CSG’s State of the Customer Journey 2022 report shows brands going the extra mile to win in the battle for customers
DENVER, US – News Direct – 17 February 2022 – CSG® (NASDAQ: CSGS), the leader in innovative customer engagement, revenue management and payments solutions that make ordinary customer experiences extraordinary, today released its 2022 State of the Customer Journey report. Drawing on over 10 billion customer journey interactions, the research found that companies reached their customers through an ever-broadening mix of digital channels, finding increasingly sophisticated ways to connect with their customers at scale.
The report highlighted the efforts of global brands to deepen levels of engagement with their customers by shifting focus away from sales and customer acquisition toward long-term loyalty and customer goodwill, both at and after the point of sale. As such, use cases like smart notifications and digital customer service became vitally important and made significant gains during socially distant times, with consumers now expecting these instant interactions online or in-store.
Top takeaways from this year’s research include:
- Smart notifications take customer journey gold as top channel: With the world moving faster than ever, brands embraced “micro-moments” to capture customers’ attention at the right time and in the channels they already use. Case in point: smart notifications accounted for more than 50% of journey interactions and took the top spot as the number one customer journey use case in 2021. Notably, SMS texts presented a unique opportunity for immediacy, engagement and personalization. CSG found that SMS notifications increased by almost 1,000% year over year, and for good reason: 90% of messages are read within 3 minutes.
- Voice and SMS make a powerful 1-2 punch: It turns out consumers still want to “phone a friend,” as total phone calls increased in volume by 290%, with inbound calls accounting for 31% of total calls in 2021. This trend highlights the growing importance and value of intelligent automated phone system technologies like interactive voice response (IVR), which can better understand customer needs and offer more self-service options for faster resolution. Like voice, SMS saw a big increase in adoption, with overall message volume more than quadrupling year over year (304%). As businesses adapt to notifying consumers in real-time, whether to confirm a delivery or provide a fraud alert, SMS will soon become a requirement to compete.
- Email makes a rebound: Despite the rumors heard year after year, email is not dead. Email interactions grew steadily since last year’s report (+145%). It triumphed as the most popular channel for journey interactions for customer notification, onboarding, digital customer service and acquisition. Email’s scalability and low technical requirements for personalization continue to make it a powerful “must-have option” for any company’s digital channel mix.
- Journey interactions rise across the board, across industries:
- Financial services: Timely, accurate communication is especially important when it comes to managing and protecting our wallets. To meet this expectation, financial services institutions became the ambassadors for channel mix diversity, with 40% more variety in their communication channel delivery than other industries. Not only are banking customers being kept better informed, but banks are building greater trust and confidence with their customers, which will lead to more business down the road. Interestingly, phone channels reigned supreme, accounting for 69% of digital customer service interactions.
- Telecommunications: The telecom industry also had a lot to gain from channel diversification. Communications service providers (CSPs) got savvier with their channel mix (+36% than average) to retain customers long-term while also pursuing innovative ways to acquire new subscribers. In a highly competitive market, CSPs can ensure current customers are happy by making their experiences simple and easy. On the acquisition front, CSPs need to leverage sophisticated segmentation and analytics to show that they know what future customers are looking for, and then be able to adapt their communications and interactions in real-time to deliver value even before the customer signs up.
- Retail: Retail brands are mastering the channels they’ve used for years — on average tapping two — but are now standing out in other ways. They are broadening ways for customers to interact with the brand, whether through e-commerce with convenient upsell suggestions during checkout (the digital version of snacks in the checkout line) or hybrid options like buy online, pick-up in store (BOPIS). Overall, the opportunity to create the best journeys in retail will come from increasing everyday value-add and orchestrating transactional messages through the most intelligent journey workflows possible.
“Winning with customer journeys is quite straightforward: be where your customers are,” says Mark Smith, VP of digital engagement solutions at CSG. “If it’s across six channels, your brand should have a uniquely enticing presence in each, but also ensure you offer consistent value and experience. The goal, especially after the hardships of the pandemic, is to uplift your customer and elevate the experience they have with your brand in the most proactive, predictive and personalized way possible. This digital transformation shift is here to stay, and businesses are realizing the benefits of digital communications that are intelligently coordinated, as evidenced by the expanding channel mix and rise in smart notifications.”
Methodology
CSG tracked more than 10 billion customer journey interactions in 2021 through its customer journey orchestration platform, a component of CSG Xponent™ . CSG defines a customer journey interaction as an instance where an API triggers an action to be taken on a channel within the customer journey. New this year, CSG supplemented its journey orchestration data with data from voice and messaging channels (U.S. only), also spanning 2021, with 2020 volumes for comparative reference.
Read CSG’s full analysis, findings, and recommendations in the global industry report: State of the Customer Journey 2022.
About CSG
CSG is a leader in innovative customer engagement, revenue management and payments solutions that make ordinary customer experiences extraordinary. Our cloud-first architecture and customer-obsessed mindset help companies around the world launch new digital services, expand into new markets, and create dynamic experiences that capture new customers and build brand loyalty. For over 40 years, CSG’s technologies and people have helped some of the world’s most recognizable brands solve their toughest business challenges and evolve to meet the demands of today’s digital economy with future-ready solutions that drive exceptional customer experiences. With 5,000 employees in over 20 countries, CSG is the trusted technology provider for leading global brands in telecommunications, retail, financial services and healthcare. Our solutions deliver real world outcomes to more than 900 customers in over 120 countries. To learn more, visit us at csgi.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
#CSG
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Services
Stakeholder mapping, analysis, engagement and communication needs to be detailed to avoid business losses or even worse, a crisis. How can you do this effectively to prevent failure? ...
