In an enlightening conversation with Eleanor O’Dwyer-Duggan, a seasoned CX Solution Strategist for Southeast Asia, we delve into the transformative realm of customer experience in a post-pandemic world. With a wealth of experience in driving digital transformation and fostering customer centricity, Eleanor sheds light on the evolving expectations in Southeast Asia and the pivotal role of technology and strategies in enhancing customer satisfaction.
With your extensive experience in Southeast Asia, how have you seen the acceleration of digital transformation influence customer expectations and experiences in the region? Are there specific technologies or strategies you believe businesses must adopt to enhance customer satisfaction in this rapidly evolving landscape?
Customer and employee expectations are higher than ever across Southeast Asia and the globe, and this is for a number of reasons – from the acceleration of new technologies and companies raising the bar on expectations to consumers having more choices and information to make their decisions.
At the same time, it’s harder than ever for brands to understand the rapidly evolving needs of their customers and employees and leaders see this as a risk to their operations – PwC research states CEOs view changes in consumer preferences as one of the top drivers changing how their organisation operates, creates, and delivers value over the next three years. The cost of poor customer and employee experiences are significant too.
Improving customer and employee experiences are two of the most impactful strategies helping organisations drive revenue growth, costs savings, productivity, and loyalty right now. And we see this reflected in the rise of experience management as a top strategic priority for leaders, businesses, and governments across the region. Experience management is at the heart of solving critical business challenges through its ability to continually understand how customers and employees are thinking and feeling so they can respond meaningfully.
To give an example of the business impact of experience management and why it’s become a top priority, one of the world’s leading sports and apparel brands achieved two times higher average sales in stores with above average net promoter scores.
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By regularly capturing and analysing feedback from customers and employees, the brand identified the key to positive customer experiences was ensuring employees were well trained, understood expectations, and received frequent manager feedback. Equipped with this deep understanding into what matters to customers and employees, the brand was able to confidently and precisely focus its efforts and investments to meet the needs of its customers and employees.
The pandemic has significantly altered consumer behaviour globally, with Southeast Asia being no exception. Based on your observations and the findings from the Qualtrics XM Institute’s 2023 Global Consumer Study, what are the most significant changes in consumer expectations in Southeast Asia post-pandemic, and how can businesses effectively adapt to meet these new demands?
One of the biggest findings from the Qualtrics Consumer Trends study is that – even with the current high cost of living – consumers are prioritising product and service quality, and customer service support over low prices. Other behavioural changes brands need to be aware of are how consumers fear losing the human connection in their engagements due to the use of AI, how feedback habits are changing with fewer customers sharing their thoughts directly, and how digital support is the weakest link in the customer journey.
Another aspect of the customer experience brands need to consider is the experience of their customer-facing employees. These workers often have the biggest impact on customer experience – yet Qualtrics research shows this group often have the lowest levels of morale and engagement, which could be having a detrimental impact on the experiences they provide.
The key to addressing these trends are:
- Listening to customers in all the places where they’re sharing feedback, be that in the call centre, online, through social, or through surveys – taking action on structured and unstructured feedback is a huge opportunity to drive improvements, with estimates 90% of unstructured data is never analysed;
- Enabling employees to deliver great experiences by giving them the tools, support, and environments they need;
- Ensuring the use and introduction of AI services are aligned with what customers want and are comfortable with.
The research indicates that nearly one-fifth of consumer interactions with brands in Southeast Asia result in a very poor customer experience. Can you elaborate on the direct impact these negative experiences have on businesses and consumer loyalty in the region? How significant is the threat to revenue, and what industries are most affected?
The risk of poor customer experience is significant, and no industry is invincible. As Qualtrics XM Institute research shows, $144bn is at risk in Southeast Asia because of poor customer service – a number that rises to $3.7 trillion globally.
However, the consequence of a poor customer experience extends far beyond the dollar value – impacting brand awareness, perception, trust, employee engagement, and loyalty. And while these benefits can be quickly lost they often take much longer to rebuild.
The study highlights a shift in consumer spending habits following unsatisfactory experiences. Could you provide more insights into how these habits have changed and what new service expectations are emerging among consumers in Southeast Asia? How should businesses adjust their customer service strategies in response?
Consumers aren’t afraid to switch to a competitor or cut spending when their expectations aren’t met, with Qualtrics XM Institute research showing this is happening at an increasing rate. To top it off, this happening at a time when customers have more choices than ever before and the ability to switch brands is as easy as just a few clicks.
The key to overcoming this challenge is delivering great experiences across the entire customer journey tailored to individual preferences, which means organisations need to know how and where customers want to be interacted with for the type of engagement they’re undertaking. For example, the Qualtrics study shows consumers in Singapore are more likely to want to resolve a billing issue by engaging with another person, whereas for buying a plane ticket or getting an order update they prefer to use a self-serve option.
With Thailand ranking second globally for reported poor customer experiences and other countries in the region showing significant improvements, what do you believe are the underlying factors contributing to these differences? How can businesses in countries with higher rates of negative experiences learn from their neighbours to improve?
The task of delivering a great customer experience is never complete and a job every business and government must continue to prioritise. As expectations continue to evolve and technological capabilities advance, sharing learnings and best practices across industries and geographies is critical.
To support the development of experience management capabilities and standards across Asia, Qualtrics launched the Centre for Experience Management in 2022 alongside the Economic Development Board and SAP. In that time it’s become a thriving community of experience management professionals sharing their experiences, and equipping them with training and insights to advance their programs accordingly, which are translated into better experiences for customers and employees.
Looking ahead, how do you envision the landscape of customer experience evolving in Southeast Asia over the next few years? Are there emerging trends or technologies that businesses should be particularly mindful of to stay ahead in delivering exceptional client experiences?
When we look at the early innovations and possibilities centred around the use of AI in experience management the impact and potential are huge. Every organisation and department stands to benefit through the technology’s ability to take action in the right way, to act quickly, decisively, and more precisely, to automate critical actions, and to create more meaningful and relevant interactions.
For example, AI is helping teams and customer-facing agents quickly and confidently analyse customer feedback to identify and respond to points of friction or opportunities in their business in seconds; it is helping free teams from tedious manual tasks – like data entry and analysis – so they can spend more time delivering value to customers, and it’s helping managers better understand and address the needs of the teams they lead to drive improved outcomes for customers and employees.
As leaders incorporate AI into their customer experience programs there are three key things to remember: the importance of human connection, that data is the greatest differentiator, and how early-movers and -adopters have a competitive advantage.
At Qualtrics AI has always been foundational to our platform, and we’re building new capabilities – supported by a US$500m investment in AI innovation – to help our customers unlock greater value. For example, our platform instantly identifies the emotion, intent, and effort behind customer engagements to empower customer-facing representatives to resolve issues in the experience by providing recommended next steps. AI is also helping researchers rapidly conduct, analyse, summarise, and collate primary and secondary research, including from focus groups and video interviews, to guide and inform their go-to-market strategies.
As we conclude our insightful discussion with Eleanor O’Dwyer-Duggan, it’s clear that the landscape of customer experience in Southeast Asia is undergoing a dynamic shift, underscored by the increasing integration of AI and the need for human connection. Her perspectives not only illuminate the path forward for businesses in the region but also underscore the critical importance of adapting to emerging trends and technologies to stay ahead in delivering exceptional customer experiences.
