2021 Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report

On the threshold of augmented customer experiences

Since the pandemic, digital disruptors have thrived and there’s been a revolution in CX operating models. C-level responsibility for customer experience (CX) has doubled in the last year. There’s been a transformational shift in organizational and customer behaviours, and a substantial improvement in automation. Our findings show that industry leaders and disruptors have made significant strides towards augmenting their CX capabilities, focusing on the all important human factor and implementing technologies that enable greater agility and growth.

Customer choice, hyperautomation and a hybrid workforce now form the benchmark operating model for growth.

This year, our Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report includes voice of the customer (VoC) feedback alongside the enterprise view of CX. This provides additional insight into how – and where – enterprises can augment human capabilities with technology to develop and execute successful CX strategies with the customer well and truly at the center.

Customers want to be in the driver’s seat, to choose the way they engage with organizations and compose their own experience.

Events relating to the COVID-19 pandemic exaggerated weaknesses and opportunities in CX. While they were largely a catalyst for CX improvement, just one in three consumers interviewed for this Report rated CX as ‘excellent’.

Customers expect organizations to build on the advances made in the last year by enhancing digital functionality, responding faster and offering round-the-clock availability. They also want to be given more choice and control over how they engage, and the option to communicate with another person when it suits them.

While consumers’ expectations are high, reality lags, with many brands believing technology alone to be the cure. Digital and self-service channels work up to a point, but customers want a human escalation path when they don’t. Our data shows that when there’s a need to be acknowledged, understood or guided through a difficult decision or problem, consumers would rather talk to a live person who can provide expert advice on the complex nature of their enquiry – and see them through to resolving it.

Technology has always augmented human capability. Advances in AI, robotics and the Internet of Things, the multitude of smart devices and 5G capability promise to take this even further. Our research results indicate this will have a far-reaching impact on how we live, consume, engage and, most importantly, how we choose to express ourselves.