Nearly three-quarters of consumers say a standout experience is one that requires minimal effort on their end, but brands want to make sure they continue to appear distinctive and memorable, according to research published by Acxiom.
The Conway, Ark.-based technology firm surveyed 4,000 consumers and 600 business leaders across the U.S. and U.K. to produce its report, The Dawn of AI-Curated Experience.
While 87 per cent of brands agreed effortless experiences will define the next generation of loyalty, they don’t feel the same urgency to execute across the entire customer journey. For example, 55 per cent said customer support and issue resolution should be effortless. Areas such as delivery, purchasing, onboarding or product discovery, however, were all cited by less than half of those surveyed.
The impact of friction is a risk of lost revenue. Having to work too hard to get what they want has led 40 per cent of consumers to walk away from a brand. The list of complaints were common, such as investing too much time in an experience and having to repeat yourself to get help. The top issue, according to 43 per cent, was not being able to speak to a person.
This could explain why, despite vendor claims that agentic AI will alleviate many tasks and reduce friction, 58 per cent said it still requires too much effort to engage with brands.
“Brands must overcome significant barriers to deliver effortless experiences,” the report’s authors wrote. “The biggest challenge, by some margin, is balancing speed with personalization, as brands need to maintain the right combination of efficiency and relevance to the individual.”
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Acxiom’s report looked specifically at sectors such as banking, healthcare, travel, insurance and telecoms. In almost every case, “becoming less distinctive as a brand” hovered around the 20 per cent mark.
It would have been great if this research offered some free-form answers where business leaders could talk more about this. Usually friction is discussed in CX circles as leaving only negative memories. Perhaps brands believe making customers jump through a few hoops isn’t bad if it allows them to gather more data and engage customers with additional offers.
Some brands may already be feeling less noticeable online as ChatGPT and other AI search tools disintermediate traffic that would normally come to their websites. If AI has a similar effect on onboarding, making payments and customer service, will the overall CX feel less unique?
The report also shows brands are worried about sacrificing quality for speed and losing human connection, which echoes what a lot of other surveys have said about customer attitudes towards AI.
Acxiom’s 40-page ungated report covers a lot more ground in its entirety, including chapters on platform unification, empathetic interactions and a deep dive on conversational interfaces.