State of the

Customer
Experience
Master Effortless
Experiences
 Foreword
Consumer demands are causing a seismic shift that your business needs to deliver on with a well-considered
CX strategy. This shift, driven by increasing expectations and the rapid evolution of tools and technologies,
is fundamentally altering how the world operates—and especially how customers interact with businesses.
These advancements are reshaping the landscape of customer interactions and redefining the very
essence of CX. The conventional wisdom that once guided CX strategies is being challenged,
making way for innovative approaches that leverage an overwhelming amount of data to create digital
intelligence. Personalized, efficient and engaging customer experiences are no longer the exception.
They are table stakes. Businesses that lean in and embrace this change will be massively rewarded
through increased customer lifetime value because of the differentiated experience they will provide.

But not every new martech tool or journey map will be spot on—CX improvement will take an agile
approach that can continuously meet evolving needs and KPIs. It is essential to cut through all the
buzzwords and identify strategies that can genuinely enhance your organization’s CX. Remember
that the goal is not to chase after every new trend, but to focus on actionable insights. We have
designed this report with this exact objective in mind: to give you practical guardrails as you
explore the art of the possible.

As consumer expectations shift,

so too must our mindset.
See a Special
Message from
Liz Bauer

Liz Bauer
EVP, Chief Experience Officer, CSG

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 A New Page Is Turning
in the CX Leader Playbook
How people think about their customer experience strategy is shifting under their feet. In this year’s State of the
Customer Experience Report, we break down five major shifts in conventional wisdom based on industry studies,
annual CSG data, and experiences working with our clients. We also provide steps you can take today to adapt to
those changes and deliver winning CX this year and beyond.

Five Major Shifts 4

CONTENT

1. Effortless Experiences Beat 'Unforgettable' Customer Experiences 6

2. Customer Profiling Is Only as Good as the Actions You Can Plan 16

3. IT Is Breaking Down the Martech Silos 24

Wait—What About AI? 32

4. A Winning Omnichannel Strategy Will Value Quality—Not Quantity—of Channels 38

5. This Year’s New CX Project Needs to Pay for Itself...In This Year 46

Conclusion 54

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 1 2
Five Major Shifts
Effortless experiences beat Customer profiling is only as good
“unforgettable” customer experiences. as the actions you can plan.

Businesses are trying to design the most impressive digital Teams are focused on achieving a 360-degree view of the customer.
experiences—the coolest, the sexiest, the most extraordinary. By now, many have a wealth of detailed customer profiles. Yet armed
They pour creativity and resources into crafting moments that with all this information, many businesses still lack the ability to act.
wow customers. What they’re realizing now: the results are often They can answer the question, “Who are these people and what have
counterintuitive. It is experiences that are quick, simple—and even they done?” but not, “What are they going to do next? And how do
forgettable—that prove to be the most effective and appreciated I help with that?” It requires a shift from understanding to predictive
by customers. It’s a reminder that sometimes less is indeed more. action to deliver real improvement in customer lifetime value (CLV).

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3 4 5
Information technology (IT) A winning omnichannel This year’s new CX project
is taking down the silos. strategy will value the quality— needs to pay for itself...
not quantity—of channels. in this year.
IT is set to take ownership of cross-business
data. Organizations are making this move New customer engagement channels are Expectations for payback periods have shifted
in response to several needs: continuous growing alongside today’s digital innovation. from a 2- to 3-year time frame to an in-year
innovation, data-driven decision making From spatial computing/VR and video fiscal budget cycle. CX teams must think
and consolidating technology for efficiency. commerce to setting up shops on TikTok, creatively and work backwards from returns
Especially with cybersecurity as a board- these interactions (and others like them) on investment to trace leading indicators of
level initiative, security measures need to are introducing new norms of customer positive financial return. Instead of mapping
keep up with an increasingly interconnected engagement. But brands can’t add all these winning end-to-end journeys, the key will
world. While IT will play a more active role channels, nor should they. The brands that be taking a "crawl, walk, run" approach and
in the martech stack, that doesn’t mean it drive the most engagement and value per emphasizing winning microjourneys—small
will own the CX or marketing function. Each channel will be those that take a channel- but impactful customer journeys that can last
department must work together to leverage agnostic, yet customer-centric, approach. mere seconds but leave a lasting impression.
this booming power center to benefit parts That means being open to providing the
of the customer journey they influence next great experience—but only if it
the most. makes sense for the customer journey.

