Today, Salesforce Research released its third State of the Connected Customer Report, exploring how customer expectations are shifting, and which emerging technologies are transforming their standards.
Companies are being challenged to rethink not just the individual experiences they provide customers, but their entire approach to customer engagement. Customer expectations keep soaring, with trust and corporate values becoming increasingly important, and tailored, contextualized engagement across multiple touchpoints is the new benchmark.
As innovation like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things accelerates, companies are racing to foster the digitally-savvy relationships that consumers and business buyers demand. It has now become essential for companies to get ahead of the digital curve in order to remain competitive.
Below are some key Canadian highlights from the report:
- New Expectations Shift the Digital Transformation Playbook
- 64% of customers expect companies to use new tech to create better experiences
- 43% of customers are open to the use of AI to improve their experiences
- 47% of Gen Xers view voice assistants as revolutionary
- Extraordinary Experiences Raise the Bar for Customer Engagement:
- 43% of customers say companies need to transform how they engage with them
- 70% of customers expect companies to interact with them in real time
- 60% of customers would rather use self-service for simple questions/issues
- Trust and Corporate Values are More Important, Yet Elusive
- 66% of customers believe trust in companies matters more than it did a year ago
- 58% of customers have stopped buying from a company that did something distrustful
- 52% of customers actively seek to buy from environmentally sustainable companies
Get your copy of the report here.