More SG Companies See CX a Priority

More Singapore companies are becoming laser-focused on customer experience than ever before.

According to Zendesk’s Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2021, 77% of local companies prioritize CX. It is more than they did a year ago and the second-highest for the region.

Part of the reason is customer demand. Since the start of the pandemic, Singapore witnessed a 22% increase in average weekly support requests. Nearly half of customers (49%) in Singapore say that experience is more important to them now than a year ago.

Companies going online is another reason. It puts pressure on them to meet rising expectations as CX takes center stage.

This is extremely crucial in markets such as Singapore, where 81% of Singaporeans are willing to spend more with a company that offers a good customer experience — the highest in the region. The report showed that 83% of Singaporeans would take their business elsewhere following bad experiences.

“We’ve seen companies in APAC embrace digitalization at an incredible speed this year in response to the dramatic shifts in the operating landscape they’ve had to navigate. Customer experience has never been more important, and we think this accelerated adoption of technology is likely to continue in 2021. Organizations need to ensure they have the right strategies, processes, and technology in place to empower customer support teams and drive business success,” said Wendy Johnstone, the chief operating officer for APAC at Zendesk. 

The sudden increase in CX focus is not just limited to Singapore. Across APAC, companies see omnichannel solutions as a means to engage customers and meet their changing demands.

According to the report, companies identified as ’high-performing’ in APAC based on customer service metrics such as CSAT and reply speed are more likely to have adopted omnichannel solutions. Over half (54%) offer self-service in addition to other key channels, including phone, email, or messaging, compared to just 20% of low performers. 

Companies are also exploring new CX initiatives as customer behaviors change and messaging apps become more popular. Sixty-nine percent of APAC customers have tried a new way to get in touch with customer service in the last year. For many, that includes messaging for support requests over apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which have spiked significantly during the pandemic, with social messaging up 117% in APAC since February 2020.

Half of the customers (50%) also prefer to use embedded messaging in Singapore when they engage with businesses, such as on websites or mobile apps.

Employee experience is also becoming as important as customer experience as companies look for smarter ways for their employees. Forty-one percent of APAC managers say they don’t have the right analytics tools to measure success for remote teams, and 49% of agents don’t have the right tools to work successfully from home.

Singapore is slightly ahead in the region, as only one out of five managers (21%) and one out of four (27%) agents feel the same way. Most believe they have the right tools to help them succeed in a distributed workforce.

Image credit: iStockphoto/Nuthawut Somsuk