Investment in Digital Customer Engagement Generated 64% Revenue Growth for Aussie Companies Last Year, Twilio Data Shows
The past two years have spurred the greatest acceleration of digital transformation for Australian business-to-consumer companies globally, advancing their digital strategies by an average of 8 years, ahead of the global average of 6.5 years. As a result of the investment in digital customer engagement, companies have boosted total revenues by an average of 64%.
That’s according to research released today by Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) (LTSE: TWLO), the leading customer engagement platform. The company’s third annual State of Customer Engagement Report, which reflects the findings from a survey of 3,450 business leaders and 4,500 consumers across 12 countries, found that investment in digital customer engagement and personalisation technologies has significant, measurable, positive impact on customer retention and trust — and on revenues.
The cookie clock is ticking
Third-party cookies, which are now blocked by Firefox and Safari, will also be blocked by Google Chrome by the end of 2023. Companies need to prepare quickly for these upcoming changes. When asked what kind of customer data their marketing strategy currently relies on, a total of 85% of companies said that at least half or more of their data was third-party. Meanwhile, 86% of Australian consumers want brands to make use of only first-party data when delivering the kind of personalised experiences they now expect.
The deprecation of cookies will cause even more difficulty for brands who rely on such cookies to identify and track visitors to their websites. While 98% of Australian companies say they are somewhat fully prepared for a cookieless world, 45% of companies predict that the impending changes will lead to lower return on investment on their marketing spend.
This means that when a key pillar of the advertising- and social media-driven internet disappears, collecting and relying on first-party data won’t just be a competitive advantage anymore – it will be table stakes for survival.
Personalisation: expectations vs. reality
Personalisation has emerged as one of the most important aspects of delivering a competitive brand experience that will attract customers and create brand loyalty. In fact, the consequences of not providing personalised experiences to customers can be severe, with nearly half of consumers saying they’ll stop using a brand if it doesn’t personalise their experience.
However, while both brands and consumers agree that personalisation is important, the report uncovered some startling gaps between the two groups.
For instance, most companies (88%) surveyed believe that personalisation is critical to their customer engagement strategy. Yet while 81% of Australian companies claim to provide good or excellent personalised experiences to customers, more than half of consumers (56%) disagree, reporting bad, poor or average personalisation.
Australian consumers are also the most likely to underestimate how much personalisation influences them. While companies say consumers spend 43% more when engagement is personalised, consumers believe they spend just 12% more.
Five fundamentals to ensure digital survival and success
“The research clearly shows that companies that prioritise digital customer engagement reap the biggest rewards,” said Glenn Weinstein, chief customer officer at Twilio. “Personalisation is actually getting harder to deliver, with high customer expectations, changing technologies, and the diminishing value of third-party cookies. We’ve seen five fundamentals to overcoming these challenges: embrace digital, personalise every interaction, shift to first-party data, close the trust gap, and avoid engagement fatigue by increasing the quality of your interactions.”
Kristen Pimpini, regional vice president, ANZ, Twilio added, “Many Australian companies accelerated their digital customer engagement over the last two years, creating entirely new and innovative ways of connecting with and servicing customers. While the research highlights that those efforts have translated to strong wins, it also shows us that they are still some way off in meeting consumer expectations. Companies need to close the experience gap, respond to consumers’ expectations of flexibility and choice in how they interact with brands.”
Kristen Pimpini, regional vice president, ANZ, Twilio
Key Australian findings from the Twilio report include:
- 64% is the average top-line revenue increase among companies that invested in digital customer engagement over the past two years. For 15% of responding companies in Australia, revenues doubled after investing in digital customer engagement.
- B2C companies say that the past two years accelerated their digital transformation strategies by an average of 8 years, ahead of the global average of 6.5 years. 27% of Australian companies say they’ve leaped forward 10 to 14 years.
- Australia leads the way in APJ with the highest level of digital customer engagement (50%). Companies here predict that by 2025, over half (59%) of their customer engagement will be digital.
- 98% of B2C companies believe consumers trust their ability to protect data, but only 67% of consumers actually do trust these companies.
