Enhancing digital engagement with customers has become imperative for companies today. Thankfully, the opportunities for companies to engage with their customers digitally are also on a rise. However, this growth is replete with a range of challenges and this requires brands to devise strategies that are in line with their customers’ expectations.
Twilio has released its 2022 State of Customer Engagement report that highlights the major trends emerging in digital customer engagement for both the customers and the companies. So, here are 5 key trends from the report that companies must consider while planning and implementing their strategies for digital customer engagement.
1. Impact of Digital Customer Engagement on ROI
Companies that have realized the significance of digital customer engagement over the last two years have benefitted immensely from it. 84% of the companies in the APJ region saw their revenue increase after they invested in digital customer engagement. Companies in Australia, Singapore, and Japan have reported an average increase of 64%, 61%, and 57%, respectively, in their revenue.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that 25% of APJ companies plan to double their investment in digital customer engagement by 2025.
2. Consumers Want Better Personalized Experiences
While personalization is critical in today’s era, consumers want companies to heighten their focus on it. This requires the expectation gap between the companies and their customers to shrink down. The importance of personalization is known to most APJ companies as well, with 82% of B2C companies in the APJ region seeing personalization as extremely or very important to their customer engagement strategy.
However, there seems to be a disconnect between the companies’ perception of good personalized experiences and that of the customers’ observations. While 66% of the APJ companies feel that they provide a good or excellent personalized experience for customers, only 42% of the customers in this region felt that the companies offered valuable personalized experiences.
3. Bracing For The Cookieless World
Third-party cookies are on their way out as Google Chrome will begin blocking them starting in 2023. Therefore, companies have less than a year to brace themselves for this massive change. Adapting to the cookieless era over the next few months is critical for brands to create personalized experiences that a good customer experience is built on.
However, there seems to be a huge difference in customers’ expectations and the strategies used by brands. While over 80% of the customers prefer that brands do not use third-party data, an overwhelming 78% of APJ brands rely on third-party data for their current marketing strategies.
4. Reducing The Trust Deficit
Today customers are increasingly wary of how brands use their data and expect full transparency around privacy and data protection. This requires companies to improve transparency. Currently, there is a massive trust gap that exists between consumers and brands in APJ countries, especially in Japan, which needs to be addressed at the earliest.
This is because brands that do not meet the data privacy expectations of consumers risk losing their trust. This could be because of customers reducing their spending on these brands, stopping purchases from these brands completely, or advising their friends and family against trusting the brand.
5. Digital Fatigue Is Not a Myth
Digital fatigue is undoubtedly a genuine issue. But it presents smart companies with the right opportunity to create valuable engagements. Considering that 57% of consumers are frustrated by the inconsistent digital engagements with brands means that others have the opportunity to fill the vacuum and position themselves as the ideal alternative.
Therefore, brands need to focus on their customer support for a better customer experience to improve retention.
Wrapping Up
With digital customer engagement becoming key to companies’ success in recent times, it’s imperative for brands to focus on areas that can help them retain their customers and add to their clientele. This will require them to prepare themselves for each of the 5 trends mentioned above.
To delve deeper into the findings of the report, download the full report here.