Sydney, Australia – Following HubSpot’s recent announcement regarding Australia’s state of customer connection report, the latest data from market research company YouGov revealed the major challenges surrounding interactions between businesses and their customers, indicating the majority of Australian consumers cited unsolicited emails as a negative experience with the brand they engage with.
In particular, an average of 89% reported having encountered issues with low-quality products, inadequate customer service, and intrusive, irrelevant marketing (44%).
These repercussions indicated that 46% of the respondents expressed that receiving spam would weaken their relationship with a brand, and over a third (36%) said that they would unsubscribe from a business altogether due to such experiences.
In line with this, businesses face not only damage to their bottom line but also the risk of significant fines. These happened despite the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s intensified crackdown on unwanted emails, with recent cases citing Kmart’s $1.3 million fine for sending unwanted emails and Commonwealth Bank’s record $3.5 million penalty for spamming.
Furthermore, it was observed that the shift in consumer spending due to inflation has also influenced their preferences for interacting with brands. Such a lack of agility and tune-in from business resulted in decreased customer confidence, with half of Australian consumers (49%) agreeing that some brands have low staff competency (32%) and lack interest in improving their service (32%).
Another aspect contributing to negative customer experiences is the impact of unmet customer expectations. The findings revealed that this disconnection has affected half (51%) of surveyed business leaders in the past 12 months, emerging as a top-three pain point for 45% of Australian businesses.
Talking about these challenges, Kat Warboys, marketing director of APAC at HubSpot, said, “The bottom line is that effective connection is driven by quality communications, not quantity. The data suggests that brands aren’t routinely assessing their connection data and using this insight to inform their customer touch points. And it’s causing irreparable damage as consumers disassociate with the content.”
“Increasing unsubscription rates and decreased engagement metrics are important symptoms of poor customer connection, for example, social shares, email opens, and conversion rates. The first step is to look at the data and what it’s telling you while simultaneously reviewing how your brand is behaving across the business and its channels,” she continued.
Warboys also added, “Chances are, you’re not the only team trying to get customers’ attention, and the more communications businesses have, the more likely the audience is to switch off. The key here is alignment across the business and also with the customer, which means collaborating with customer-facing teams to understand the challenges and opportunities they’re observing from the front line.”
“Rather than relying on the same strategies as previous years, in 2024 marketers should reassess by testing, learning, and investing in the customer experience. Firstly, identify where your customers are happy to self-serve and ensure you’ve enabled them to do so, and where they expect a human touch. Secondly, look at where your target audience is spending their time and meet them there, which may mean pivoting away from email marketing if your audience prefers SMS,” Warboys explained.
With the recent results of their research, she further highlighted, “From our research, we know that declining customer spending and loyalty are keeping business leaders up at night. The good news is that technology is here to help businesses work smarter, not harder. It’s well documented that AI helps businesses save time, drive effectiveness, and increase productivity, leading to deeper and more scalable connections with customers.
“Instead of over-saturating communication channels in an attempt to win customers’ attention, invest in audience research, get laser-focused on segmentation and up-to-date targeting, and use the right channels to delight the right audiences. When backed up by personalisation and targeting, there’s no doubt that less is more,” Warboys concluded.