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 We want our
customer experience
to be unforgettable.

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Effortless
customer experiences
beat unforgettable ones.

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1
Effortless Experiences
Beat ‘Unforgettable’
Customer Experiences Do you remember
your last customer
Consider a routine activity you’ve performed recently, such
experience?
as paying a bill, checking an account balance or scheduling
Good.
a service appointment. These tasks only stand out when
You weren’t supposed to.
something goes wrong.

It’s the friction that sticks to your psyche: the long hunt
for the FAQ page, the three different service calls it took to
resolve an issue, that last-minute flight cancellation notice that
didn’t direct you to a rebooking page. The moments that are
unforgettably bad, where you just want to solve your problem
with minimal effort and get back to your life.

It’s these journeys, however, that some brands neglect to

improve because they lack the “wow” factor—something
memorable for its novelty. CX teams have been chasing the wow
factor ever since Steve Jobs held up the first iPhone. Caught up
in delivering flashy digital experiences, they sink resources into
delighting customers with impressive displays and innovation.

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 The CX
LOW EFFORT REQUIRED
sweet spot for
99% of brands

Frustrating Effortless
Wrong grocery Correct grocery
order delivered late. order delivered
to doorstep within
“This is a real the hour.
inconvenience.”
“That was easy.”

GOOD EXPERIENCE
BAD EXPERIENCE

Terrible Extraordinary
Delivered grocery order had MICHELIN Star chef, hand
expired foods, prompting long selects grocery delivery after
customer service call for virtual Q&A on cravings and
reimbursement. cooking abilities.
“Never again.” “Wow! So worth it.”

HIGH EFFORT REQUIRED

Extraordinary CX has its place, but in the day to day, speed and ease wins. Save “extraordinary” for those premium experiences
only a select segment of customers will want to pay for. Most customers place greater value on efficient experiences—ones that are
quick, simple and even forgettable. Effortless experiences are the ultimate CX sweet spot.

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 Aim for CX
Easy Enough to Forget
It’s counterintuitive, But simple experiences Figure 1. Seamless Transitions Improve CX Outcomes
done right prove to be more appreciated by Seamless Channel Transition High-Effort Channel Transition

customers than ones that are so cool,

100%
93% 92%
they’re complicated.
82% 80%
In December of 2022, a Gartner, Inc., survey
found that 62% of customer service channel
transitions were “high effort” when
50%
customers switched from self-service to
assisted (e.g., interacting with a human agent).
18% 20%
What made this significant was that less than
half of customers who experienced a high- 7% 8%

effort transition were willing to use self-service 0%

High Low Customer Positive Word Customer
again. When the transition was seamless, CSAT Effort of Mouth Retention

however, customers reported high customer n = 1,492

satisfaction (CSAT) scores 93% of the time. Source: Gartner (June 2023)

Wowing customers requires high investment and relies on subjective tastes...

customer loyalty depends on how easy you make it for your customers to do business
with you and that’s when they’ll return your service with their repeat business.

-Gartner (Effortless Experience Explained)

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Effortless Experiences Are...
There’s a reason for that. Processes that demand they complete many achievable actions
(Forgettably) Quick at a time quickly grow frustrating for customers. Leveraging real-time notifications
Customer attention spans are getting is one way to break up a demanding customer journey. And CSG's technology applies
shorter. The average human now loses across industries—a healthcare enterprise may send prescription pickup reminders,
focus after 8.25 seconds—less time than while a financial services organization may access fraud alerts.
it takes to tie your shoes.

