Top 10 CX Challenges in APAC

Based on a survey by CX Network of 112 CX practitioners across Asia-Pacific, this report will explore the key CX trends, customer behavior shifts, spending priorities, and experience management pain points that are developing in the region.

The top 10 CX challenges in APAC are:

Linking CX initiatives to ROI and competing priorities

Proving the return of CX investments (ROI) has remained a top challenge for brands across APAC, with 38 percent of respondents in 2021 flagging it as their number one challenge. In this year’s survey, 21 percent of respondents feel linking ROI to CX initiatives is a top challenge.

While ROI remains a top concern for companies, this drop in percentage highlights growth in practitioners’ abilities to demonstrate the financial benefits of customer experience investments. This is helpful as the requirement to prove ROI in CX is stronger than ever. Almost half (46 percent) of respondents said that urgency is rising to prove the ROI of CX. In order to win budget and resources, CX practitioners must prove to decision makers that CX investments will achieve financial rewards for their company. Therefore, it is vital that CX practitioners use the correct communication tactics in order to win stakeholder buy-in and prove the benefits of CX solutions.

The urgency to prove return on investment (ROI) in CX is:

David Blakers, managing director of Asia-Pacific at InMoment, notes that CX practitioners have a strong chance of winning spending for CX if they can demonstrate how their CX efforts help to increase revenue, decrease costs, and reduce business risk.

Blakers also recommends building a ROCXI (return on customer experience investment) framework to continually report against. “To win the minds of your executive leadership team, it is really important for each listening post to think about the related operational and financial measures already being used by the business and link to those so the program is relevant,” he says.

Building a customer-first culture

Achieving customer loyalty by building a customer-first culture remains an issue of focus for APAC CX practitioners, with 19 percent reporting that building a customer-first culture was a top challenge in 2022.

However, this represents a 19 percent drop from 38 percent of respondents in 2021. This decrease in the strength of this challenge shows that companies across APAC are gaining momentum in building customer-first cultures.

To improve its position in the healthcare market Medibank, an Australian health insurer, conducted a corporate transformation that aimed to increase customer loyalty by building a customer-first culture.

Partnering with InMoment, the health insurer aligned front-line staff incentives with customer experience goals as well as implemented a robust voice of the customer (VoC) program to increase awareness of client perspectives.

This customer-first culture triggered growth in policyholder numbers and saw Medibank achieve its highest-ever brand Net Promoter Score (NPS).

“To win the minds of your executive leadership team, each listening post should think about the operational and finance measures already being used by the business and link to those so the program is relevant.”

David Blakers

Managing director of APAC, InMoment

Companies in APAC are starting to overcome the challenges they faced in 2021, including customer centricity, linking ROI to CX, and providing an omnichannel model. In order to remain ahead of the curve on these issues and not regress, they should look to continuously improve their processes and invest in key CX solutions that will benefit them and their customers. These solutions include artificial intelligence/automation and digital customer experience.

By applying these solutions, brands will be able to deliver the customer experience that consumers expect, and boost customer loyalty and retention. When increasing customer loyalty, brands should be sure to demonstrate the financial benefits to win the support of budget holders for future CX investments.