Forrester’s CX Index reveals most brands unable to differentiate based on customer experience

SYDNEY, November 20, 2019 – Forrester today released the rankings of its Australia 2019 Customer Experience Index (CX Index™), which show that while the overall CX quality in Australia improved significantly from 2018, two-thirds of the brands are still delivering just OK experiences.

Based on a survey of more than 8,000 Australian adult customers in 2019, Forrester’s CX Index methodology was used to benchmark the CX quality of 31 brands in the multichannel banking, multichannel retail and superannuation industries, as well as the federal government sector. ING Direct overtook Bendigo Bank (last year’s leader) and JB Hi-Fi completed the top three.

In 2019, 13 percent of brands delivered good CX, up from just six percent in 2018, with two brands rising from the OK category. The number of brands that received OK scores also declined from 77 percent to 68 percent this year. However, like last year, no brand has risen to the excellent category or improved their scores significantly enough to emerge as a true CX leader.

With approximately two-thirds of brands in the OK category and 18 brands clustered close together, firms have an opportunity to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage by moving up to the good and excellent categories. Brands need to infuse positive emotions in their interactions with customers to make a significant impact on customers’ perception of their CX quality. The top performing Australian brands provided an average of 12 emotionally positive experiences for each negative experience; the lowest-performing brands provided less than one emotionally positive experience for each negative experience.

“Brands that want to achieve CX leadership should focus on emotion,” said Riccardo Pasto, senior analyst at Forrester and author of the report. “How an experience makes customers feel has a bigger influence on their loyalty to a brand than effectiveness or ease in every industry. Elite brands build loyalty by making customers feel confident, happy, and valued; CX laggards foster resentment by making customers feel annoyed, disappointed, and frustrated.”

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About Forrester’s CX Index

Forrester’s CX Index methodology helps CX leaders grow revenue faster, drive higher brand preference, and charge more for their products. Forrester’s CX Index helps brands identify the key drivers of a positive CX for their customers to prioritize efforts. Even a minor improvement to a brand’s customer experience quality can add tens of millions of dollars of revenue by reducing customer churn and increasing share of wallet. Additionally, superior CX leads to reduced service costs and lowers the cost of customer acquisition through word of mouth.

About Forrester
Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. We work with business and technology leaders to develop customer-obsessed strategies that drive growth. Forrester’s unique insights are grounded in annual surveys of more than 675,000 consumers and business leaders worldwide, rigorous and objective methodologies, and the shared wisdom of our most innovative clients. Through proprietary research, analytics, custom consulting, exclusive executive peer groups, learning offerings, and events, the Forrester experience is about a singular and powerful purpose: to challenge the thinking of our clients to help them lead change in their organizations.