Customers are also losing patience. (Forgettably) Intuitive

Amazon has conditioned us to crave instant
gratification, from two-day delivery to easy Confused people don’t buy anything. Don’t overcomplicate the objective—
returns. The “Amazonation” effect seeps aim instead for easy navigation.
into businesses beyond the retail sector.
Brands are being judged on how fast A business can present a groundbreaking platform to its customers, but if no one can navigate
they do just about everything. it quickly and easily enough to reach their goal, then it won’t be of much use to CX. The more
steps involved, the more likely customers are to become frustrated and seek solutions—or
How will brands combat this inattention
take their business—elsewhere. According to PwC, 51% of consumers are less likely to be
epidemic? By engaging with customers
loyal to a brand if a company's online shopping experience, isn’t as easy as in person.
the same way you lace sneakers: make it so
quick and effective they can forget about it.

Of the billions of journey interactions CSG

orchestrates in a year, hundreds of millions
are notifications for a small-but-essential
task to be accomplished.

64% of customers say speed

is as important as price.

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 Empathy Leads to Easy.
It’s not easy to engineer effortless Just how valuable
experiences. It requires empathy— is a forgettable CX?
understanding your audience on a human
level, anticipating roadblocks and alleviating
Simplifying the payment experience
benefits both customers and the bottom line.
In 2023,
their pain points. This can make designing
CX for simplicity rather than flair more This year, our clients focused on giving CSG processed over
challenging. Without considering your customers the power to pay when they want, $118B in payments.
customer’s perspective, it’s hard to recognize how they want. We helped create customized,
the nuances that make a digital journey secure statements and send them out for
With CSG, companies have:
intuitive. But it’s ultimately more rewarding payment via text, email, two-way interactive
voice response (IVR) or the contact center.
ƒ Reduced uncollected
for both the business and its customers.
By making it easy to send branded and payments by 85%
personalized statements, our clients could ƒ Increased customer
securely accept payments in real time, engagement by 660%,
remove their exposure to sensitive data
leading to $8M in
and modernize the customer experience
with low-touch payment gateways.
incremental revenue

38%
Organizations that can offer a variety of payment methods
across multiple channels, while minimizing friction for
of senior executives say that
consumers no matter how they’re paying, will be able to
they can’t put themselves
in their customers’ shoes. complete more payments and drive customer satisfaction.

(Forrester Report, Spark, Nuture, and Fire Up Dan Apgar

Empathy to Drive Innovation, June 1, 2023) Director of Merchant Payments, Javelin Strategy & Research

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 5
2024 Winning Move: Strive for Simplicity.

Ways to Craft
a Forgettable CX

1. Make it quick and easy to pay for things. A great payment experience should be forgettable—
customers don’t want to be reminded that they’re spending money. And what might be the next
best action for the customer after payment?
2. Meet customers where they are. React to the customer journey as it’s unfolding, helping
customers achieve their goal no matter the path they take.
3. Enable employees to act with empathy at scale. Promote empathetic interactions by
encouraging employees to jump on opportunities and extend extra support or make unique
loyalty offers to dissatisfied customers.
4. Connect data points to uncover how customers feel, think and behave. Observe and
understand customers’ experiences before trying to improve them. To predict customer intent
and communicate proactively, understand the path and friction points customers navigate
while interacting with your brand.
5. Poll your frontline employees. Contact center agents and customer-facing reps have a sense
of which digital journeys are easy or frustrating: They hear it from customers. Don’t forget
to include these employees in your research to understand customer journeys.

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 And When There Is Friction,
Take Advantage of It...
Not all friction is bad. In a lot of cases, it’s what creates a tighter bond with the customers
and builds loyalty. Friction allows for follow ups and more personal interactions.
In 2024, organizations should see friction as an opportunity to provide great customer
experiences and plan for it rather than planning to avoid it. All great inventions arise
from need, and any customer interaction can be an opportunity to learn about specific
customer needs and create new ways of meeting those.

