The Twilio State of Customer Engagement Report 2024 launched today revealing a vast 45% gap in Australia between the customer experience and engagement levels businesses believe they are delivering, and the perception held by consumers. The comprehensive international survey of operations, perceptions, and behaviours involved 4,750 B2C sector executives and more than 6,300 consumers from 18 countries across the world.

Twilio, the customer engagement platform maintaining real-time, personalised experiences for top brands, is releasing its fifth annual report. The study assessed the application and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on customer relations management. The ultimate aim was to identify where AI use is delivering the highest return on investment and to understand key trends in customer engagement.

Australia topped the APAC region with the widest brand perception gap, revealing a huge 45% variance between how closely businesses believe they understand their customers, and how the consumers feel they are understood. Other countries displaying considerable gaps were France, the UK, Spain, Brazil, and Italy. Only 32% of the businesses surveyed could confidently claim they had a detailed profile on their customers, and just 16% felt they had enough data to truly comprehend the desires and needs of their customers.

In addition, the report underlines a major challenge for brands in Australia, and worldwide, is securing and unifying data across multiple channels and sources. This has led businesses to fail in converting data into beneficial customer insights. However, Liz Adeniji, Area Vice President of APAC Sales for Twilio Segment, indicates that considering improved data security could instil a greater level of trust for customers.

"It's imperative for brands to be clear about how they use AI, ensuring that they balance how they deploy it with equally robust measures to protect customer privacy. Transparency is not optional - it's a critical component of building and maintaining customer trust and loyalty," Adeniji pointed out.

Data from the analysis suggests that when AI-driven personalisation is effectively applied, consumers tend to spend an average 54% more compared to those brands that do not personalise. Moreover, the outcome of the report indicates that consumers show greater loyalty to those brands that can offer a customised experience. In fact, globally, 64% of consumers would abandon a brand if their experiences were not personalised.

In conclusion, the use of AI can positively impact brand perception and customer engagement if executed thoughtfully. Brands need to clearly identify and communicate how they use customer data. Adequate security measures should be assured for the safekeeping of this data, thus fostering and maintaining a strong customer trust.