Report: APAC businesses aren’t mature at delivering CX but willing to invest in closing the gap

Brands and marketers understand the importance of customer experience, but only about 20% of APAC businesses have identified better customer experience as one of the most exciting opportunities for 2020.

Adobe has worked with Econsultancy to publish the 2020 Digital Trends in Asia-Pacific report, surveying over 13,000 marketing, advertising, eCommerce, creative, and IT professionals, working for both brands and agencies. In the report, respondents from Asia-Pacific understood the importance of customer experience and focused on optimising the customer journey in 2020, but only about one in five (19%) APAC organisations identified better CX as the biggest opportunity for the year to come.

Asked about how to create better customer experience, the respondents said they would create better content, focus on data-driven marketing, improve marketing automation, and use IoT technology to achieve their goals. 

However, APAC organisations did not think that they were mature at delivering CX. Only 7% of APAC organisations considered themselves mature at delivering CX, compared to 12% in North America and 11% for the rest of the world. But APAC companies are looking to invest in CX technology to close that gap, with 57% of respondents saying they planned to invest more in CX-technology this year, compared to 51% in Europe, and 41% in North America.

"Organisations need to look at the bigger picture and shift business strategies, investment, and culture supported by the right tools and processes. Building a CX-centric organisation requires investment. But with the implementation of CX technology, you can better understand your customers‘ needs, helping you outperform your competitors in a challenging marketplace," said Scott Rigby, head of transformation at Adobe.

APAC businesses are also looking to recruit more CX talents to help achieve their business goals. To retain and develop talent, CX leaders were found to be  27% more likely to invest in training, compared to non-CX leaders (20%), with a focus on teaching business concepts beyond a narrow definition of marketing.

“Obtaining and developing great talent is a huge challenge for marketers and requires businesses to add and improve skills on an ongoing basis. Investing in people, technology, and processes are all key ingredients for effective customer experience. Supporting talent early on will help businesses benefit in the long-run,” Rigby said.

APAC does lead in several qualities, with organisations already beating their counterparts in EMEA and North America on the adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. More than half of APAC businesses (54%) were using or planning to use these tools. Resources are also being spent on bridging the CX maturity gap in IT budgets, with 34% of APAC businesses planning to invest in ML and AI, compared to 25% globally.

While marketers have been overwhelmed by data and analysing campaign metrics, the report suggested that these tasks would be automated in the next five to 10 years.

“Making good use of technology and data analysis, businesses can quickly respond to customers’ needs and develop into a CX-centric organisation, bringing hope to achieving their business goals,” Rigby concluded.

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