Think about when you are having a frustrating experience with an online brand. On average, how long do you estimate you persist before giving up? If you said, “less than a minute,” you’d be right. You’d also be part of the 22% who said the same thing.
These days, your CX can literally make or break your business. Some might argue that it is your business. According to Forrester, investing in a customer-first operation can produce up to a 700% ROI over the span of 12 years. So, where are companies getting the CX equation wrong? And how can customer feedback help them get it right?
The CX frustration threshold
If customers don’t get helped within a time that seems convenient for them, they’ll walk. When it comes to online interactions, those times can come down to seconds on the clock. And they vary by region. Thales’ 2024 Digital Trust Index reveals that:
- Gone in 30 seconds — Japan had the highest percentage (14.65%) of those only willing to persist for up to 30 seconds before leaving a frustrating customer interaction. This was followed by France (12.35%) and the US (10.89%).
- 5 minutes or less? — South Africa was the most likely to persist for up to 5 minutes (39.23%), followed by Australia (33.07%) and Brazil (32.25%). The least likely to deal with a less-than-optimal CX for that long was France (22.32%).
- The sky’s the limit! — Those willing to engage in an aggravating customer service experience for over five minutes ranged from a low of 1.51% (Japan) to a high of 13.2% (South Africa).
This all supports a startling truth: nearly 90% of customers would take their business elsewhere if it could provide better CX, according to research by Hyken. Now, that’s a sobering thought. Even more surprising? It only takes one negative customer service experience to prompt over 50% of consumers to switch to a competitor.
3 things customers want out of CX
It’s clear: Customers don’t want to wait a long time to be helped online. We’ll use “long” in the relative sense of the instant-access era. So, what do customers want?
- Options, options, options — When asked what the most important feature was of an organization’s customer service department, 40% of consumers answered, “multiple options for communicating.”
- CX agents with the full story — Recent research reveals at least seven in ten consumers expect any CX agent they interact with to have the full context.
- Superior customer service — A PWC report noted that customers were more willing to try other products or services from brands that offered “superior customer service.”
Since technology has produced wonders for us so far, it is easy to see why the average consumer would assume “more tech” would be the panacea to all our customer service problems. From an organizational perspective, putting the above simultaneously into practice can be a bit harder than “writing more code.”
Investing in customer retention with the right digital experiences
With the right incentives, customer expectations (and, therefore, customer retention) and CX output can be balanced. Did you know 75% of customers will spend more money at a company with good CX?
As customers talk, savvy companies listen. McKinsey research reveals that improving CX was the fastest-growing priority for customer service leaders even two years ago. Digital interactions are where so much of business happens today, and 76% of consumers won’t go to a brick-and-mortar store without first checking out the brand’s online presence. This is what organizations are doing to comply with those demands:
- Expanding services — Customers want more? They’ve got more. Zendesk research reveals that 35% of companies plan to expand their customer service across channels to better fit the needs of their customers.
- Digital care ecosystems — Business leaders are prioritizing building out digital care ecosystems and engaging customers across different channels. Omnichannel shoppers buy more than those who use a single channel, per McKinsey’s research, and the move will do much to service those buyers where they are and improve the bottom line.
- AI here: How can I help you? — AI has powerful potential for improving CX wait times, boosting efficiency, and increasing overall availability and service. Deloitte Digital notes that nearly 80% of customer service leaders cautiously plan on investing in additional AI capabilities in the coming two years. Cautiousness is necessary to avoid hiccups like the ones recently suffered by airline chatbots.
As people shop, work, research, and even attend doctor’s visits online, those online interactions aren’t the compartmentalized things they were before; they are an intrinsic part of the brand’s feel and identity, and people want those things to be as helpful and hospitable as the brand itself.
One thing is sure. Customers are sending a message to companies online: Take care of us, and we’ll take care of you.