Annual Online Customer Engagement Survey

This cScape-sponsored Customer Engage¬ment Report, is based on the findings of a survey carried out in October and November 2006.More than 800 respondents, all internet and / or customer experience professionals, both ‘client-side’ and from agencies, completed the survey which contained questions about customer experience meas¬urement, methods of customer engagement and barriers to effective delivery. The report shows a significant gap between what organisations are aspiring to in order to engage their customers and deliver an optimal customer experience, and the reality of what they are doing, or are able to do, in order to meet these goals.In the new digital age and the world of Web 2.0, there are more channels available to engage and communicate with customers. But while there is an unprecedented level of opportunity for organisations, the changing landscape also creates new challenges when attempting to create a consistent end-to-end experience. While relatively new technologies and features such as Ajax and user-generated content are either being used or are “on the radar”, the reality is that many organisa¬tions are struggling to organise themselves to deliver a basic level of customer experi¬ence and customer engagement even across existing channels and technologies. The level of customer experience across channels is difficult not only to measure, but also to implement. Without the right kind of cross-channel measurement and benchmarking in place, this is even more challenging to get right. The difficulties encountered vary depending on the size of organisations.The gap between the aspirations and the reality is caused by barriers which fall into a range of categories, including technical issues and those relating to company culture and leadership. In particular, supplier-side respondents (generally agencies) believe that there is a lack of boardroom buy-in which causes difficulties in delivering the best possible customer experience. Company respond¬ents recognise these issues to a degree, but it is the agency respondents who see this, along with lack of management vision, as being a particular handicap for organisa¬tions.