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 Eric Carrasquilla
President of Customer Experience, CSG

Want to chat further on how to make it easier

for customers to do business with you?
Connect with Eric here.

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 We need a 360-degree
view of the customer.

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Power
lies not in the profile,
but in the actions it inspires.

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2
Customer Profiling Is Only
as Good as the Actions
You Can Plan
Customer profiles have their
You know your customers inside and limits: They only look backwards.
out. But can you predict, prescribe
CX teams have gotten good at answering the question, 'Who are
and act to support their next move? our customers and what have they done?” The real challenge is

Every business knows the goal: Get a 360-degree view of the customer. asking, “What are they going to do next—and how do we anticipate
that?” Otherwise, brands risk missing out on opportunities to guide
And there’s plenty of data to be had. Today’s customer profiles stretch
customers to the next best action.
far beyond traditional demographic markers like age, gender and
income, drilling down into the details of an individual’s shopping
Great CX requires more than a CDP,
habits, communication preferences and customer service run-ins.
data warehouse or customer database.
Getting a full picture of customer data lays the foundation for an
effortless CX. With the increased adoption of customer data Customer data management and platform capabilities are essential.

platforms (CDPs), more and more businesses believe they have They collect and consolidate customer actions across channels. They

a holistic view of their audience. So why do the overwhelming break down data silos that block consistent experience delivery.

majority of customers feel that their favorite brands don’t know They manage first-party data flow and document consent. But these

them nearly as well as they think they do? data stores don’t deliver personalized experiences on their own.

To achieve that, more businesses will turn aggregated data into

action. CX teams will increasingly shift from a locus of understanding
to prediction—looking to the past to inform the future without
getting stuck there.

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Enter: Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics are growing trends in 2024. The global Journey orchestration (JO) technology arbitrates across all data
predictive analytics market is expected to grow from $13.5 billion points—considering the context behind all interactions on all
in 2022 to over $44.3 billion by 2030, driven by the widespread channels—to trigger the next best action in the moment. Acting as
implementation of advanced analytics and an increasing demand an air traffic controller, journey orchestration enables CX that's both
for predictive insights and data-driven decision making. proactive in outreach and reactive in the way it responds intelligently
to what customers do.
By both registering customer behavior and anticipating their next
moves in real time, businesses stand to offer a personalized CX
that promotes quick conversion and long-term loyalty. Customer journey orchestration bridges
the gap between data and reality

The example below highlights the importance of a decisioning engine

to override insight from a CDP or predictive analytics when other data
points are considered, such as a real-time survey response.

Data Decisioning Real-Life Experience

CDP Predictive Analytics Journey Orchestration

Plan: Lowest Tier Customer receives

personalized win-back offer
Next Best
High likelihood to upgrade
Preferred Channel: Email to middle tier plan that Action:
From: Your Company
offers higher data limit Subject: 20% Upgrade Offer!
Pause Any
Data Usage: Exceeding Limit Current Sorry we messed up.
Campaigns
Let us make it up
to you with 20% off
Survey Platform Trigger if you upgrade today!
Personalized
Sentiment: Unhappy with Service Customer ‘Save’ Offer
(after recent call center interaction) Reply Forward Delete

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 Loyalty
Built on Data, Powered by Trust
Data is the driving force behind personalized CX. Information about ad interactions,
shopping history, demographics and much more reveals patterns about customer behaviors.
When you inject personalization into 1:1 interactions, your customers feel more connected
to your brand than ever.

But remember: Keeping your customers feeling connected also requires maintaining their
trust. Be transparent about your data-handling practices and prioritize robust security
measures. It only takes one security incident to dismantle the loyalty you’ve built through
personalized experiences.

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 Joe Wilson
Chief Information Officer, CSG

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 Blocking Fraudsters
in the Call Center
Real-time customer profiles don’t just help you roll out the red carpet for VIP customers.
They help you distinguish real customers from fake ones.

