Businesses Focus on Customer Experience to Thrive Against the Pandemic

As the market continues to be disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses are focusing on their customers’ experience to thrive against the pandemic. This include the 17 Malaysian brands and businesses that are voted by consumers for the CXP Best Customer Experience Awards 2021.

Between March and September this year, some 30,000 Malaysian consumers were surveyed through the proprietary CXP Velocity Model to understand their purchasing journey and the level of customer experience they have received, as well as the ease with which their complains were. Businesses rated the highest by their own customers across all parameters are then recognised with the CXP Best Customer Experience Awards.

“In the past decades, customer experience has become transactional as ‘marketing’ has eclipsed the customer as the focus of a company. The internet changed that. Customer experience is seeing a rebound in importance as businesses shifted their focus to providing customers the attention, time, and value-added service they deserve. Forging an emotional bond by engaging and understanding the customers on a more personal level is crucial for brands and businesses moving forward”, says Datuk William Ng, managing director of Business Media International, the company behind CXP Asia, a leading portal for customer experience professionals.

The survey has also offered some insights into the state of customer service in Malaysia with 82% of the respondents saying they would recommend a brand or company they like to their friends or colleagues, 81% will patronise businesses more often if their employees are friendly and approachable when solving problems or complaints.

On the flipside, 80% of the respondents say they are not getting sufficient feedback from businesses despite actively seeking answers. 75% respondents stated that brands do not actively seek for their business post-purchase which caused them to not repeat purchase.

“We are seeing a rapid surge in investment by businesses into customer analytics, real-time feedback, and recovery processes to drive repeat purchase and word-of- mouth. Customer experience takes patience and persistence, but is an excellent investment given the changing behaviour of consumers and the resurgence of customer experience as a sales- and loyalty-driver”, Ng added.

The CXP Best Customer Experience Awards is organized by Business Media International with the support of research firm Smith Zander, Everise and Marketing Magazine.