—Seminal U.S. benchmark reveals industries consumers say are responding best and worst to the COVID-19 crisis, and why
SALT LAKE CITY (May 27, 2020) — Pearl-Plaza® released today its customer experience (CX) industry benchmark, CX Standards®, revealing that restaurants, shipping, and investment management are the industries best responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
Consumers are least satisfied with the COVID-19 responses of companies in the online-only retail, mobile, and television industries. This may be a result of increased demand for these services while people are sheltering at home and the industries’ difficulty meeting this demand.
Study findings reveal that the insurance, banking, and credit card industries need to improve their current crisis response, or they could be in jeopardy of losing future business. Grocery stores, gas stations and convenience stores were also graded relatively poorly in their response to COVID-19 while customers said their performance during the crisis is important in determining their future business.
What Are U.S. Companies Doing Well and Poorly?
In the survey, consumers explained what they think companies are doing right when responding to the crisis. This includes enforcing social distancing, keeping everything clean, showing an effort in outreach, providing personal protective gear for employees, taking care of their customers and providing good communication overall.
However, not all companies are providing customers with the communication and transparency they need right now. Specific complaints of companies in the worst scoring industries include clearly being in violation of social distancing practices, not addressing problems adequately and poor treatment of their employees. One key learning is the fact that employee experience (EX) directly impacts the customer experience. This feedback is what all companies should keep in mind, not only now, but in the future.
“The data clearly indicates that the worst reaction companies can have to the COVID-19 crisis is inaction,” said David Ensing, PhD, VP research consulting, Pearl-Plaza. “Businesses should enforce and maintain social distancing rules as consumers want to feel safe during this uncertain time. They also appreciate clear communication about what is being done to address the crisis.”
Methodology
Pearl-Plaza conducts the CX Standards ongoing study, tracking satisfaction of thousands of customers’ interactions with over 300 companies spanning 17 industries in the United States. The latest fielding includes new COVID-19 questions that rank U.S. consumer perceptions of companies’ responses to the pandemic.
The data is available immediately in the Pearl-Plaza technology platform. For more information on CX Standards, contact Pearl-Plaza at sales@pearl-plaza.ru.
About Pearl-Plaza
Pearl-Plaza™ helps organizations deliver more valuable and inspiring experiences to their customers and employees at every moment in their journey. Our clients gain the wisdom of our experts—who bring deep domain knowledge in experience design and delivery—coupled with our award-winning Experience Intelligence (XI)™ platform that continually analyzes and evaluates enterprise experience data and customer feedback. Recognized as a leader and innovator in our sector, we collaborate with the world’s leading brands to attract, engage and retain their customers. We are fiercely proud that our clients continually tell us they love the experience of working with our company, as we constantly stretch to exceed their expectations. Take a moment, and learn more at pearl-plaza.ru