2021 R E P O RT

THE STATE OF

CUSTOMER
Experience
REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF OMNICHANNEL

The State of Customer Experience |  1

INTRODUCTION
When customer support and marketing strategies create happy
customers and drive revenue impact, magic happens.
The proliferation of digital channels and escalating demands of
customers have created a perfect storm for marketing and customer
support teams. The sheer number of touchpoints that customers can
use to engage with brands throughout their journey has created silos
that, without careful coordination, can negatively impact the customer
experience.
Mitto and Demand Metric recently partnered to understand how
marketing and customer support teams create loyal customers, their
plans for the upcoming holiday shopping season, and how they will
improve the customer experience they deliver in 2022.
This report examines the state of the customer experience and the
relationship between omnichannel maturity across three core strategy
elements: People, Process, and Technology.
Our hypothesis: High maturity responses to these strategy components
will result in increased customer loyalty and revenue impact.
The results of this study confirm the validity of the research hypothesis:
Brands that engage with customers in an omnichannel environment
“outperform” those who offer limited, disconnected touchpoints.
The following report summarizes the results of this year’s survey and
shares insights from over 600 study participants.
The State of Customer Experience |  2
 Key Findings 4

Customer Experience Benchmarks 12

Table of The Impact of Omnichannel Maturity 22

Contents Action Plan 36

Methodology 41

Acknowledgements 43

The State
The State
of Customer
of Customer
Experience
Experience
|  3
 SECTION #1

KEY FINDINGS

The State of Customer Experience |  4

KEY FINDING #1

Customer demands
are on the rise
Over half of customer support and
marketing teams believe that customers
will be more demanding in 2022

The State of Customer Experience |  5

KEY FINDING #2

The communication
landscape is shifting
SMS and Google Business are the top
channels that customer support and
marketing teams will adopt in 2022

The State of Customer Experience |  6

KEY FINDING #3

Most teams lack

visibility into
customer interactions
Nearly two-thirds of marketers and three-
quarters of customer support teams report
they have zero or limited visibility into other
team members’ interactions with customers

The State of Customer Experience |  7

KEY FINDING #4

SMS is a top channel

for delivering results
Over three-quarters of this study’s
participants report that SMS is better at
driving customer engagement than any
other channel they use

The State of Customer Experience |  8

KEY FINDING #5

Very few companies

have achieved a
mature omnichannel
strategy
Less than one-quarter of customer support and
marketing teams have implemented a strategy
that enables them to keep all touchpoints cohesive
and in sync across the customer journey

The State of Customer Experience |  9

KEY FINDING #6

Omnichannel
maturity relates to
improved holiday
season readiness
Customer support teams that have implemented There is also a strong relationship between
a mature omnichannel strategy are over two times omnichannel maturity and the ability to implement
new communication channels. Not a single immature
more likely to improve self-service and optimize
organization plans to add new customer support
support processes ahead of the holiday season channels to their mix ahead of the holiday season,
compared to over half of the mature organizations.

The State of Customer Experience |  10

KEY FINDING #7

Omnichannel is
delivering results
Compared to companies with little or no omnichannel strategy, companies
that have implemented a complete and unified omnichannel strategy were:

2X
MORE LIKELY
to respond to 3X
MORE LIKELY
• to report a significant
customers in increase in revenue
real-time or less They were also more likely to report:
growth over the past year
than an hour
• to report the customer • Better effectiveness of the channels they use to
experience they deliver
communicate
deserves an “A”
• The use of AI chatbots and automated message flows
4X
MORE LIKELY
to report • to report their investment
into the customer
• Higher average customer satisfaction scores (CSAT)
extremely loyal • Higher Net Promoter Score (NPS)
customers experience will increase

The State of Customer Experience |  11

 SECTION #2

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
BENCHMARKS

The State of Customer Experience |  12

THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS
Which of the following challenges or issues do you face
each holiday season? Check all that apply.

EQUALLY CHALLENGING FOR Customer Support Marketing

CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND Huge Volume of Support Inquiries 38%

MARKETING TEAMS Standing Out Among the Competition 44%

Keeping Track of Customer Inquiries 34%

Most customer support and marketing teams face Increased Ad Prices 38%

multiple challenges during the holiday season. On

average, this study’s participants selected 2.3 of the Unrealistic Customer Expectations
Keeping Up with Shopper Demands
32%

38%

challenges listed in the survey.

Standing Out Among the Competition 32%

Using the Right Digital Channels 30%

Using the Right Digital Channels 27%

Product Availability 30%

The holiday season can be a stressful time of the year for customer support
and marketing teams. The top challenge that customer support teams None of the Above 9%

face is dealing with a massive volume of support inquiries, while marketers None of the Above 3%

struggle to stand out from the competition, as Figure 1 shows.

The State of Customer Experience |  13

 How do you anticipate customer expectations will
evolve in 2022?
Customer Support Marketing

CUSTOMER DEMANDS
ARE ON THE RISE
Over 90% of this study’s participants believe that
customer demands will increase or remain the same.
However, marketers are more likely to report that 64%
58%

customers will be more demanding next year when 41%

compared to customer support professionals. 32%

1% 4%

Customers will be Customer demands Customers will be

more demanding will remain the same less demanding

The shift in consumer habits and the rise of digital communications have
had a significant impact on customer expectations. As Figure 2 shows, very
few customer support and marketing teams expect that customers will be
less demanding in 2022.

The State of Customer Experience |  14

CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND
Which digital channels does your company currently use
to connect with your customers? Check all that apply.

MARKETING TEAMS LEVERAGE A Customer Support Marketing

WIDE VARIETY OF CHANNELS TO Email

76%

CONNECT WITH THEIR AUDIENCES

70%

54%
Voice
26%

42%
As customers continue to adopt new channels, SMS
40%

businesses that want to deliver an exceptional customer Facebook Messenger 33%

40%

experience must monitor the digital communication 28%

Instagram
46%
landscape and have a strong presence on their
20%
Twitter
customers’ preferred channels. 40%

23%
Google Business
31%

4%
Viber
In today’s digital world there are countless ways for customers to connect 8%

and engage with businesses. As Figure 3 shows, email, voice, and SMS are WhatsApp
11%
15%
the top channels that customer support teams leverage to connect with
6%
Other
customers. The top communication channels that marketers use for holiday 4%

promotions are email, social channels, and SMS.

The State of Customer Experience |  15

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