Brands aren’t meeting the expectations of Australian consumers when it comes to customer experience, according to new research.

Acquia’s inaugural global survey on the state of the CX, which involved more than 5,000 consumers and 500 marketers from Australia, Europe and North America, revealed that a majority of customers feel dissatisfied with the service offered to them by brands.

But with more consumer choice than ever, customer experience is vital to keep consumers loyal to a brand. Despite that, more than half (54% ) of Australian consumers polled believed brands are failing expectations for a good CX and two-thirds could not recall when a brand exceeded expectations, B&T reported.

Consumers are more likely to expect a personalised customer service, but are wary of how their personal data might be used by brands. Marketers themselves are also out of touch with these sentiments: 89% of Australian marketers felt they are meeting consumer expectations in delivering engaging customer experiences, but 71% of the same marketers surveyed felt disappointed by brand experiences they had had as a consumer.

There is also tension between investment in marketing technology and how much easier it makes the lives of marketers: almost three-quarters ( 72%) of marketers felt that complex technology made personalisation more difficult, yet 61 % of marketers surveyed globally planned to invest more in marketing technology in 2019.

“This research shows that technology has become more of a barrier than an enabler for a great customer experience,” said Nicole Stirling, Acquia director of marketing in Asia Pacific and Japan.

“Companies and data remain more siloed than ever. Marketers now need to take back control and put in place strategies that provide the right level of personalisation and data privacy to drive compelling customer relationships.”

Sourced from B&T; additional content by WARC staff