What’s next for digital CX?

When firms rushed towards digitalisation in the wake of the pandemic, the customer experience (CX) focus was squarely on getting the tech and the platforms in place that would enable customers to interact with the company through digital channels. Now, with a bit of hindsight and experience under their belts, business leaders are recognising the potential for improvement in their firm’s digital CX strategy.

Aspects of digital CX are now front of mind for many decision-makers. And for some businesses, digital CX is where custom is won and lost. So what’s next for digital CX? And why should firms make digital CX a key component of a business transformation?

So why are firms prioritising digital CX now? For one, business decision-makers are recognising the importance of building value with their brand, especially in times of economic uncertainty, when customers have less cash to spend. But first and foremost, providing a top-shelf digital CX is about growing the customer base and ensuring customer success and retention. Perhaps this is down to the idea that ‘if you’re not doing it, it’s likely your competition is’.

And there’s good reason to think that digital CX should be a key component of a business transformation. After all, customers care about it – a lot. A smooth and convenient digital CX is ‘extremely important’ for 40% of consumers and ‘somewhat important’ for another 35% of consumers. About one in five (19%) consumers are relatively ambivalent about digital CX, but only 6% consider digital CX to be unimportant.

Executives are relatively mixed in their assessment of their own firm’s digital CX. Forty-two percent of senior executives believe their company’s digital CX capabilities sometimes fail to meet their customers’ needs, while 39% say their digital CX either meets or exceeds their customers’ expectations.

So business decision-makers recognise the importance of digital CX, but what are their investment priorities? Perhaps surprisingly, the top investment priority for many digital CX strategies (39%) is not technology itself, but building a culture around customer-centric digital service. Firms are also emphasising customer journey optimisation, analytics and insights.

As for emerging technologies, very few executives expect emerging tech to have a significant impact on their firm’s digital CX. Augmented and virtual reality may present some of the greatest opportunities, but even then only 37% expect those technologies to have an impact in the medium term. On the other hand, only 28% of executives expect to see any impact from NFTs, and less than a third believe the metaverse will impact their firm’s digital CX.