Data-driven business decisions have never been as crucial, especially in this era. MGBF leverages off, technology, experience and market presence to aid businesses in making accurate decisions. ...
MGBF provides comprehensive strategic advice and results-focused solutions to solve clients' problems in business-government relations so they can focus on their core business. ...
A critical business challenge is meeting the right decision-makers and potential buyers through the best channel and platform. How will you improve your business competency? ...
Upcoming Events
In this episode of 'A Working Lunch with Nordin', MGBF's Nordin Abdullah and regional commentator Eddin Khoo will discuss the biggest threats and opportunities for businesses as we look to manage change in the South China Sea.
This MGBF Roundtable will feature thought leaders form Japan, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia dealing with the critical issues of manipulation of public listed companies and government and their financial impacts.
A series of networking sessions with various business associations and trade organisations exploring high-value opportunities for business leaders and entrepreneurs looking to build the relationships that matter.
This integrated event will include a forum, dedicated business matching, site visits, a gala dinner and a round of golf. Aptly themed, the focus will be on regional food security issues and trends in the context of the supply chain, agriculture technology and trade regulations and policies.
MGBF In The News
Planet QEOS and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) are interested in investing RM10 billion to co-develop advanced Megawatt peak (MWp) agrovoltaic in Baram, to further boost Sarawak’s green energy initiative and food security. Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg was briefed on Friday by both the […]
Last week SPM results came out, 373,974 aspirants who have been waiting patiently over the last few months would now know their fate. Some 10,109 have received all A’s, the golden standard of academic success and the ticket to those looking to study the “more advanced” subjects in university. Proudly, […]
The classic knee-jerk reaction is to say, fire the coach, change the leadership of associations, and reduce the funding till they start performing better. This kind of negative reinforcement may work for kindergarten children, but we are dealing with high-performance adults – individuals much further along in their psychological and […]
Since its earliest tea plantations in 1929, Cameron Highlands has grown to become a key player in the agricultural landscape of Malaysia, producing 40 per cent of all vegetables grown. Despite Malaysia shifting its economic focus away from agriculture, the industry remains imperative for food security and the livelihoods of […]
Although at first glance the travel industry and the agricultural sector appear to have nothing in common, they actually share more than meets the eye. The economic benefits of tourism to the agricultural sector can be multiplied several times over. “Tourism brings the end consumers closer to the source, which […]
The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) recently held a high-level roundtable themed ‘Designing the Future of the Digital Economy’, attended by industry leaders and business associations. The guest of honour was Yang Berhormat Syerleena Abdul Rashid, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bukit Bendera in Penang. The MP’s Special Session […]
The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) will be hosting a roundtable on ‘Designing the Future of the Digital Economy’ on 23 February 2023. It is the culmination of the first three MGBF Exclusive Roundtable Series titled ‘The Evolving Threat Matrix in the Digital Economy’ held throughout 2022. According to the […]
The Founding Chairman of the Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF), Nordin Abdullah, today spoke on Bernama TV’s leading English talk show, The Brief, hosted by Jessy Chahal, on the topic of a stable political reality and what that means for the Malaysian economy. Nordin said, “The first thing that it […]
More than 1,100 years ago, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was developing the mathematical formulas that we know today as algorithms which now have become so intertwined with the business fortunes of global media giants and the very fabric of geopolitics. A series of recent high level international reports have revealed […]
KSK Land has been recognised by the Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) for its role in attracting high net-worth individuals to Malaysia post-pandemic. The first challenge in investor attraction is “selling” the country. In the context of Asia, Malaysia is competing with some very established investment destinations. The second […]
Malaysia, in particular Kuala Lumpur, continues to position itself as a regional centre to do business, educate a family and enjoy a global lifestyle. One company, KSK Land, has taken the lead in positioning itself and the city of Kuala Lumpur as a property investment destination for the global citizen […]
The upcoming budget represents an opportunity to build resilience in the critical sectors that will form the backbone of the country’s future-facing economic ambitions. This however needs to be achieved in the context of managing the community sectors most impacted by COVID-19 over the past two years. The Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) […]
Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) has moved to support the creative economy as the overall economy moves into a recovery phase following the COVID19 pandemic. As a step in the direction of normalcy, the MGBF has agreed to host the art exhibition “I Know You’re Somewhere So Far” by one […]
Congratulations to Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob for taking up the mantle of the ninth prime minister of Malaysia. There is nothing normal about the situation; it could not have been scripted but it has kept the spectrum of media, mainstream and social, gripped. The first order of business for […]
In a stirring speech to the nation, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. stamped his brand of leadership on the presidency, in his first act as the 46th president of the United State of America, it signaled several shifts. Perhaps the weather was foreboding with snow falling before the ceremony that […]
KUALA LUMPUR, 6 July 2022 – As the global economy continues to deal with unprecedented levels of disruption caused by the pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the convergence of energy security and food security issues has become a front-of-mind issue faced by policy makers and consumers alike. […]
KUALA LUMPUR, 23 June 2022 — Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) ties up with scoutAsia to ensure that businesses are equipped with deeper regional insights. The past two years has seen a massive shift in the way businesses are conducted with digitisation, digitalisation and automation continuously being adopted to improve […]
KUALA LUMPUR, 25 May 2022 – The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF)’s exclusive roundtable on ‘Security Concerns in Critical Value Chains’ was held in a hybrid setting yesterday at the Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur. The guest of honour was Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Rafidah Aziz, former minister of […]
We live in the age of crisis. At the heart of any crisis is the threat of rapid change. Change too deep or too wide that the current coping mechanisms for an individual, corporation or government are unable to remain resilient. An unwelcome paradigm shift, like the proverbial spider, that […]