Imagine how much private information someone could get if they pose as a confused customer The Bottom Line:
and successfully trick a call center agent. Now imagine if your brand mistakes a loyal customer Data is fuel, not the whole
for a fraudster because their product activation or gift card code was already stolen and resold
machine. Businesses that
on the black market. Both situations hurt your brand and its bottom line.
use data to power the right
The power of real-time customer profiles is that they offer a reliable defense mechanism to decisions will move into a world
correctly identify good and bad actors with each inbound call. Using automation, IVR and business-
of prescriptive planning for
defined rules, CSG is providing clients with this new line of defense to stop bad actors before they
ever reach—let alone fool—contact center agents. Having the ability to capture behaviors and successful customer journeys.
caller attributes before and during any call will provide your call center a layer of confidence your
call center is able to discern good customers from criminals and treat each accordingly.

REAL-TIME MONITORING CONTINUOUS MULTIVARIATE TESTING

Mobile NEXT BEST ACTION

Is the phone number Is the phone number from a
known or unknown? recognized area that we support?
Automatically send to correct
History team to handle potential fraud
Web
Have they purchased something
through our website? Has this number called a Context
different division before? Disconnect Call
Contact
Center
Decisioning
Are they asking
suspicious questions? Did they chat with Alert agent of potential fraud
the agent online?
Chat

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 4
2024 Winning Move: Make Decisions Based on Data​

Ways to Get Ahead Using

Customer Profiles in 2024

1. Start by looking at your billing data. Begin where your conversion data lives. Instead
of counting clicks or opens, see what customers are actually being billed for. Understand
which data points your marketing and customer service teams would love to see, 24/7.
2. Empower the contact center agent experience. Avoid swivel chairs and equip agents
with the context (oftentimes billing information) they need to identify customers, make
relevant offers and resolve issues without asking customers to repeat information.
3. Be ready to roll out the digital red carpet. Know when to execute VIP-level CX.
Recognize and prioritize reacting to the needs of high-value customers regardless
of time, place or channel.
4. Plan against fraudulent activities. Leverage what you know about customers
to combat situations with “unknown” customers. Not having a customer profile
can often be the best trigger to discern bad actors.

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 We need better martech.

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Marketing,
meet IT.

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3
IT Is Breaking Down Rising above silos with

the Martech Silos. a cloud-native platform

M1 Limited—Singapore’s first
digital network operator—
Delivering the next generation of CX means businesses need to connect data and
is continually breaking down
systems across the enterprise. CX and marketing professionals can see it coming:
data silos to deliver better experiences to B2B
Their company’s IT team is set to take ownership of the entire marketing
customers. The key: using a highly scalable,
technology (martech) stack with other operational, support, feedback systems and
cloud-native platform to improve efficiency and
data. It’s part of a business shift to product- and platform-centric operating models.
tap into new revenue streams across industries.
That means businesses are focused on the value that a product or service delivers
to meet customer needs. They also need to ensure scalable platforms are in place
to support rapid development and deployment of new solutions.
CSG's innovative SaaS platform will empower
The model has a lot of opportunities for growth. Gartner in 2023 found that
M1 with cloud capabilities to boost our pace
martech teams reported accessing just 33% of their total martech stack
of innovation and raise our level of agility
capability. That’s a 25% drop from 2020. With all that expensive capability
when it comes to addressing evolving market
going unused, marketing teams are under pressure to optimize their martech.
demands and delivering sustainable growth
Guess who’s going to help them with that?
in the enterprise segment. With its unique
The traditional “career” marketing role isn’t vanishing. It’s evolving understanding of our customers' needs and
to one that demands a deeper technical skill set. Don’t think of it as an IT expertise in enterprise monetization, CSG
takeover of the marketing and CX functions, but rather a new cooperation will also enable us to differentiate our
between IT and marketing, who will use data-driven analytics to inform their business and enhance our enterprise
strategies. Customer journeys will be made all the better from it. customer experience.

