Cisco's App Attention Index Finds Companies Aren't Meeting Customers' Digital Expectations

Today, integrated technologies have allowed brands to deliver seamless customer experiences across a variety of digital and offline channels, boosting the quality of customer support to the level customers expect… right?

While it sounds great on paper, in reality few companies have actually mastered this lofty goal. Cisco’s latest report in its App Attention Index research series uncovered escalating consumer expectations for the digital experience and increased pressure on brand owners to optimize application performance and security. Fewer and fewer companies are meeting these expectations: 88% of customers reported experiencing performance issues when using applications over the past 12 months, and 64% stated they are less forgiving of poor digital services than they were 12 months ago. More than half – 55%, specifically – of customers reported that performance issues with digital services and applications leave them feeling like a brand has no respect for their time.

Cisco’s global study, which examined the digital behaviors of more than 15,000 global consumers, also revealed the emergence of a new breed of application user that is more empowered, sophisticated and demanding in its use of digital services, and companies are clearly struggling to keep up.

“While the use of digital services and applications reached new heights during the pandemic, consumer demand for applications has only continued to increase,” noted Cisco in its announcement of the App Attention Index. “As consumers enjoy ever more intuitive and personalized digital experiences, their demands on applications have reached an all-time high, with 62% reporting that their expectations for digital experiences are far higher now than they were two years ago (the height of the pandemic), while 66% state they now expect brands to deliver an exceptional digital experience as standard.”

The index found that consumers are also becoming increasingly selective about the applications they use, and more conscious about the time they spend engaging with digital services. They are thinking harder before installing new applications, evaluating current providers and ridding themselves of a sense of “application clutter” by culling applications that fail to meet the grade.