- 63% of Australian companies are more likely to invest in Customer Data Platform (CDP) to collect, analyse, connect or unify their first-party data.
- Gen Zs (46%) and Millennials (40%) are more than twice as likely as Baby Boomers to have experienced digital fatigue in the past 30 days.
- 37% of Australians surveyed would rather lose the internet for a day, go through airport security during a holiday or shave their head than reach out to a customer contact centre.
- The report also provides insights and examples of world-class digital customer engagement from five different leading global organisations – Allianz Direct, Intuit, Nubank, The Trevor Project and Electrolux.
The report is based on two surveys conducted by Lawless Research in December 2021 and January 2022. The B2C company survey collected responses from 3,450 business leaders (250 in Australia), while the consumer survey collected responses for 4,500 consumers (300 in Australia). Both surveys included respondents from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and United States, with two hundred to 1,000 responses from each country. In addition, the report includes analysis of anonymised, aggregate data from over 1.6 trillion interactions that have occurred on Twilio’s platform, including Twilio Segment, over the past several years.
Please login with linkedin to comment
TwilioLatest News
TV Ratings (18/04/2024): I’m A Celebrity Wins Prime Time And Key Demos
Aussie viewers can be a harsh lot at times. Only days after Ellie Cole bled her heart out, she has been sent packing.
Effie&co Launches New ConnectAsia Division To Help Aussie Brands Market To Asian Consumers Overseas & At Home
Not provided is advice on using chopsticks and not spilling ramen down your shirt.
Cashrewards Sets Out Stall For New CMO
Thinking of applying for the Cashrewards CMO gig? Here are some insider tips that, yes, are tantamount to cheating.
‘I Ask For The TV Industry To Stand Up And Defend Itself’ – Seven Boss James Warburton Steps Down
The Seven supremo heads for the exits after five years. Here's hoping the Spotlight team organised the farewell bash.
Poh! Jamie! Adriano! Paramount ANZ reveals its tasty plans for this year’s MasterChef
It's your fan's guide to this year's MasterChef! Although no tips on how to pronounce crudités or use a un fait-tout.
Dentsu’s iProspect Partners With MOOD Tea Ahead Of May Campaign Launch
We love a Mood Tea here at B&T. Although we do store old screws and nails in the International Roast caterer's tin.
Opinion: When Culture Starts Eating Itself: Navigating The Age Of Self-eating Nostalgia
Born boss David Coupland asks is adland going through a nostalgia period? But please, no repeats of Best Of Red Faces.
Who’s Going To Cannes?! The TikTok Young Lions Winners!
It's Aussie adland's next gen! They're off to Cannes with high hopes of bringing back a Lion & a foot-long Toblerone.
Adobe Launches Express Mobile App With Firefly AI
Want to be the coolest kid at Friday staff drinks but forgot your retro Nikes? This new Adobe wizardry may do the trick.
ThinkNewsBrands & IMAA Extend News Publishing Education In Brisbane
Industry duo takes its publishing roadshow to Brisbane. Was disappointed no male attendees were wearing walk socks.
B&T Chats With Wavemaker’s Provocative Pioneers On Their Cross-Pacific Sojourn
B&T TV heads to Wavemaker's Sydney digs to interview two staffers from its New York & LA digs. If that makes sense?
HoMie & Champion Launch “Give One. Get One” Campaign Supporting Youth Homelessness Via Town Square
Much like the fête's prized chutney wears a blue winners sash, so too should this top initiative from HoMie & Champion.
Thinkerbell Takes Us Back To Summer In Latest Work For XXXX
This beer ad wants to take you back to summer! Just minus any chance of a shark attack on your morning bus commute.
Cannes Lions Unveils 2024 Programme Featuring Queen Latifah, Jay Shetty & P&G’s Mark Pritchard
Are you one of the lucky ducks heading to Cannes in June? Check out the headliner acts you'll be queueing hours to see.
Scroll Media Recruits Costa Panagos From Twitch
Costa Panagos set to bring South American flair to the Scroll offices. Assuming that he is, indeed, South American.
