SG Consumers Are Ready for the Great Switch
- By CDOTrends editors
- February 21, 2022
Singapore consumers have had enough. A new survey showed that many are willing to switch brands if the customer experience from their favorite ones doesn’t meet their expectations.
Two-thirds of the 1,000 respondents to the Qualtrics study (67%) in Singapore said they had switched brands because the customer experience they received did not meet the brand promise. This suggests that despite their best intentions, many companies are failing to live up to their brand values in the experiences they deliver.
One area where Singapore companies are failing is in customer service. Dissatisfaction with it was at 75%, making it the leading reason consumers would stop purchasing from a brand — far ahead of product quality (57%) and price increases (51%).
“Great customer experiences start with brand,” said Lisa Khatri, head of customer, brand & design experience for Asia Pacific & Japan at Qualtrics.
“Your brand is defined by everything the organization does. It is embodied in the product, the customer journey, and it is delivered by happy employees who are enabled to provide superior services. Take a delivery company, for example — if the company fails to meet a delivery window it promises to meet, then employees will have to proactively address issues that arise,” she added.
The results proved that customer and brand experience are intertwined. The outcomes can influence consumer buying decisions across Singapore. Brands that fail to live up to their promises face public scrutiny.
Experience key to trust and awareness
So, what is good customer experience? In 2022, the survey respondents pointed to taking care of customers as the top factor, followed by maintaining reasonable pricing and taking care of employees. Going above and beyond safety standards and recommendations and communicating in a transparent and timely manner rounded out the top five.
These findings show a stark change from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Then, not taking advantage of a crisis, maintaining reasonable pricing, and taking care of employees were the top factors that increased brand trust.
The survey also noted that brands could no longer rely on advertising and public events to stay relevant. Product/service quality (77%) and customer service (58%) had around twice the impact of advertising campaigns (32%) and public events (29%).
Khatri advised that to align the brand and customer experience, companies must first understand and articulate their purpose and how they will bring it to life while ensuring they had the right systems and processes in place to deliver it. After this, it was about identifying the moments in the customer journey that had the biggest impact on their response — whether it was at the point of sale or the contact center support.
She added that these insights could help companies to deliver in the ways their customers expect when it matters most, "ensuring their brand promise, purpose, and values guide every action they take.”
Image credit: iStockphoto/benzoix