Singapore – MARKETECH APAC, the digital media for the marketing and advertising industry in APAC, has partnered with Braze, the global customer engagement platform, to launch the industry report on consumer engagement, ‘2022 Customer Engagement Review’, an overarching review of the current state of consumer engagement.
Combining data from the Braze platform, with the results from a survey of 1,500+ marketing decision-makers across 14 global markets, the report unveils macro trends within customer engagement that emerged in 2021, covers how customer engagement has evolved over the past year, and highlights opportunities for improvement and growth for 2022.
This is the second instalment of the annual report, and the latest edition assesses shifts in customer engagement trends over the past year, together with actionable insights on what to expect next year, and how brands can address evolving consumer needs, channel preferences, and privacy concerns. Furthermore, to inform the report, data were analysed from three different sources.
“The events of the past two years have fundamentally altered the way customers approach brand relationships. The bar for consumer expectations is at an all-time high,” said Bill Magnuson, co-founder and CEO of Braze.
Today’s brands are embracing customer engagement and it’s paying off. But as the bar for marketing experiences rises, how can your company keep up? The report breaks down findings across five different industries—financial services, health and wellness, media and entertainment, QSR and delivery, and retail and eCommerce—as well as regional breakouts for APAC, EMEA, and the US. Each industry and regional breakout also features a case study from a leading Braze customer, including Linkaja, The Coffee Club, and Mercari.
Notable findings include insights regarding the continued shift toward zero-party (i.e. shared by users) and first-party (i.e. gathered with user consent) data, the emergence of data management as a top challenge for brands, and the growth of brand confidence in their customer engagement abilities.
“For brands to rise to the occasion, they must focus on establishing a personal connection through customer engagement, and provide seamless communication across their preferred channels and platforms. Companies that fail to provide coordinated, cross-channel customer engagement strategies risk falling behind on business outcomes and revenue goals,” added Magnuson.
Shaina Teope, MARKETECH APAC’s regional editor, commented, “We’ve seen so many changes in the past two years since the pandemic began, and now that the ‘new normal’ has actually become our ‘norm’, we need to prepare ourselves on the challenges and opportunities arising from this new brand-consumer dimension. Overarching industry reports like the ‘2022 Customer Engagement Review’ are definitely a boon. Through this report, we will be better equipped on how to move forward in 2022, since the insights comprehensively look into the past, present, and future landscape of consumer engagement.“
Also included in ‘2022 Customer Engagement Review’ is the Braze Customer Engagement Index, a framework assessing brands in 12 competencies across two key axes—technology and teams—to put forward a model for best-in-class customer engagement. Each brand is then indexed on these factors and distributed across three maturity stages – Activate (least mature), Accelerate, and Ace (most mature). The index revealed overall positive momentum from last year, with many companies increasing their maturity and sophistication across all 12 customer engagement competencies.
Download your own copy of the report HERE.