Insights and Data-Driven CX: The differentiator That South African Brands Need

Access to consumer data has increased exponentially as the world becomes more and more accustomed to interacting with brands online, with over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being collected daily. Though this vast amount of data is collected, brands are simply incapable of processing or utilising all they capture. So what happens with it?

Just 14% of the respondents to our business study claimed that they always make use of the data they collect from consumers. While 69% of the consumer respondents believe that businesses make use of their data.

When asked about whether they are using consumer feedback to improve their business process and consumer experiences, less than one-third of the companies responded positively. There is an apparent inconsistency in the perception between the business and consumers, as more than half of consumer respondents believe their data is being used positively.

Not making use of consumer feedback will evidently impact the amount of data that brands receive, as eventually, consumers will stop providing feedback. This could have an impact on customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Working with personal data can hold a fair amount of responsibility, and not using the data effectively is wasteful. Amanda Reekie, founder of overtoyou, explains:

“That needs to shift to be seen as really valuable - they need to treasure it [data] and use it effectively. They ought to focus on collecting the right data, data that will move a key business lever”

Although there are many discussions around the privacy and sharing of data, there are still only minor measures in place to protect consumers' data from being under-utilised but overshared. Consumers, however, are still relatively trusting when it comes to sharing their data, and most feel that companies are using this to improve experiences.

Even where information that businesses consider to be actionable is gathered with good intent, only a few businesses are able to use it all due to a complex combination of human and technology-related factors. Issues around the volume of data, measuring of data and process of how the data is gathered all play a contributing role to the misuse of data.

The effectiveness of collecting vast amounts of data from consumers can be seen as questionable, especially when the data being collected is not being utilised properly. It is clear that the use of data is still something that needs to be finetuned; business leaders need to find ways to tease out the right insights and translate the data into change.

Get more insights and findings in The 2023 CX Report by Rogerwilco.

Remember to follow us on LinkedIn for more marketing trends, findings, and insights.

For more of these and other insights, sign up for our monthly LinkedIn newsletter and get it directly to your inbox