Survey reveals top customer experience technology investment

Almost all customer experience executives are focused on the same type of solution.

According to “How Data is Driving Next-Generation Customer Experiences,” a new survey of 100 global customer experience executives from data governance technology provider Precisely, 96% of respondents have invested or plan to invest in data integration, data integrity, or data enrichment technologies. Over half (51%) are partnering with hosted managed services (HMS) providers to achieve goals including reducing costs (63%); providing better customer communications (55%); and improving operational efficiency (33%).

Close to three in 10 (28%) respondents closed in-person locations as e-commerce sales soared during the 2019-2021 peak global COVID-19 period. Another 42% expect to do the same in the coming 12 months. About two-thirds (65%) of respondents say they have already created digital touchpoints to serve as an alternative to in-person touchpoints, and 34% expect to over the next year, meaning only 1% have no plans regarding increased digital touchpoints.

However, only 37% of survey participants believe they have a well-developed enterprise data architecture that enables high-quality, data-driven, and personalized customer experience. Close to half (48%) say data becomes siloed across their various touchpoints, making it difficult to access the data.

Of the data that is accessible, 45% of survey participants believe it isn’t relevant or current, and 41% believe an insufficient investment in customer experience is the problem. Fifty-four percent of respondents think legacy systems are holding them back from achieving their customer experience goals.

Don’t ignore the social media experience
According to a recent study of more than 2,000 U.S. adults from Oracle and CRM Essentials, consumers, particularly Gen Z, are increasingly turning to social media influencers and online communities to form opinions, buy from brands, and get their questions answered. While 37% of overall respondents to the survey trust social media influencers over brands; Gen Z and millennial respondents were two times more likely than boomer respondents to trust influencers.

Gen Z respondents were the most likely to discover products and brands via influencers (32%), compared to 28% of overall respondents and only 13% of surveyed boomers. In addition, 84% Gen Z respondents have purchased products in direct response to social media content, compared to only 46% of surveyed boomers. Conversely, surveyed boomers were seven times more likely than Gen Z respondents to discover new products and brands via traditional TV advertising, a product discovery medium only used by 13% of all respondents.

To download the full Precisely report, click here.

Conducted in conjunction with Corinium Global Intelligence, “How Data is Driving Next-Generation Customer Experiences” surveyed 100 customer experience leaders from North America (58%), Europe (25%), and Australia (17%). The survey was conducted in March 2022, with respondents selected from companies with annual revenues of at least $100 million. Respondents were asked 15 questions about their enterprises’ customer experience strategies, maturity, and cloud journeys, as well as how they’re working to instill data-driven customer experiences throughout their organizations.