Salesforce released the fifth edition of its State of the Connected Customer report that shares insights from nearly 17,000 consumers and business buyers across 29 counties, including 650 individuals from India on the new digital-first customer engagement landscape.
Key insights of this year’s State of the Connected Customer report include:
A Trust-Based Economy Has Emerged. As customers navigate a rapidly changing world, questions of trust, values, and integrity are increasingly impacting their relationships with companies. 92% of respondents in India believe that trust becomes important in times of change
Digital Acceleration Is Sparking Demand for Personalization at Scale. Customer engagement is decidedly digital-first, but brands are under pressure to merge online and offline interactions into a personalized experience as in-person interaction re-emerges. 80% of respondents in India have purchased products in new ways since 2020.
New Realities Are Testing Brand Loyalties. As priorities and behaviors shift, established brand loyalties are undergoing tests of strength. 72% consumers have switched brands at least once in the past year.
This new digital-first world has changed the norms of commerce, work, and everyday life, prompting customers and brands to re-establish how they connect. As customers continue to shift their preferred experiences with brands to online channels, brands must re-imagine digital-first experiences that engage customers in a way that is flexible, thoughtful, and provides a personal touch.
View a breakdown of key insights from consumers and business buyers, including generation and country filters, in an interactive Tableau dashboard.
Arun Kumar Parmeswaran, SVP & MD (Sales and Distribution) Salesforce India said “ It is undeniable that a customer’s needs and expectations from a brand is the corporate north star today. Be it a consumer or a business buyer, organisations need to understand individual customers to earn, build and maintain ‘Trust’ which is the the ultimate currency of customer engagement.”
Shweta Srivastava, Director – CS & Customer Experience, Tata CLiQ said “At Tata CLiQ, we’ve seen an upswing in the number of customers visiting our website over the last two years. Customers today undoubtedly expect companies to deliver personalised experiences at scale. Building customer loyalty in the current scenario becomes critical to our business strategy, differentiating us from the competition in a sea of options available to customers. Technology too plays a key role in leveraging customer data to cater to their unique requirements.”
Methodology
Data in the State of the Connected Customer report is from a double-blind study of 13,020 consumers and 3,916 business buyers across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Data was collected between December 8, 2021 and February 1, 2022. All respondents are third-party panelists. Countries surveyed include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom,, and the United States. Cultural bias impacts survey results.
