Technology adoption is imperative to maintaining a competitive edge, but many companies rely too heavily on technology without understanding how it’s impacting the customer experience.

This is one of the main findings of a study titled ‘Are You Listening? The Truth About What Customers Want in a Digital World’, which highlighted that human nature and the meaningful experiences that organisations create with customers drive digital behaviour and loyalty.

Quality of service

The research was commissioned by Calabrio, a provider of customer engagement and analytics software, to explore what motivates customer behaviour in an increasingly digital world.

Not surprisingly, the majority (61%) of respondents make purchasing decisions based on the quality of the product or service. The emotional connection and trust that businesses build with customers comes in second – ahead of price – because customers say they want to be heard. Seventy-four percent admit they are more loyal to a company if they can talk to a person – versus a machine – when they need assistance.

Although email, chatbots and other new communications technology offers increased convenience, 58% of customers still believe that picking up the phone and talking to a representative is the way to get the best and most efficient service. When those agents are well-trained, knowledgeable and empathetic, they have the power to turn every interaction into a positive, relevant experience that creates an emotional connection to the company.

Kris McKenzie, senior VP and GM for EMEA at Calabrio, said: “Technology innovation will always play a part in business evolution. However, to successfully evolve the customer experience in the digital world, companies must understand customers are driven by human nature and to gain loyalty they should listen and meet customers where they are engaging.

“To achieve this and fully understand customer preferences, companies must tap into technology to capture and analyse the growing number of customer interactions across all service channels. This combination of digital and direct human interaction insights will enable brands to understand the true voice of the customer when defining the optimal customer experience.”

For companies to earn customer loyalty, they must listen and act to deliver experiences that customers want by finding the right balance of technology and the human touch. Customers want to be heard, and they want to create an emotional connection with brands.

Other key findings include:

• 48% of customers are more loyal if they get a hold of a company quickly and easily
• 74% of customers are more loyal if they can speak to someone
• 60% of customers feel like their voices are heard when they speak to a live person

The study srveyed 3,000 consumers in the UK and USA in May 2018.