Global Annual Customer Experience Trends Report
2021 shows customers continue to be more demanding, making it
harder for businesses to meet expectations in a post-pandemic
world
Despite 2020 being a year of far-reaching and rapid
transformation in how people live, collaborate, and connect, the
global Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report
2021 shows the customer experience is increasingly crucial to
business success, and that the most successful companies are
adopting new technology at record speed. In fact, new data released
today shows that among tech decision makers, 75% say COVID-19 sped
up technology adoption at their companies. At the same time, half
of customers say that experience is more important to them now
compared to a year ago and 63% of companies say their organization
prioritizes CX more than a year ago.
Further highlighting the acceleration of technology, a Gartner
survey conducted in 2020 found that 91% of organizations said that
CX was one of, or the primary goal of, their digital business
transformation efforts.1
“Against the 2020 backdrop of dizzying change, companies adapted
in ways they never thought possible. With the customer experience
more important than ever before, having the right strategies to
meet customers where they are can make or break a business’
success,” said Shawna Wolverton, Executive Vice President, Product,
Zendesk. “The fundamentals of business remain the same, but the
need for relationship-driven, conversational customer service
accelerated at an unprecedented rate.”
From navigating changing behaviors to adopting new channels to
reimagining the workforce, the Zendesk CX Trends Report 2021 gives
companies a roadmap to navigate this new CX landscape so they can
champion good customer service at every turn. Top findings
include:
Stay ahead of the digital curve: Companies are adopting
technology at light speed, and it’s adapt or get left behind. Of
the 75% of companies that say the pandemic sped up technology
adoption, 50% say it has accelerated by 1-3 years, while 25% say
it’s accelerated by 4-7 years. As organizations invest in the
customer, they are prioritizing seamless omnichannel service,
better IT security, agile technology, collaboration tools and the
digital workplace.
Be part of a more conversational world: As customers
adopt new behaviors, the soaring popularity of messaging apps opens
the door for more streamlined, conversational experiences.
Sixty-four percent of customers have tried a new way to get in
touch with customer service in the last year. For many, that
includes using messaging for support requests over apps like
WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which spiked significantly during
the pandemic with social messaging up 110% year over year.
Realize the power of employee experience: In an
increasingly distributed world, companies must rethink how they
work smarter across teams. Many employees still don’t feel like
they have the right tools to succeed in this new and often
distributed environment, whether it’s keeping track of their
performance indicators, staying connected with their colleagues, or
feeling supported by their companies. Forty percent of managers say
they don’t have the right analytics tools to measure success for
remote teams, and 46% of agents don’t have the right tools to work
successfully from home.
Set teams up for success by emphasizing agility: Facing
continued volatility, service and support organizations must find
ways to keep up with their customers. Customer experience leaders
cited the ability to quickly adapt to the evolving needs of
customers as their biggest challenge in 2020 and the highest
priority going forward.
Make it easier for customers with a focus on CX:
Unprecedented in speed and scale, the recent surge in online
channels puts pressure on companies to meet rising expectations as
customer experience takes center stage. The vast majority (75%) of
customers say they base their purchasing decisions on whether or
not a company offers a good customer experience, while 80% will
still take their business elsewhere following bad experiences - a
figure that remains consistent year over year.
For more, including data and insights by region, industry and
company size, go to
https://www.zendesk.com/customer-experience-trends/ to read the
full, interactive report.
Methodology
This annual look at the top trends in customer experience
combines analysis of the Zendesk Benchmark, a unique data index on
how more than 90,000 companies use their support solutions, with
the results of surveys gauging the attitudes of more than 8,000
consumers, customer service agents and managers, and technology
buyers, in 15 countries, including US, UK, Australia, Brazil,
France, Germany, Spain, Japan, Mexico, India, Singapore, Korea,
Italy, the Nordics, and Benelux.
About Zendesk
Zendesk is a service-first CRM company that builds support,
sales, and customer engagement software designed to foster better
customer relationships. From large enterprises to startups, we
believe that powerful, innovative customer experiences should be
within reach for every company, no matter the size, industry or
ambition. Zendesk serves more than 160,000 customers across a
multitude of industries in over 30 languages. Zendesk is
headquartered in San Francisco, and operates offices worldwide.
Learn more at www.zendesk.com.
1 Gartner, Survey Analysis: Customer Experience Maturity and
Investment Priorities, 2020, Ed Thompson, Varun Agarwal, Melissa
Davis, 28 July 2020
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210121005196/en/
Analisa Schelle, Zendesk press@zendesk.com 510-292-5410
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