Engine Customer Experience Report 2019

Engine’s Annual Customer Experience Report is now in its 6th year. Over that period we’ve been tracking trends around topics such as; what’s important to customers, which sectors are delivering the best experiences and the service qualities that drive consumer choice and advocacy.

In this year’s report, we’ve doubled the sample size to over 2,000 respondents and introduced some new questions that reveal interesting insights from both a customer and business perspective, including:

• What’s important to customers and the areas that businesses should be focusing on
• Which sectors and brands are delivering great services and experiences
• The cost of poorly designed services to both customers and businesses
• Consumer preferences in seeking help and the manner in which it’s delivered
• Whether customers most trust online or high-street brands and how ready they are to go paperless.

Engine’s Annual Customer Experience Report is now in its 6th year. Over that period we’ve been tracking trends around topics such as; what’s important to customers, which sectors are delivering the best experiences and the service qualities that drive consumer choice and advocacy.

In this year’s report, we’ve doubled the sample size to over 2,000 respondents and introduced some new questions that reveal interesting insights from both a customer and business perspective.

Headlining the findings are statistics around the cost of poorly designed services. Our survey revealed that, over the last year, the average value per respondent of products and/or services not returned or cancelled because it was too difficult was nearly £100. Multiply that up by the UK population over 16 years of age and that could equate to consumers missing out on over £5.2bn in refunds.

On average, UK consumers have chosen not to buy £134.64 worth of products or services because at some point in the purchase process it simply became too difficult. Super-simple, easy to use brands such as Amazon, Apple and Premier Inn have led to heightened customer expectations and increased the pressure on the chasing pack. The message to brands is clear – if you’re not easy to buy from, you risk losing out.

We’re often asked about the value of investing in good customer experience, and the headline figure of £7.2bn being lost by businesses because of badly designed or poorly performing services should be a wake-up call for many businesses.