TTEC Research Shines Light on Gaps Between Consumers and Brands

Are businesses focusing on experience areas that really matter to customers? That’s the question we sought to answer in the 2015 TTEC Customer Experience Benchmark Report. The results show that customer experience is considered a critical business driver, but few firms are aligning to customer expectations.
 
We surveyed 176 customer experience professionals across a number of industries about their customer experience priorities and spending plans. The data was then compared to a similar survey of 3,515 consumers to gauge their perceptions of how businesses deliver customer experience.
 
The study found that a customer-centric culture ranks as the number one or two goal for customer experience leaders in all industries surveyed—health insurance, consumer banking, property and casualty (P&C) insurance, communications and media, technology, retail, and automotive. Other top customer experience strategy goals include improving workforce training, management and retention; conducting transformational change; and improving costs, efficiency and productivity.

According to the study, 96 percent of business respondents say they expect their amount of customer experience investment to stay the same or increase in the next three years. Mobile is expected to have the highest level of investment over the next three years, particularly for respondents in healthcare, banking, insurance, and retail. Companies will also invest in enhancing sales and digital customer experience capabilities.
 
Yet the research also showed that the areas important to businesses may not actually match customer expectations. For example, a surprising finding is that consumers prefer that companies invest in basic customer experience areas well ahead of mobile improvements. A 61 percent majority of consumers prefer that businesses invest in improving first call resolution as a top priority, followed closely by training employees to be empowered and knowledgeable (60 percent), and reducing complexity (transfers, people involved) when solving an issue during an interaction (44 percent). On the positive side, both groups agree that self-service should be considered a priority.
 
Mismatched CX Perspectives

Businesses and consumers agree that improving online self-service is most important, but the agreement stops there:

Long Live Voice

What’s also notable from the research is that business and consumers agree that voice interactions still dominate. Business respondents report that voice is not declining as a channel of choice, particularly for issues that are time sensitive or complex. Similarly, 72 percent of consumers believe that “speaking directly” to an associate is important, especially when they are in a hurry or when the issue is challenging. And most consumers report they are very receptive to it as a method of communication when it comes to making purchases or getting support. This is true for consumers young and old.

Download the complete 2015 TeleTech Customer Experience Benchmark Report eBook to learn how to align customer experience efforts to meet customers’ needs today and also quickly mobilize on what’s next to remain relevant in the future. 


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