Bespoke experience keeps 9 in 10 customers loyal to brands

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Global investment in digital customer engagement increased brands’ revenue by 90% on average, up from 70% last year, according to Twilio’s 2023 State of Customer Engage Report.

The report is based on a survey of more than 4,700 B2C leaders in key sectors across the world, plus a parallel survey of over 6,000 global consumers. The report includes findings from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Findings show that consumer patience in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan is low, with 73% of consumers intending to stop using brands if their experience is not personalised.

Also, brands continue to overestimate how well they are meeting those expectations, with a personalisation experience gap of 27 percentage points between B2C and consumer perceptions.

The study found that consumer frustration with inconsistent digital experiences is growing, with 53% of consumers in APJ report being frustrated with their interactions over the past year, up from 51% the year before.

Precise, real-time personalisation improves customer lifetime value, with 91% of consumers in the region say that personalised experiences increase their loyalty to brands. Consumers in APJ also spend 24% more on brands that personalise –  higher than the global average of 21%.

Further, consumers in APJ want more control over their customer data, with “identity data” being the top priority. Meanwhile, 44% of consumers in APJ have stopped purchasing from a brand after their expectations for data privacy and transparency weren’t met, exceeding the global average of 41%.

As part of the research, Twilio divided B2C companies into three categories based on their customer engagement maturity — customer engagement leaders, framers, and laggards. 

The customer engagement leaders — companies that have the most mature use of personalisation, first-party data, and highest level of digital engagement — reported enormous benefits compared to those who have less advanced customer engagement strategies. 

These include substantially increased revenue growth, customer retention, and customer conversion rates, along with a greater likelihood of meeting the company’s financial goals. 

Globally, 82% of customer engagement leaders met or exceeded their company’s financial goals for 2022, compared to 62% of customer engagement laggards.

Two-fifths (40%) of engagement leaders reported much higher customer retention rates than previous years, compared to 12% of laggards.

Similarly, 41% of engagement leaders also reported much higher customer conversion rates than previous years, versus 15% of laggards.

“In this macroeconomic climate, every business is looking to do more with less budget,” said Joyce Kim, chief marketing officer at Twilio. 

“This research reflects what we’re hearing across our customer base, which is that when brands use first-hand data to personalise engagement with customers, it saves companies meaningful marketing spend and increases lifetime value,” said Kim. “For brands facing growing headwinds, this means ROI today.”