As customer expectations and contact center technology continues to evolve, many business leaders often focus on how they can incorporate new technology into their CX journeys as quickly as possible. While innovative technology like conversational AI-based chatbots can be extremely valuable to meeting customer demand and providing seamless CX, recent trends show that CX quality overall is on the decline across many industries, impacting even top brands.
Learn how to accelerate your CX development with Cyara’s award-winning AI-Led CX Transformation Platform.
According to Forrester’s annual Customer Experience Index rankings, US customer perceptions of CX performance have reached its lowest point since Forrester released their first report in 2016. Most notably, over the past three years, average CX quality has been on the decline in terms of ease of use, effectiveness, and emotional quality.
But what does that mean? While many brands have invested in the latest and greatest technology over the past several years, the statistics show that it simply isn’t enough. You need to confirm that your CX journeys are performing as intended, and that’s where a CX assurance solution can help make the difference.
The Risk of Falling Behind the Curve
In the recent report, Forrester assessed CX performance based on three key measures: effectiveness, ease, and emotion. Each of these metrics provides essential insights into how well any CX journey is performing. For example, an ineffective chatbot may fail to properly escalate issues to human agents, while poor call quality can make it difficult for a customer to understand an agent and receive necessary information.
When a CX journey fails to meet customer needs and expectations, it can have a disastrous impact on your business’ bottom line and reputation. If your CX offerings fail to meet your customers’ standards, it’s increasingly likely that they will stop buying your products and services, instead choosing to try out one of your competitors. Additionally, your brand reputation can be damaged by complaints that are posted online or shared through word of mouth—all based on just a single poor-quality interaction.
The long-term drop in average CX quality isn’t limited to just a single industry or brand. Out of the 11 industries included in Forrester’s study, only one saw any improvement in 2024, compared to 2023.
As increasingly more CX leaders are pushing for more innovation in the contact center, including the adoption of more advanced AI-based tools, we’re seeing a marked decline in CX quality. So, while innovation is on the rise, performance is dropping at a significant rate, and many companies are falling behind the curve. In turn, customers are finding it difficult to make an emotional connection with brands.
At the end of the day, CX performance is about more than whether a brand is implementing the newest technology trend—it’s about how well their CX journeys are performing, and whether they are resonating with customers. Those brands that fail to step up and make improvements are likely to see customers turning away from their products and choose a competitor that will deliver exceptional experiences.
The Advantage of a CX Assurance Solution
While many industries are struggling to maintain CX quality and deliver quality interactions that will delight their customers, that doesn’t need to be the reality for your brand. By leveraging a CX assurance solution, you can make great strides in accelerating development, eliminating defects, and creating meaningful interactions that will impress your customers.
With a CX assurance solution, you can target each dimension that Forrester’s Customer Experience Index measured:
- Effectiveness: It’s critical to verify that your CX channels are always working as designed. But unaddressed defects in the live environment can lead to many issues such as downtime, poor call quality, compliance risks, and more. A CX assurance solution can monitor your CX performance in real time, ensuring that your complex systems are working together to provide seamless customer interactions.
- Ease: For many customers, contacting customer support can feel like pulling teeth. In turn, it’s important to design CX pathways that will reduce the headache for your customers and make it as easy as possible. A CX assurance solution can help you achieve this goal by allowing you to test and monitor every step of the journey and proactively identify any potential defects before your customers are impacted.
- Emotion: Quality interactions as essential to forging a stronger relationship with your customer and instilling a sense of loyalty to your brand. Conversely, poor quality CX is just as likely to drive a potential customer away. When you implement a CX assurance solution, you can gain insights into your CX from the customer perspective and make improvements to your CX, so you can meet your customers’ standards.
Simply designing a CX journey isn’t enough to deliver a quality interaction. A CX assurance solution makes it possible to verify performance and help your brand break the curve seen in the Forrester report.
Assure Your CX with Cyara
Cyara’s AI-Led CX Transformation Platform empowers businesses to assure CX performance through every stage of the CX development lifecycle, for all channels including web, voice, conversational AI, SMS, IVRs, and more. With Cyara’s automated, end-to-end testing and monitoring tools, you can leverage key data and insights from every perspective, to always ensure that your CX journeys are meeting your standards and performing exactly as intended.
Forrester’s recent report shows significant drops in the average CX performance, but your brand doesn’t need to follow this trend. Cyara is here to help you transform your CX strategy and make the necessary improvements to delight your customers.
Contact us to schedule a demo or learn more on our website.
