Lilt, the leading global experience platform enabling organizations to build and deliver multilingual experiences, today announced the results of their 2022 State of Global Experience report. With over 1,800 responses from various departments, companies, and geographies, the survey and report aim to capture the strategies, pain points, and best practices of global customer experience and engagement.
“Global customers embark on a journey made up of countless touchpoints, each offering personalization and instant access at any time. These digital stepping stones, providing the opportunity to engage consistently and hyper-locally, have fundamentally changed what customers expect of businesses,” said Paula (Barbary) Shannon, Chief Evangelist at Lilt. “The 2022 report highlights how language of choice is increasingly becoming a baseline customer expectation, and customer-focused businesses are paying attention.”
Key insights from the report highlight:
- A fragmented customer experience: Just 12% of respondents reported their digital customer touchpoints are fully multilingual in the languages their company supports, with more than 70% reporting that less than half of their touchpoints are multilingual.
- More room for consistency: 42% of respondents reported that their company doesn’t localize in all countries where they have a presence.
- A strategy and execution gap: While nearly 90% of respondents consider global experience (GX) a priority within their companies’ target markets, 40% don’t believe their company effectively manages it.
- Lack of GX alignment and cohesive messaging: Despite more than two-thirds of respondents reporting that their company understands the importance of personalization throughout the customer journey, 62% note that their company doesn’t have alignment on global experience (GX) strategies, and 65% don’t have cohesive messaging across locales and markets.
The Transition To Digital Continues
As the world goes digital, consumers are exposed to more companies and products than ever before. In this new world, language becomes an increasingly important part of how they engage and communicate. Companies have begun to understand the value of language in customer experience. Lilt’s survey found that 95% of respondents believe language of choice plays an important role throughout the customer journey.
Lilt has found that leading companies are taking notice of this trend, and investing more resources into elevating their global customer journeys, with 63% of respondents reporting growing their volume of multilingual content over the past three years. As the world continues to move digital-first, respondents also shared anticipation for a continued increase in demand for multilingual content..
The Future of Global Experience
For companies to elevate their global customer journeys and provide more localized experiences, they will not only have to grow their content volumes, but also ensure that GX is woven into cross-functional company strategy. Three key areas were identified by leading companies as priorities in the near future, including:
- Strategic Resource Allocation: Many will focus on accessing the right resources at the right time. While funding is an ever-present need, many also highlighted the importance of dedicating more time and strategic thinking to global experience management.
- Embodying a Customer-Centric Approach Globally: Many respondents also highlighted a proactive effort to operate more cross-functionally, see things from the customer perspective, and deliver one cohesive experience for every customer around the world.
- Automation and Technology: As volumes of content continue to grow, numerous companies noted a focus on identifying and implementing technology applications that can automate processes, enabling teams to accomplish more with the same resources and headcount.
