ASIA PACIFIC RANKED TOP FOR CX

A pandemic-induced surge in digital consumers sees APAC businesses lead the world in customer experience investment.

Asia Pacific (APAC) businesses are set to outstrip other global regions in customer experience investment in 2022, in response to a pandemic-induced surge in new digital consumers and online behaviour. However, APAC businesses recognise that critical skills and capability gaps may hold them back as they seek to maximise this world-leading commitment to serving digital-first consumers.

According to Adobe’s new ‘2022 Digital Trends: APAC in Focus’ report, 77 percent of APAC businesses experienced a surge in new customers through digital channels in the past 18 months, and 76 percent saw new customer journeys. Meanwhile, just 25 percent of businesses believe they have significant insight into this new wave of digital-first customers.

“The digital rewiring of consumer mindsets in Asia Pacific has been of high benefit to those businesses that have embraced an agile digital mindset, purposeful collaboration and sped up their time-to-value ratio,” says Duncan Egan, Vice President Digital Experience Marketing at Adobe Asia Pacific & Japan. “Companies that overcame organisational and technology silos to work cross-functionally were able to drive meaningful customer experiences that are personalised, real-time, relevant and connected across all channels.”

Here’s a snapshot of the report’s findings from Australia and New Zealand (ANZ):

• 81 percent of ANZ brands expect the pace of change to persist — versus 84 percent rest of APAC.

• 77 percent of ANZ saw new and changing journeys — versus 70 percent.

• 87 percent of ANZ customers said their CX either lagged behind customer expectations or kept pace (34 percent/53 percent) — versus 13 percent that thought they were ahead.

• We’re seeing a maturity in ANZ customers, with their top marketing goals for 2022 being customer retention (52 percent) — versus acquisition at 47 percent.

• 77 percent of ANZ execs are concerned their employees don’t have the skills necessary to deliver effective digital experiences.

• Poor integration between tech systems is holding marketing/cx back, with 48 percent of ANZ businesses saying this is a priority, followed closely by workflow issues at 40 percent.

• Added to this, simplification and standardisation of the tech stack (33 percent) is a focus.

• ANZ is leapfrogging the rest of APAC in its appetite to use cloud-based tech for CX and data management — 56 percent versus 37 percent in Asia.