In a changing environment, openness, and inclusion are critical features of a CX benchmark study

Although wise CX investments have always yielded good results, the world has changed significantly in recent years. It’s more than just the Covid-19 pandemic: as a society we have been battered by external life forces - economic, social, political and beyond – which is affecting people’s everyday decisions in unavoidable ways.

The majority of consumers (72%) say that external factors including inflation, social movements and climate change are impacting their lives more than in the past, according to research by Accenture. As a result, 61% of consumers say their priorities are in a state of constant change, including the way they interact with brands. In short, their idea and expectations of customer experience is evolving.

With so much at stake, brands need to ask whether their current CX strategy and performance are enough to evoke positive emotions and meet customers’ changing needs?

The 2022 Ask Afrika Orange Index® revealed that 24 of 32 core metrics are in decline. Most consumers wish companies would respond faster to meet their changing needs, while almost 90% of executives are saying their customers are changing faster than their business can keep up.

What is behind this rapid consumer shift? According to the same piece of research, in the face of growing instability people are constantly reassessing their values and sense of purpose. They want to balance their needs with the relentless pressures of external life forces, while demanding more, better and faster from the brands they interact with.

The most successful growth companies are not using strategies that are product-centric or customer-centric, but are instead becoming life-centric.

A life-centric approach demands a broader view that allows businesses to see customers more holistically, including how they interact in other categories, in order to better adapt to their constantly changing needs, wants and priorities.

This trend is very clearly reflected in the Ask Afrika Orange Index® 2022 where every single industry measured reflected a critical focus on very unique industry linked expectations and priorities that were definitively shaped by the role the specific category played in consumers’ lives.

Which is why the whole view, presented transparently – with no caveats - is as important to you as it is to us.

The Ask Afrika Orange Index® was established in 2001 to gain a deep understanding into South Africans’ service-experience expectations.

We measure 215 brands
27 industries
20 channels
285 variables
32 core metrics
Comparative for minimum of 9 years – to share CX DNA
Engage with over 30,000 SA customers, on their actual service experience with the brand
Engage with industry experts
Include drill downs to unpack findings in more detail
Category sponsors in place since inception
Audited and transparently published with no preferential treatment

Contact us

Kendall Rynders: az.oc.akirfaksa@lladneK
Maria Petousis: az.oc.akirfaksa@airaM
Mariette Croukamp: az.oc.akirfaksa@etteiraM
Geoffrey Mellet: az.oc.akirfaksa@yerffoeG