CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Most social shoppers in the US believe customer experience is lacking

By our News Team | 2022

Survey finds two-thirds of people prefer to use social media during the buying process, but younger consumers are particularly unhappy.

Sixty percent of US consumers questioned in a recent survey believe they are not receiving an excellent customer experience (CX) on social media when making a purchase. Among Gen Z consumers there is even more frustration, with 70% believing they do not receive exceptional CX.

But despite this less-than-perfect perception, two-thirds of Americans prefer to use social media during the buying process to ask questions, make purchases and seek post-purchase customer support.

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

The recently released ‘7 Key Consumer Expectations Impacting Social Media Success Today’ report outlines generational insights into how different groups engage with brands. It was prepared by Emplifi, leading unified customer experience platform.

“Communication preferences change with time, which poses an immense challenge for brands whose product or service serves multiple generations,” said Emplifi’s head of customer experience, Shellie Vornhagen.

“The key for brands to truly excel at CX is to expand care and marketing programmes into the channels where their customers are active and, increasingly, that’s social media. Social continues to pull away as the consumers’ choice, and the companies that will succeed are those who follow their customers’ lead and embrace social as well.”

Different generations prefer different platforms

The survey also highlights generational platforms preferences – with Instagram (65%) and TikTok (51%) being popular among the younger age groups, and Facebook more popular among Gen X (76%) vs Gen Z (43%). These findings underscore the importance of factoring in age when shaping buyer personas and CX initiatives into social media strategies.

More than half of respondents (56%) feel that customer service quality has a larger impact on brand perception. When asked to pick one item that drives positive brand perceptions the most, consumers rated 24/7 customer service availability (29%) and quick response times (28%) as the top two items, showing the critical role of a solid, always-on customer care infrastructure on all channels.

“It’s no longer enough to use social media to provide care. Consumers are looking to social media not only to research and purchase products, but also for post-purchase care,” noted Vornhagen.

“Companies need to adopt an ‘always on’ approach,” and scale their efforts to provide a seamless experience on the platforms on which their customers are. We’re fortunate to live in an age where this is possible. The tech is there, now we just need brands to get on board.”

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