Strategizing for a downturn: CX leaders prepare for 2023

Earlier this month, British newspaper The Independent reported that economists foresee a “0.3 percent fall in gross domestic product (GDP) for 2023 as a whole” – and that’s only in the UK. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook report, projects that global growth will slow from 3.2 percent this year to 2.7 percent in 2023.

Post-pandemic financial restraints have prompted many businesses to change how they deliver the customer experience, but the scale of that change is far more significant than initially realized.

Acquia’s 2022 Customer Experience Trends report reveals that 94 percent of surveyed businesses have changed their customer experience strategies in the last 18 months. Clearly businesses realise that they must be prepared for the current economic downturn to hit both customer and company.

Preparing for downturn

Businesses have implemented specific measures to prepare for the next year. Of the 2,000 customers and 200 marketers surveyed by Acquia, 58 percent rated “improving customer service” as a high priority for their businesses. Similarly, 56 percent of businesses are preparing by improving the overall customer experience.

Clearly, most organizations recognise that retaining a loyal customer base is the key to sustaining a business through economic struggle.

Shep Hyken, the chief amazement officer at Shepard Presentations, told CX Network only a few months ago that despite economic turbulence, “customer expectations are not going to change in relation to the experience they have received in the past.”

Indeed, according to Hyken’s Achieving customer amazement survey, customer expectations were higher than the year before in every major category.

Rik Johnson, head of solutions at Curious Thing AI, helpfully described these customer expectations in the webinar How to overcome customer service challenges in a downturn. She argued that successful customer experience looks like “confidence that I can get through and that I am going to have consistent support, ideally in a really convenient way.”

Same tricks, new tools

Tied with improving customer service as the top way for companies to prepare, is the adoption of new marketing technology.

There are many new ways to improve digital marketing, but one simple method the report highlights is introducing a CDP, which will centralize customer data. Of those surveyed, 46 percent argue that the ability to provide personalized customer experiences was a major benefit of using a CDP.

Andy Shirley, Infobip’s director product marketing, confirmed that maintaining a “unified communication platform that captures customer data” is crucial to acquiring a ROI in the report Accelerating ROI in customer experience.

Doing more with your budget

Despite the trying times, many companies have decided to invest in customer experience tools and as a result are predicting an increase in their budgets. In fact, according to the Acquia report, 62 percent of companies surveyed predict their budgets will increase by 10 percent. Overall, everyone surveyed expects their budgets to increase by an average of 7.6 percent in the next year.

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly why this increase will likely occur. “Many organizations have embraced the digital transformation that accelerated during the pandemic,” the report claims. Companies have now recognised this need to reprioritise the digital customer experience.
In the ‘Making the case for CX investment’ report, implementing a closed-loop feedback system is shown to save a business $2.5 million annually.

In the Making the case for CX investment report, implementing a closed-loop feedback system is shown to save a business $2.5 million annually.

Building a system where customers’ negative feedback can be immediately referred to the right department will see a “reduction of customer churn”.

However, this increased budget may also just reflect “an inflationary environment”. In which case, businesses still have significant room to improve in their attempt to construct a fluid customer journey.

Later in the report this is compounded, as 74 percent of businesses who took part in the survey said their marketing technology limits them in delivering innovative digital experiences for their customers.

Organizations clearly need to reorganize their budgets to prepare for the difficulty of the coming year.