Report Summary

Few consumer-facing companies would deny the need for a convincing presence across a whole array of channels these days, from the web, smartphones and social media to bricks-and-mortar stores. People are now using a variety of platforms to research and buy things, for example, to check prices and reviews online before buying over their smartphone or in a shop. For companies, this presents a whole new challenge. Not only must they be up to speed over a whole range of platforms, but they also have to integrate channels, communications and systems so that consumers can switch between them seamlessly.

For the purpose of this report The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed consumers to ask what they want from companies and how they rate companies for customer service. And we asked company executives about their attitudes to customer service and how well they think they are doing in joining up all of the new technologies in use today. 

"Companies have to stop thinking of themselves as business-to-business or business-to-consumer. Instead, they have to put the consumer first."

-Bill Price, president of Driva Solutions and previously Amazon's first vice-president of global customer service

Research Methodology

Creating a seamless customer experience is an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, sponsored by Panasonic. It uncovers what the future of the customer experience could look like and how organisations can create a seamless, friction-free experience for consumers. The report draws on a global survey of 491 senior executives and 2,403 consumers as well as desk research and in-depth interviews with seven senior executives, consultants and experts.

In August-September 2014 The EIU surveyed 491 senior executives, almost half of whom (44%) are C-level executives or board members, and more than half (53%) work in IT. Of these, 32% are based in Europe, 31% in North America, 28% in Asia-Pacific and the remaining 9% in the rest of the world. Around 60% of the companies surveyed record annual sales of over US$500m. A range of industries are represented in the survey, including 15% of respondents from manufacturing, 14% from healthcare, 13% from retail, 12% from telecommunications and 11% from consumer goods.

The EIU also surveyed 2,403 consumers aged between 18 and 65 from across the world, with 8% each from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the UK and the US.

• Paul Jameson, managing director of global industries, Cisco
• Valerie Nygaard, senior director of buyer experience, eBay
• Ben Perkins, head of consumer business research, Deloitte
• Bill Price, president of Driva Solutions and formerly Amazon's first vice-president of global customer service
• Richard Small, partner, Deloitte customer management team
• Robert Wollan, global managing director of sales and customer services, Accenture
• Daniel Ziv, vice-president of customer analytics, Verint

The report was written by Michael Kapoor and edited by Martin Koehring.