Jan Morgenthal
Chief Digital Officer, M1

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Shifts in Ownership of Marketing
Technology Activities -13 to -16 pp 0 pp
2023 vs. 2022 -9 to -12 pp
-5 to -8 pp
1 to 4 pp
5 to 8 pp
-4 to -1 pp 9 to 12 pp

OWNERSHIP
Marketing Owns Marketing Leads IT Leads, IT Owns Managed by
the Entire with Guidance with Guidance the Entire an External
Activity From IT From Marketing Marketing Activity Services Partner
Acquisition of Budget for
Marketing Technology -8 pp -3 pp -1 pp 5 pp 7 pp
Configuration and Deployment of
MARKETING TECHNOLOGY ACTIVITIES

New Marketing Technology -8 pp -10 pp 2 pp 10 pp 5 pp

Creation of the Marketing
Technology Roadmap -3 pp -7 pp 1 pp 5 pp 4 pp
Driving Adoption and Utilization to
Support Customer Journeys -15 pp -5 pp 8 pp 7 pp 4 pp
Evaluation, Selection and Purchasing
of New Marketing Technology -4 pp -5 pp 3 pp 2 pp 5 pp
Integration of Disparate Marketing
Technologies and Databases -7 pp -6 pp -2 pp 8 pp 6 pp
Management of the Marketing
Technology Roadmap 1 pp -14 pp 3 pp 6 pp 5 pp
Managing Vendor
Relationships and Contracts -11 pp -1 pp 3 pp 8 pp 0 pp
Performing Marketing
Technology Audits -1 pp -10 pp 1 pp 7 pp 2 pp

Source: 2023 Gartner Marketing Technology Survey

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 Silos Are One Matter.
and Then There’s Security...
Digital fraud is at an all-time high, up 382% since the pandemic, and the telecom industry has
one of the highest fraud rates at 5.3%. To keep this number from increasing, organizations will
need to prioritize fraud prevention in 2024, which won’t just be an opportunity to protect their
customers but to streamline all payment processes. Growth is great, but only as long as it’s
sustainable and organizations can continue to care for their customers at the highest level.

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 Sukanya Madhavan
Chief Product and Technology Officer
Payments, CSG

Keen to know what it takes to make your

payments experience more secure?
Chat with Sukanya here.

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 The ’Data Chasm’ Bad Actors Are
Everywhere
Problem All this data of course

Too much data to look at in too

presents another liability:
vulnerability.
many places goes untapped. Every day, global bad actors
and cyber thieves become
The average enterprise company receives data from
more prolific and sophisticated with their
28 unique sources and tracks metrics across several
attacks. As mentioned in the previous section,
systems, apps, platforms and channels within their fraud targets can be as inconspicuous as
martech stack. In most cases, companies select gift cards.
these sources for their individual capabilities with
Every year, they generate more headlines.
little consideration of how they fit into their broader
In 2023 alone, large enterprises such as
tech ecosystem. MGM Resorts, The Guardian newspaper,
and the language app Duolingo suffered
That’s how so many internal applications get siloed.
data breaches that created major corporate
From payment gateways to contact center desktops to communication
headaches, loss of consumer confidence
platforms, these systems operate in isolation, and the data—and its potential
and millions in costs.
value—becomes trapped within them. Sound like an IT nightmare?
Shoring up security throughout the customer
This gap between the amount of data the business generates and its ability to collect journey, then, is another reason IT is getting
and process it—the “data chasm”—introduces pain points into the customer journey, more say in the martech stack to bring it
harming CX and decreasing customer satisfaction. (Now it’s a CX nightmare, too). into line with other systems. With their
background in cybersecurity best practices,
Have you ever contacted a call center and given your personal information to an IT will help identify vulnerabilities to data
automated system, only to be greeted by a human agent who didn’t know who you breaches or fraud as they look to consolidate
were or what issue you were calling about? If so, you’ve been an end-consumer or connect CX solutions.
victim of the data chasm problem.

