According to the latest Market Study, Customer Intelligence & Analytics by CEI (Customer Engagement Insider), 69% of companies say they do not have a 360-degree view of what individual customers are experiencing. Only 5% of companies are content with their customer intelligence efforts while nearly 60% are struggling to collect, unify and analyse customer data.
The view most organisations have of their customers is fragmented, where customer-facing operations and the data systems that support them are siloed across the organisation. 69% of brands say they do not have a 360-degree view of what customers are experiencing, impacting their ability to generate meaningful insights that drive successful strategic initiatives.
The customer data you collect and the insights derived from that data should tell a holistic story about your customers, explain why they behave the way they do and highlight how can you improve their experiences. Brandon Purcell, Principal Analyst at Forrester, observes, however, “Most companies fall short of cracking the mystery of their customers because of a siloed approach to customer understanding. The result is a jumble of highly detailed jigsaw pieces that fail to come together to solve a holistic customer puzzle.”
CX Strategy is about choosing what to do and what not to do. Data and insights help us make those choices. They are also critical inputs into every stage of the strategy design process. We need data and insights to help us define and explain the business challenge or opportunities we want to exploit as well as guide the design of the experiences and interactions we want to provide our customers.
Other highlights from the study include:
- If businesses want to unify all departments around the idea of customer centricity, they will need to do a better job of democratizing data. Only 20% say that their data is “very much” democratised across the entire organisation.
- If businesses want to create more seamless and personalised experiences, they will need to improve their visibility into customers and their experiences. A shocking 69% say they do not have a 360-degree view of what individual customers are experiencing.
- Only 5% of companies are content with their customer intelligence efforts, and many admit they are failing early in the process. Nearly 60% are struggling to collect, unify, or analyse customer data.
- A slim majority of brands are successfully collecting customer feedback and direct
complaints, but a decidedly smaller percentage are capturing real-time insights
from interactions. - When it comes to the “voice of the customer,” brands are most interested in listening to existing satisfied and dissatisfied customers. Less than half are listening to non-customers – or those who already left.
- Nearly three-quarters of brands are failing to empower agents with predictive insights about customer sentiments, intentions, or behaviors. Alarmingly, nearly as many are struggling to even provide agents with detailed customer profiles.
- Brands are most confident that they have the data needed to coach employees and
improve sales and marketing messaging. They are least confident they have the data to support proactive engagement, intelligent automation, or empathetic interactions. - Improving CRM and better managing performance are the top priorities for customer intelligence investments.