Year13, Microsoft & KPMG Australia Launch AI Course For Gen Zs
Born around the 2000s? Need to amp up your AI creds? This guide's for you (although it's not really that age specific).
General Motors Snares Heath Walker From Scania
Do you rage about oversized American cars on our roads? You need to bail up Heath Walker at parties & industry events.
VML Launches New “Envoyage” Brand For Flight Centre
VML unveils new brand for travel operator Flight Centre. Alas, no sign of those paid actors pretending to be pilots.
Subaru Places Media Account Up For Review
Subaru puts media up for review, as adland journos get set for mandatory "agency drives off with..." headline.
TV Ratings (17/04/2024): Contestants Faced With Harsh Realities As Alone Australia Heats Up (Or Cools Down)
Alone still doing the business for SBS. Overly long train journeys not doing the business, but they persist anyway.
Ben Fordham Loses Number One Spot As Ray Hadley Celebrates 156th Ratings Win
The radio numbers are in! Discover who's off for a boozy lunch today & who's waiting for the dreaded HR death knock.
Gourmet Ice Cream Brand Connoisseur Launches New “Thrill Your Senses” Iteration, Via SICKDOGWOLFMAN
Rattling the old "truth in advertising" adage comes this ice-cream spot full of noticeably thin people.
Paramount’s Global Sales Boss: ‘Australia’s Converged Model Is A Blueprint For How I’d Like All Of Our Markets To Be’
Paramount's global sales boss gives local sales ops the thumbs up. Didn't weigh-in on the Lisa Wilkinson debacle.
TikTok Starts Testing Its Instagram Rival In Australia
In exciting news for piano playing cats & brattish pranks in shopping centres, TikTok unveils its Insta rival plans.
Man Wrongly Named By Seven As Bondi Killer Hires Lawyers
Struggling to save for a house deposit? Why not get wrongly identified by Sunrise!
Smartsheet Appoints Indie Agency Sandbox Media To Its Media Account
Can't stand your colleagues? Like to dob them in when they miss a deadline? These work management platforms are ideal.
Boss Not Letting You Come To Cannes In Cairns? Use This Business Case To Convince Them!
Stingy boss won't spring for a ticket to Cairns? Add this to your persuasive argument repertoire. Or grovel.
Alt/shift/ Brisbane Builds Portfolio With Ausbuild Creative, PR, Content & Social Account Win
The Brisbane comms/PR agency lands constructor Ausbuild. Also hoping for a discount on its new glass conservatory.
Young Guns Versus The Old Guard: Who Adds More Value to Our Industry?
Cannes In Cairns poking this hornet's nest in a lively debate. Just so long as the oldies can get up the stairs.
70% Of Aussies Don’t Have Green Power Plans ENGIE Says In Major Brand Campaign Via HERO
Are you the notorious "light leaver on-er" in your flatshare? Quell any infighting with this green energy news.
PrettyGood Launches Offering Brand & Media Solutions For Australasian SMEs
B&T applauds the charitable nature of this new agency. Although we'd hate to see it impact any Chrissie present sends.
A Blunt End: Dolphins Medicinal Cannabis Sponsorship At Risk
Yes, it's another NRL drug story. Yet, thankfully it doesn't involve coke in Kuta during the off-season.
Slew Of New Creative Hires At Leo Burnett Australia
Ahhh, all black! The outfit of choice for agency creatives, David Jones staff and everyone in Melbourne.
Under Armour Unveils Local “Live in UA” Campaign
American apparel brand set for yet another tilt at the Aussie market, as Nike declares "we'll see about that".
Pepsi Launches New Look, Refreshing Classic Fashion Staples Via Special PR
Are you always the bridesmaid, never the bride, as the old saying goes? How do you think Pepsi feels?
Pure Blonde Returns To A Place Purer Than Yours In New Campaign Via The Monkeys
B&T's always been a huge fan of the 'drink yourself thinner' diet plan. So big thanks to Pure blonde, vodka & tequila.