77% of consumers say easier to use online forms affect loyalty
If the process of collecting data through forms exceeded their expectations, 66 per cent of consumers say they would do more business with a brand and recommend it to family and friends, according to research published by Smart Communications.
The New York-based provider of customer engagement software for companies operating in regulated industries surveyed more than 4,000 people across the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Asia-Pacific to produce its 2026 Customer Experience Benchmarks.
Filling out forms in sectors such as financial services, health-care and insurance is often such a poor experience that 62 per cent said exceeding their expectations would prompt them to write a positive review.
Besides wrangling digital paperwork, consumers also placed a premium on a brand’s ability to communicate with them. Two out of three said failing to meet their expectations in this area would lead them to switch brands, and 85 per cent said communications has a direct impact on how they feel about a brand.
As it stands, just over half (52 per cent) rated the communications they receive from brands as good or excellent. Customer experience (CX) leaders may already be thinking about improving communications through technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), but the report found consumer confidence in AI to bolster CX has dropped by five per cent since the previous benchmarks were produced, to 56 per cent.
“The findings expose a systems problem masquerading as a customer satisfaction problem. The biggest drivers of customer churn aren’t complex; they’re operational, fixable, and often overlooked,” the company said in a public statement accompanying the findings. “Organizations that solve this will not only address the symptomatic downfalls their competitors are ignoring, but they will also see measurable returns.”
360 Magazine Insight
The proliferation of apps and a general move to modernize websites makes it easy to assume that something as simple as filling out a form has been perfected by now. Then you find yourself trying to apply for a loan, prepare for a doctor’s appointment or update your coverage.
Suddenly there are drop-downs that don’t make sense, fields that won’t accept what you put into them and a “submit” button that doesn’t seem to click. Smart Communications obviously solves for this, and therefore has vested interest in the results of this research. That doesn’t mean CX should ignore it or fail to prioritize such a simple but integral part of many experiences.
Of course “communications” is also a broad topic, and brands may not be sure where to start. One of the more helpful areas of the benchmarks concerned what the company dubbed “carryover,” where customers had to repeat information.
Across all age groups, more than 80 per cent said it was important their histories travel between channels like a website and e-mail. This should be no surprise. What’s surprising is how few brands have mastered it before rushing headlong into AI-powered opportunities like call deflection.
Smart Communications’ report is ungated and rendered dynamically so you can filter results based on demographics as well as industry. Though there’s nothing groundbreaking in here, the data should prompt CX leaders to consider how their organization would measure up against these benchmarks, and whether that should alter their investment plans for the remainder of 2026.
