What makes customers switch to competitors? 4 in 5 say its bad customer experience in a Zendesk survey

• A good customer experience is key to any business’ survival and growth, and 87% of the business leaders in India are keen on making improvements in this area.
  
• However, customers in India don’t hesitate in switching to competitors after multiple bad experiences, according to a report by Zendesk.
  
• The report also underlines that customers today want a more personalised, immersive and conversational experience.
  

A good customer experience is key to any business’ survival and growth, especially in times of economic uncertainty. So much so that 87% of the business leaders in India are interested in tailoring their customer experience journey to align with the customers’ mindsets, according to a survey by Zendesk.

Businesses have continued to evolve ways to deliver improved customer experience (CX) thanks to rapid technological developments and better ways to analyse customer data.

Zendesk’s 2023 CX Trends report underlines key trends in how business leaders and customers think about the latter’s experiences while interacting with businesses. The report is based on responses from nearly 3,700 customers, over 4,700 customer experience leaders and agents, and data from over 1,00,000 Zendesk customers around the world.

Customers don’t hesitate to switch to competitors

Multiple bad experiences are enough for customers to switch to competitors. According to the report, four out of five Indian customers don’t hesitate to make the switch.

While economic uncertainty has made business leaders more conscious about customer retention – after all, losing a customer after investing in acquiring them is a bigger loss. According to the survey, 95% of the business leaders reported a positive return on their investments in improving customer experiences.

Personalised services to immersive experiences, customers want it all

Customers’ expectations from businesses have evolved with the times and technological improvements. From services tailored to the customer’s needs to more immersive experiences with technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR), customers today know what they want, says the Zendesk report.

There are multiple apps and services out there today which deliver an immersive experience, allowing customers to “try-on” their products virtually before making the purchase.

According to the report, 92% of the business leaders in India believe an immersive experience is an integral part of an optimal CX.

AI needs to improve to deliver support identical to that of humans’

The use of chatbots has evolved over the last few years from being just a gimmick to one that is actually useful. A lot of it is thanks to the improvements in artificial intelligence over the years, and businesses continuing to experiment and choosing the optimal model for their organisation.

According to the report, 71% of the customers who use chatbots regularly have said their interactions have become more human-like. However, this has only increased their expectations. The report says 84% of customers expect more improvements, while 46% want their interactions to become more conversational rather than command-like.

Only 35% of businesses in India have made investments in AI and chatbots, while 45% say they have plans to do so in the next 12 months.

Hunger for data

While data collection has improved both in terms of quantity and quality, a large number of businesses still believe their organisations are not collecting enough customer data.

Zendesk says that 83% of business leaders believe their organisations should collect more customer data to deliver better personalised experiences to customers.

On the other hand, customers too seem hungry for deeper personalisation – according to the report, 87% of the surveyed customers want businesses to have access to past purchases, context from interactions and other information handy.

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