings? Perhaps you need to invest in more AI tools to slow consumer patience. Take these reported stats as useful feedback and developmental tools for your organisation!
British consumers plan to start reconsidering their purchases and brands
A new research report from Gekko has found that consumers are starting to seriously rethink their spending with brands and specific products. This comes from a survey of over 2,000 British citizen respondents.
Rather than whim spending, customers will start to consider factors such as value, longevity and necessity. 43% of survey respondents have cut back on essential household items due to the increased cost-of-living.
Here are some more of the report’s findings:
- 68% of 25-34 year olds have cut back on spending
- Only 2% of Londoners are cutting their spending by more than 50%, with 6% of East England and 7% of the North West cutting spending
- 60% of consumers would switch brands for more affordable essential items
- 43% of men are likely to consider changing their brand, versus 52% of women
The report also found specific details into which product categories are being reconsidered for requirement of purchase. Those products hardest hit by these purchase reassessments include electronics, homeware and home furnishings, with 61% of respondents planning to reduce their spendings.
Another interesting find from this research includes the factors making people rethink their buying decisions. The factors that consumers will be paying particular attention to when it comes to purchasing a product will include:
- Whether or not the price is within their budget (69%)
- Durability/being fit for purpose (52%)
- Sustainability of a product and/or brand (This was at 23% overall, but 38% for respondents aged 18-24 years old)
“The results highlight the dramatic but also the uneven impact of this cost-of-living crisis. There is certainly no generic strategy for brands wanting to remain relevant in the current economic climate. These huge variations in choice are clearly based on income level, age, gender and location. No longer is desire beating need when making choices.”
Daniel Todaro, Managing Director of Gekko
CMOs are drowning in data and distracted from consumer behaviours
According to new research from Adverity, 33% of CMOs are more focused on the impact of rising number of channels and platforms than increasingly complicated consumer behaviour. Related growth in data volumes may be a significant cause behind this imbalance of priorities. The report surveyed 300 CMOs across US, UK and DACH region.
While 85% of CMOs agree the capacity to make data-driven decisions is a critical competitive advantage, many are struggling to ensure effective data management. Almost seven in ten (67%) feel the volume of marketing data available has become overwhelming, with 99% using 10 or more data sources and 52% using 14 or more.
These findings suggest many businesses are at risk of missteps as the global economy declines, with unwieldy data preventing smart pivots, and distracting CMOs from the need to align experiences with shifting consumer needs.
“[There is] a gloomy financial outlook for consumers, making it increasingly critical for marketers to offer greater value, as well as demonstrating responsibility and sensitivity. Only with a unified supply of accurate insights can they pinpoint the best path to driving relevant, meaningful, and empathetic conversations, which fuel long-term bonds and trust.”
Harriet Durnford-Smith, CMO at Adverity
In this climate of accelerated change, focusing on customer behaviours should be key. This data is eye-opening – are you still paying attention to customer behaviours? Are you acting upon them?
Zoho continuing to drive investment and significant UK growth
Global technology company that delivers software solutions to help customers run their organisations, Zoho, has announced a 40% Y-o-Y growth. Their new strategy in the UK is firmly focused on delivering presence to support existing customer base and engage new businesses.
Announced at Zoholics London, Zoho’s first customer conference in the UK for three years, Zoho boosts its strategy around Transnational Localism, Zoho’s programme to create self-reliant local communities and economies. This sees Zoho building teams with a long-standing Zoho employee as leader and local in-country expertise to drive growth and support local economies.
Zoho recently opened its doors in Bletchley to add to its growing swathe of European offices. It has introduced a new team of sales, customer support and marketing staff including UK Managing Director, Sachin Agrawal, with over twenty years of industry experience. Zoho plans to double its UK team by the end of next year.
In addition to boosting local teams, Zoho’s partner base remains of paramount importance in aiding growth in the UK, assisting with customisations and implementations for customers as well as selling Zoho software itself. In the last year Zoho launched a free online training programme to nurture the local partner ecosystem. It offers further learning and development, and ultimately helps them enable customers to successfully digitise.
Zoho is in a unique position in the industry, being privately owned and owning and managing the entire stack, including data centres.
Thanks for tuning into CXM’s weekly roundup of industry news. Check back next Friday for the latest updates of the week!