Indonesia's customer score amongst lowest in Southeast Asia

Indonesia's customer satisfaction score (CSAT) is among the lowest in Southeast Asia, according to Zendesk's Customer Experience Trends Report 2019.The country's score fluctuated drastically throughout 2017 and 2018, but only managed to match Singapore's score of 88.3% at its highest, in Q1 2018. However, it slid in the second quarter of last year at 85.2%, the lowest since the Q1 2017. The country recovered slightly in the last quarter of 2018 to 87.8%, though still falling behind Singapore (88.4%) and Malaysia (93%), as well as the region's average of 89.7%.Sandie Overtveld, VP APAC, Zendesk said, “Towards the end of 2018, we saw a spike in customer satisfaction in Indonesia, likely as a result of companies and organisations starting to better leverage digital channels to engage with their customers. While Indonesia is lagging behind other  customer satisfaction score leaders, the uptick is indicative that local brands are on the right track and with continued adoption of digital-first CX platforms, local brands can begin to compete on a global scale."Globally, the report indicated a dip in overall customer satisfaction. Over the past five years, customer satisfaction is down 2.2%, from 94.6 percent in 2013 to 92.5% in 2018, decreasing nearly a full percentage point in the past year. At the same time, customer expectations continue to increase. Nearly half of customers surveyed (46%) said their expectations are higher than they were a year ago.On the business front, companies such as Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb are built on an "entirely new kind of customer experience." These businesses stand out for their ability to simplify the purchasing experience, communicate directly with consumers with digital tools, and use powerful data analytics to improve operations, said the report.To provide seamless customer support, Zendesk recommended businesses to invest in a collaborative platform and manage customer data across channels, devices, and requests from a single point. Also, findings point to a demand in self-service options, with 40% of customers preferring to use search or help centres before contacting support. Businesses who engage customers proactively and use artificial intelligence also performed more favourably in customer service.This customer experience trends report combines data from the Zendesk Benchmark, an index of product usage data from 45,000 companies using Zendesk, with the results of surveys and focus groups gauging the attitudes of customer service managers, customer service agents, and customers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.