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 2024 Winning Move: Bring “Air Traffic
The Need for a

3
Mission Control Center

With its ability to boost synergy and Control” to Your Tech Stack.
security throughout the tech stack, today’s
IT department is the new power source
for nearly all business decisions. That lets

Steps to Break Down Silos

the marketing team focus on understanding
customers and crafting engaging campaigns
while the IT department can manage and Beef Up Security
and protect the tech stack, streamlining
operations, reducing redundancies and
improving efficiency. But this increased
power calls on companies to establish a
1. Look for ways to do more with less. Simplify your tech
“mission control” center to see the big picture.
stack. That could mean finding solutions that are scalable
Why? and flexible, Or highly agile systems that offer a “one stop
Great customer experiences go beyond shop” for core department competencies.
great marketing.
2. Work towards “single pane of glass.” Work towards
With the IT department helming all tech creating a dashboard to visualize what’s happening across
management and analysis, companies systems in real time. This allows you to identify deficiencies,
will leverage innovative technology to gain friction points and other CX-damaging weaknesses.
deeper insights into customer behavior and 3. Educate your internal teams. Highlight the need for
engagement. These insights ultimately enable connective tissue and connected experiences. Democratizing
all teams from marketing and CX to support the concept of a “customer journey” is foundational to
and retention to curate effective ensure teams trend towards the same outcomes.
journey experiences.

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 Wait.
What About AI?
Yes, what about AI?

You’ve probably noticed that we’ve made it quite far into this report without
mentioning the most buzzed-about trend in CX.

Almost unthinkable, isn’t it? To not mention AI, machine learning (ML) or generative
AI (GenAI) in predictions about 2024—in a moment when it’s transforming
everything from personalized recommendations to automated customer service.
Why did we do that?

While it’s easy for anyone to talk about AI and GenAI, it’s much harder to turn
those words into secure, effective actions.

The possibilities for AI are endless. As we saw in 2023, large language models
(LLMs) are only getting more sophisticated and ubiquitous. The key is pragmatism,
especially regarding use cases—which, while difficult to find, certainly do exist.

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 1
At CSG, we’ve been leveraging AI for over a decade,
focusing on three distinct use cases:

Eliminating Bill Shock

We observed that bill shock is one of the most common drivers of call
center inquiries. Bill shock—the negative surprise customers feel when
their monthly bill changes in unexpected ways—is a multimillion-dollar
problem for subscription businesses. It’s an even bigger headache for
the customers who find themselves confused and frustrated by changes,
forced to wait on hold and debate with an unknowing agent.

To address this problem, we created CSG Bill Explainer—our first-ever

LLM-centric core application that capitalizes on the power of GenAI.
Bill Explainer harnesses Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to provide
personalized billing insights that enable digital resolution of up to 70% of
billing inquiries, eliminating customers’ need to contact the call center. The
result is better business outcomes with quicker time to value and lower risk.

©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)

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 2 Payment Fraud Risk
Mitigation and Monitoring
As customers increasingly use digital and alternative methods of
payment, the opportunities for fraudulent activities targeted at
online payment platforms have grown in parallel. From identity
theft and scamming to phishing and social engineering, this type
of criminal activity takes many forms—so much so that over the
next five years, there is an estimated $343 billion of projected
online payment fraud losses.

As a result, we are focusing on embedding AI/ML learning models

within our payment platforms to create an added layer of security.
By automatically identifying fraudulent transactions in real time to
trigger a cascade of mitigation responses, merchants will be able
to optimize revenue while minimizing risk of losses. The result is a
protected brand reputation for businesses, and peace of mind for
customers that their payments are secure and forgettable.

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 3 Helping Customers Find
the Perfect Product Package
Any communication service provider (CSP) can bundle its products. But
not all of them can make it easy for subscribers to find the right bundle for
them—especially with different speed tiers, channel packages and add-ons.

