KPMG has released its 2019 Customer Experience Excellence (CEE) report based on extensive studies of consumer preferences, and a survey of more than 2500 Australian consumers about their interactions with 110 local and international brands.
Customer experience scores in Australia reflect good but not great delivery, according to consumers.
The average CEE rating in the Australian market was 7.14 out of 10, with about three-quarters of companies clustered between 6.5 and 7.5.
The overall CEE rating in Australia was only marginally higher (0.04 points) than last year’s result.
Amanda Hicks, Partner in Charge - Customer, Brand and Marketing Advisory, KPMG Australia, says businesses struggle when it comes to taking a holistic approach to excellent customer experience.
"Responsibility for the customer experience of each channel sits in siloed business units in many Australian companies. This means there’s a lack of overall strategy, or indeed a sense of what ‘the big picture’ looks like," she says.
"Customer experience has been heightened as a topical conversation in the Australian market through increased attention over the past 18 months in areas as diverse as aged care and financial services.
"Traditional Australian organisations, which are often tied to legacy ways of working, are struggling to match the digital experience offered by new market entrants. The future challenge for these organisations will be successfully translating their physical presence into a digital blueprint that captures the essence of their brand."
Brands that "cast their experience net" further than immediate customers make up eight of the ten top Australian organisations in the CEE rankings.
They do so by embedding purpose-driven values within their wider strategy and corresponding brand promise; consistently prioritising and delivering initiatives that represent the core values of their organisation.
The CEE findings depict Integrity (18.8%), in tandem with Personalisation (18.9%) as the strongest drivers of Net Promoter Score (NPS), indicating that brands that authentically connect and build trust (Integrity) with the wider communities they operate in typically out-perform other brands in the CEE rankings.
The local brands:
And the top customer experience brands, regardless of where they are headquartered:
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