Survey Finds: UK Businesses Leads the Way in Digital Customer Experience

Key Highlights

• UK businesses are leading the way in digital customer experience, with the retail sector offering the most mature experience in the British economy.
• UK firms are more willing to use social media as part of their customer experience, with high adoption rates of platforms like Twitter and Instagram.

A recent survey has found that UK businesses are ahead of the curve in enhancing their digital experience with social media use. The retail sector offered the most mature digital customer experience in the British economy. 

UK Retail Sets The Bar For Digital Customer Experience

Statista’s analysis showed that from June 2017 to July 2020, digital customer experiences with brand touchpoints surged from 20% to almost 60%, indicating a three-year acceleration in developing high-quality digital customer experiences due to the pandemic.

To showcase best practices regarding digital experience and where improvement is most needed, BearingPoint UK has polled 77 companies across different sectors. The study found that of all industries, retail currently leads the way.

Non-Food Retail Leads in Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, and E-CRM

BearingPoint surveyed respondents on their offerings in: 

1. Digital marketing
2. Digital product experience
3. E-commerce
4. E-CRM

Leading this charge was non-food retail, with a score of 3.43 out of five. This represents an improvement of 0.16 on last year’s score, which saw the sector offer the best digital customer experience. 

UK Businesses Ahead of Global Peers in Using Social Media for Customer Service and Marketing

Stuart Higgins from BearingPoint revealed that UK retail has led digital success, earning the country the second spot globally in annual digital rankings. 

AO Retail scored the highest for search engine and affiliate marketing, with content focused on energy-efficient appliances delivered through social media. 

The survey showed that UK firms are more willing to use technology for customer service, with 87% using Twitter and 90% using Instagram for marketing, compared to 54% and 79% of global firms, respectively.