Oracle report looks at how social impacts the customer experience

Social media has fundamentally changed what customers expect from us.  Oracle has produced a new report  looking at the impact of social media on customer expectations.

Below are some key findings from the report.

• Ninety-three percent of executive polled say that improving the customer experience is one of their top three organizational priorities over the next two years, with 91 percent wanting to be a CX leader. However, 37 percent are just getting started with a formal customer experience initiative. Only 20 percent consider the state of their initiative to be advanced.
• According to 97 percent of executives, delivering a great customer experience is critical to their business advantage and results.
• Rising customer expectations (59 percent) and the average customers' ability to share good and bad experiences via social media (37 percent) are currently the main drivers behind this deliberate focus on customer experience.
• While 81 percent of respondents believe social media is critical for their company's success, 35 percent don't support social media for sales or service.
• Forty-nine percent of executives believe customers will switch brands due to poor customer experience, while 89 percent of consumers say they already have. Forty-four percent of executives believe customers are willing to pay for great customer experience, while 86 percent of consumers say they already do.
• The limitations of inflexible technology (29 percent), siloed organizations (27 percent), and insufficient funding (27 percent) remain the greatest obstacles facing CX initiatives.
• In terms of CX-related technological investments, improving the cross-channel experience (22 percent), the online customer support experience (18 percent), and the online customer purchase experience (17 percent) rank as the top priorities for executives worldwide.