BRANDS INVESTING IN CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT EXPECT TO SEE 11 PERCENT INCREASE IN REVENUE, REVEALS NEW RESEARCH STUDY

SINGAPORE
– June 08, 2016 – Investing
in your customer experience strategy has a significant financial impact on
businesses, says a new study released
by Avanade,
the leading digital innovator on the Microsoft platform, and Sitecore®. The study conducted with 880 decision makers
in six countries found that for every dollar invested in improving the customer
experience, businesses generated three dollars in return. In addition, they
expect to see an 11 percent increase in revenue in the next 12 months.

The
global research study focused on businesses’ customer experience strategy, its
adoption, benefits, challenges as well as the importance of building a
long-term relationship with customers. In fact, 65 percent of respondents
expect further opportunities to improve profitability when they focus on
improving the overall lifetime value of customers. As expected, an overwhelming
96 percent of those surveyed have or are
developing a customer experience strategy. Also, 92 percent of
those with a strategy in place report that the customer experience strategy is
one of their top three priorities.

The
research revealed that competition and customer feedback were the main reasons
behind prioritizing a customer experience strategy. A full two-thirds of
respondents said that competition made their organization realize the need to
prioritize customer experience, while 52 percent reported customer feedback as
the driver.

There
are still several obstacles preventing businesses from delivering an effective
customer experience. These include outdated services and
systems, a lack of internal skills, and an inability to provide a seamless
experience across different channels, according to the research.

“For
brands to truly succeed, they need to move beyond standalone marketing tools
and shift marketing to their customers in context across every brand touchpoint,”
said Scott Anderson, Chief Marketing Officer, Sitecore. “Companies need to
understand that customer experiences are now built around
knowing what each individual is trying to achieve at that very moment in time
and create the right brand experience around those insights.
In fact, almost half of those surveyed have experienced increased customer
loyalty over the past 12 months by prioritizing a customer experience strategy.”

“Today’s digital customer has a myriad of
options for the way they interact with businesses. The right customer
experience strategy can help companies provide a seamless and consistently
excellent experience across all those channels. In an increasingly competitive
digital world, brands need to challenge traditional business models and
consider what could be done differently to attract, win and retain their
customers by meeting or exceeding expectations at every touch point,” added
Stella Goulet, Chief Marketing Officer, Avanade.

Read
more about the Avanade and Sitecore partnership here.