A new study has found that 70% of Australian sales and marketing leaders report increased customer turnover, up from 52% in a survey conducted last year.
Additionally, 70% agree that it is more cost-effective to keep existing customers than closing a new sale.
The respondents of the survey by SugarCRM consist of 1,600 global sales and marketing professionals, including 400 in Australia.
SugarCRM says the findings show organisational disruption across the customer journey and highlight the shortfalls of traditional CRM solutions that aren't purpose-built to deal with the current post-pandemic customer experience.
'Churn' refers to the rate at which customers stop engaging with a company. The survey found that 61% of Australian companies surveyed acknowledged a lack of understanding of the reason behind churn in their customer base, and 63% struggle to quantify and track churn rates effectively.
SugarCRM says this 'Great Customer Resignation' is a threat to the future of companies across all industries worldwide and is yet another challenge for brands in adjusting to post-pandemic business that already includes supply chain disruption and employment challenges.
The company says a fundamental belief for customers leaving among those surveyed is that they've received poor customer service or experience.
As a result, 78% of Australian respondents said they need to make a more conscious effort to improve customer trust in their organisation.
Furthermore, 76% stressed the need to act on customer feedback to improve overall experiences.
SugarCRM gives marketing, sales, and service teams a clear picture of their customer base to improve their business. The company serves customers in more than 120 countries.
"Companies face a daunting scenario, struggling to fill the top of the funnel with qualified leads while losing customers at the bottom of the funnel," SugarCRM CEO Craig Charlton says.
"A key contributor to losses on each side of this equation is a lack of data.
"Data fuels the actionable insights that sales, marketing, and service teams need to act decisively at every critical touchpoint, to drive high-definition customer experiences, and to reverse the Great Customer Resignation."
Additional insights from SugarCRM's survey include:
- 74% of sales leads generated by marketing are deemed poorly or underqualified, and 25% of sales are falling by the wayside after receiving zero follow up.
- Almost 75% of global respondents say a consolidated view of customer information across the organisation is critical to delivering ideal customer experiences, with 68% of Australian respondents reporting they are missing data to improve marketing campaigns and sales conversions.
- SugarCRM says businesses require effective CRM strategies to combat customer churn and secure greater sales, marketing synergy, and assurance, but 68% of Australian respondents report their CRM system wastes time and money. Moreover, 71% say their current CRM system cannot be adequately customised to meet their specific needs.
- 67% of Australian organisations say they plan to change their current CRM platform within the next 12 months, with 70% saying they will change vendors/providers.
- Australia has the highest rate of CRM struggles, compared to 46% of US respondents and 56% of respondents in the UK.
- AI is increasing its presence in Australia, with 98% of sales and marketing leaders saying they anticipate increased usage of AI technology over the next two years to improve existing processes.
"Addressing customer churn in the rebuild from the pandemic is a mission-critical activity," SugarCRM Asia Pacific senior vice president Jason du Preez says.
"Australian organisations need to be more customer-centric and use technology to optimise and personalise customer engagement.
"Unfortunately, many companies will fail to solve these problems without leveraging purpose-built AI to solve marketing and sales challenges.
"Australian businesses need a CRM platform that connects marketing, sales and service with a complete real-time customer view.
"To thrive, Australian companies need to understand the present and future needs of their customers and remove any friction points in the customer journey.
"They need to empower their employees with technology that can help them delight their customers and deliver an excellent customer experience," du Preez says.
