Despite the slow internet speed, more than half of consumers in the Philippines are delighted with their online engagements with local brands, according to the 2016 SAP Digital Experience (DX) Report.
Findings of the study showed that a little more than half or 54% of consumers in the Philippines are delighted with the digital experiences offered by brands in the country, while almost 50% of respondents were either unsatisfied (at 21%) or ambivalent (at 25%) toward digital offerings delivered by some of the country’s largest and well-known brands.
Ryan Poggi, Managing Director at SAP Philippines, said that with these results, the Philippines got an overall digital experience score of 33%, higher than the 27% overall DX registered in the ASEAN.
First time to be conducted in the Philippines, the SAP Digital Experience Report surveyed more than 500 consumers in the Philippines and consolidated more than 1,200 interactions of digital engagements with local brands. For the purpose of the survey, digital experience is defined as how a brand digitally interacts with its customers during the discovery, purchase, delivery and support of a product or service.
Although many consumers were delighted, a significant gap in performance among industries and individual brands was revealed, which has an impact on business outcomes, particularly for customer loyalty and advocacy.
Consumers delighted with the digital experience were eight times more likely to stay with a brand than those who were unsatisfied. It is also said that delighted customers are more emotionally connected with brands that can lead to greater brand affinity; more willing to buy more from brands for a longer period of time; and will not hesitate to influence others to do the same.
Through the study, a correlation between digital experience performance and consumers’ willingness to disclose personal information was revealed. Consumers who were delighted with their digital experience were nearly three times more likely to provide brands with personal data than those who were not satisfied.
The study shows that brands that delight their customers can have greater access to personal data, and enable them to improve as brands, and even the digital experiences they offer.
“Brands can bridge the digital experience gap between them and their consumers by adopting a clear digital strategy that brings together marketing, sales, services, and commerce to ensure seamless digitization of the entire customer experience,” said Poggi, Managing Director at SAP Philippines.
Poggi also said that in order to capture opportunity, brands have to transform.
Poggi further said that SAP has solutions for customer engagement and commerce powered by the SAP HANA platform which facilitates a 360-degree customer view and help brands better engage with their customers.
The study also asked consumers to rate brands on their ability to deliver on 14 attributes of the digital experience, ranging from functional aspects such as security and availability to more emotional aspects such as interactivity and engagement.
Security and safety remains the top concern when it comes to customers’ digital engagement in the Philippines. As consumer-respondents utilize online channels for their needs, 77% of them said they rated security and safety attribute either 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 to 10.
Comparatively, consumers across Southeast Asia also regard security as a top priority to them with close to 60% rated it as an important attribute of a digital experience.
Experiences that are available at any time to consumers are also highly favored as well as timely and dedicated in meeting customer needs.
