A synopsis of TP’s Global Insights Survey: Understanding evolving customer expectations

Customer expectations are changing worldwide, including in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), and we can attribute this to a combination of technological, economic, and social factors. However, digital transformation and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) are playing a key role. They have changed how customers interact with brands and how businesses respond to them.

Simply put, even in ANZ, customer behaviour is in constant flux, and understanding this behaviour is crucial for businesses. It helps to personalise experiences, foster customer-centric relationships, and build loyalty.

What if we gave you first-hand insights into this behaviour: 


1. How do customers interact with brands?

2. What channels are preferred by customers?

3. How do customers across different age groups act?

In this convoluted landscape, TP’s Global Insights Survey offers valuable data-driven perspectives into consumer behaviour. Conducting over 57,000 interviews across 19 sectors and 11 countries, the survey provides deep insights into evolving customer expectations, including customer interactions, preferences, and expectations.

TP’s Global Insight Survey Data

Customer engagement dynamics

The survey provides elaborate details on customer engagement. Data suggests that 68% of customers globally engaged with brands in the past year, showcasing active consumer participation in seeking support and interactions. Sectors such as Food Delivery by App, Online Education, and Banking reported notably high engagement rates.

Generational differences are distinct in customer engagement behaviours.

Generation Z (78%) and Millennials (74%) are particularly active in contacting brands, exhibiting higher engagement rates compared to Generation X (64%), Baby Boomers (58%), and Traditionalists (54%).

Additionally, the frequency of interactions increases significantly with younger demographics, who often engage through multiple channels.

Omnichannel customer support, a new norm

An important insight from the survey is the confirmation that omnichannel customer support has become the standard expectation among consumers. The survey reveals that 37% of customers use more than one communication channel, highlighting a clear shift towards diversified interactions.

Customers interacting through multiple channels reported significantly higher satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy levels. Mobile Apps, Instant Messaging, and Live Chat consistently ranked highest in terms of customer satisfaction.

This means businesses must adopt a strategic approach to providing a consistent experience to customers across channels. If a customer starts a conversation on the website, the chat should be able to continue on social media or a mobile app. The support should have the full context of the interaction history.

Generational preferences in channel usage

Today, we have a plethora of communication channels. There’s email, chat, phone, live video chat, social media, and more. Even on a particular channel, there is nuance. For chat, there’s support agent-led chat, automated chat based on scripts, and generative AI (GenAI)-powered chat.

Since we have established that providing an omnichannel experience to customers is crucial, navigating the available channels in itself is a complex task. Adding generational preferences to the mix makes the task even more daunting.

Understanding generational preferences is critical to formulating effective customer engagement strategies. The survey showed clear generational divides in preferred channels:

• Traditionalists and Baby Boomers predominantly prefer voice communication (52% and 47% respectively). 
  
  
• Millennials and Generation Z demonstrate stronger preferences for digital platforms such as Instant Messaging (WhatsApp, Messenger), Mobile Apps, and Social Media channels like Instagram.

Voice remains the most utilised channel overall but has declined among younger consumers, indicating a shift toward quicker, digital interactions that align with their lifestyles and preferences. Brands must ensure that their customer communication channels are appropriately tailored to these distinct generational expectations.

Also read: Listening to the consumers: A key differentiator to enhancing satisfaction

How do customers feel about GenAI?

GenAI has the potential to change customer interaction completely, but should it? What do customers feel about interacting with a GenAI-powered bot? GenAI, especially the latest reasoning models, can truly understand the context of a query and weave a response that ‘seems’ human. Still, what do customers think?

The introduction and growth of GenAI in customer support have generated mixed responses among customers. TP’s survey indicates that while customers appreciate AI’s efficiency and quick response capabilities, human interaction remains strongly preferred by 62% of consumers, particularly for complex or sensitive issues.

Consumers value empathy, personalised interactions, and genuine understanding. These are qualities currently associated with human agents rather than AI. It’s important to note that a significant majority (average agreement of 7.8 out of 10) strongly advocate for human oversight in AI interactions.

This means that businesses should rethink abdicating human-led customer interaction entirely. Businesses are encouraged to adopt hybrid models combining AI efficiency with human emotional intelligence to provide seamless escalations from AI to human support when necessary.

Also read: Is using AI for customer service a smart choice?

Conclusion 

TP’s Global Insights Survey reinforces that understanding evolving customer expectations is crucial for any brand’s sustained success.

We have found that companies — especially those in ANZ — that adopt an omnichannel approach, catering to generational communication preferences and effectively blending AI efficiency with human empathy, will be best positioned to enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.

Embracing these insights will enable businesses to remain agile, responsive, and customer-focused in an increasingly dynamic global marketplace.