New State of Digital Experience Report from Qualtrics illuminates strategic priorities and pain points for digital experience leaders

Digital Experience leaders ranked generating revenue as their top priority for their digital experience programs above other key metrics like customer satisfaction or content engagement

Despite recession fears, 85% think digital revenue will grow in the next 12 months

Companies expect digital revenue to grow in 2023 but they’re struggling to meet customer privacy expectations while maintaining customer profiles in real-time, according to the inaugural 2022 Qualtrics (Nasdaq: XM) Digital Experience Report.

Qualtrics surveyed over 1,300 digital leaders worldwide representing organizations in more than a dozen major industries to uncover their top priorities, pain points and predictions for the next year.

Rising costs and a bearish economic landscape are changing consumer spending habits, leading many companies to rein in spending and lower growth expectations. However, 85% of digital leaders believe revenue from digital channels will continue to grow in the next 12 months. Across industries, almost 75% of companies say that more than 40% of revenue already comes from digital channels.

Companies have on average at least 5 customer data sources (EX: social media, website, digital content, email, mobile) and digital experience leaders valued improved customer segmentation more than any other outcome from their data initiatives.

• 39% of digital leaders said their company has faced challenges creating and updating customer profiles in real-time.
• The most valued data are digital identities (email, social IDs) and transactional data.

With state legislatures throughout the U.S. introducing comprehensive data privacy bills in 2022 that will go into effect in 2023, data privacy ranked as the most important data initiative to an organization among digital leaders.

• Only 40% say their companies go above and beyond to protect and respect customer privacy
• 41% of digital leaders said balancing personalization with customer comfort is challenging
• DX Leaders have low satisfaction with their digital data when it comes to how their organizations handle timeliness, consent management and identity reconciliation

To achieve their revenue goals, the top priority for digital leaders is creating a cohesive customer journey across channels. The most effective digital channel today is social media.

• 70% of brands use social media & 28% say social media is the most effective, followed by website (17%) and digital ads (15%).

“Given the current market dynamics, companies cannot afford customer churn caused by disjointed digital experiences and digital leaders will be asked to clearly demonstrate how their programs are generating revenue in 2023,” said Shek Viswanathan, Head of Product, Digital CX at Qualtrics. “Successful organizations build strong, cohesive digital journeys across all their channels and these new findings offer a view of the most pressing needs during a high-pressure time for digital experience leaders.”

Methodology:

This study was fielded between June 27 to August 24, 2022. Respondents were considered eligible if they self-identified as a director-level digital experience professional, were directly involved in their company's digital experience strategy, were at least 18 years of age, and were employed full-time. The total number of global respondents was 1,319 representing organizations in more than 12 key industries like retail, financial services, healthcare, and travel and hospitality. Respondents who did not pass quality standards were removed. See more results here: https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/state-of-digital-experience-2023/

About Qualtrics

Qualtrics, the leader and creator of the Experience Management (XM) category, is changing the way organizations manage and improve the four core experiences of business—customer, employee, product and brand. Over 16,750 organizations around the world use Qualtrics to listen, understand and take action on experience data (X-data™)—the beliefs, emotions and intentions that tell you why things are happening, and what to do about it. The Qualtrics XM Platform™ is a system of action that helps businesses attract customers who stay longer and buy more, engage employees who build a positive culture, develop breakthrough products people love and build a brand people are passionate about. To learn more, please visit qualtrics.com.

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