Overall CX (customer experience) quality in Australia improved significantly but two-thirds of brands are still delivering just okay experiences, says Forrester's Australia 2019 Customer Experience Index.
The index, based on a survey of more than 8,000 Australians, benchmarked the CX quality of 31 brands in the banking, retail and superannuation industries, as well as the federal government sector.
No brand rose to the excellent category or improved their scores significantly enough to emerge as a true CX leader.
ING Direct overtook last year's leader Bendigo Bank, with JB Hi-Fi third.
In 2019, 13% of brands delivered good CX, up from just 6% in 2018, with two rising from the OK category.
The number of brands that received OK scores also fell to 68% from 77% this year.
Brands need to infuse positive emotions in their interactions with customers to make a significant impact on customers’ perception of their CX quality, says Forrester.
The top performing Australian brands provided an average of 12 emotionally positive experiences for each negative experience; the lowest-performing brands provided less than one emotionally positive experience for each negative experience.
“Brands that want to achieve CX leadership should focus on emotion,” says Riccardo Pasto, senior analyst at Forrester and author of the report.
“How an experience makes customers feel has a bigger influence on their loyalty to a brand than effectiveness or ease in every industry.
"Elite brands build loyalty by making customers feel confident, happy, and valued; CX laggards foster resentment by making customers feel annoyed, disappointed, and frustrated.”
The top four brands In Forrester’s Australia CX Index, 2019:
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