CSG Advanced Convergent Platform (ACP), which helps leading cable and
broadband providers manage the customer lifecycle, includes a feature
that gives agents AI-powered recommendations to customize offers for
customers. It serves up the ideal offer for each subscriber in real time by
incorporating demographic, competitive and behavioral information, along
with the customer’s unique circumstances and needs. The result? AI helps
agents meet sales goals while they build average revenue per user (ARPU)
and customer satisfaction.

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 2024
Will Be the Year of Pragmatic AI
Instead of focusing on how AI can help save money, companies should ask themselves how
AI can help them improve the customer experience. However, to determine whether an
AI solution can help meet customer needs, companies must know their customers and their
preferences, truly understanding the journeys that are creating the most friction. From this
more pragmatic lens, they can start to prioritize use cases that will answer that question,
infusing AI into the areas that will have the greatest customer experience impact.

36 CSGI.COM ©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)
 Chad Dunavant
EVP and Chief Strategy and Product Officer, CSG

Want to know where AI will make

a meaningful impact to CX?
Discuss with Chad here.

©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)

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 We have to create an
omnichannel strategy.

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Omnichannel
doesn’t mean every channel—
just the ones that matter most.

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4
A Winning Omnichannel Strategy
Will Value Quality—
Not Channel Quantity
Many “traditional” channels have gone digital, make it easier for brands to cocreate digital
like paper checks to digital wallets and brick- products and services with partners and
and-mortar shopping to ecommerce. deliver them to customers. 5G’s low latency
also makes more digital experiences quicker According
So once companies and easier—dare we say “forgettable?”
to GSMA
have “gone digital,” All these emerging channels are exciting.
Intelligence,
they’re done, right? But brands should resist the urge to try
by 2030, there
Of course not. to adopt all of them to engage customers.
Successful omnichannel strategies will will be 6.3 billion
Engagement options are expanding even instead take a channel-
further with opportunities in places most agnostic approach
unique mobile
businesses hadn’t considered before. Think where they have subscribers
about the metaverse, Uber’s “Journey Ads,” the agility to
or Lemon8 (a growing lifestyle app). leverage a new
globally, with
These developments (and others like them)
channel, so long five billion global
are changing customer engagement norms
as it’s driven
5G connections.
by customer
with breathtaking speed. And, speaking of
preferences.
speed, the expansion of global 5G networks
will continue to fuel this revolution. They

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New Tech, New Engagement Or consider that each customer is Consumers’ preferences for digital vs. human
Opportunities outnumbered by the tech devices they own, interactions differ depending on the industry.
meaning brands can tap into the Internet For example, a Merkle study found that
Where is the next “big thing” when it comes of Things (IoT) devices to connect in way most consumers prefer human interactions
to channels? Let’s look at a major driver that’s truly unique to their preferences. at every stage of the retail buying journey,
for new channels: 5G. This fifth-generation 5G is not just a technology upgrade, it’s but digital experiences are preferred almost
iteration of cellular technology greatly a game-changer for CX strategy. across the journey in telecom, media and
increases the speed and responsiveness of financial services.
Still—How Do Customers Really
wireless networks.
Want to Engage, and When? The customer journey stage is also a
This opens new opportunities to engage major factor in choosing human vs. digital
Unless these new channels actually drive
customers in real-time interactions, channels. Consumers preferred using
engagement, they’re just shiny objects for
immersive experiences and personalized digital channels to make payments by
brands to chase. How can you tell which ones
services. Think of sporting events or music roughly 30% in telecom, media and financial
are worth offering to customers? You can do
festivals where brands can send consumers services. But when it came to customer
so by centering your strategy on the journey,
personalized offers or create augmented support, consumers strongly preferred
not on the channels themselves (or even on
reality- (AR) enabled interactions. human interactions regardless of industry
digital vs. physical).
(in healthcare, consumers preferred human
support by 48%).

Industries
Retail & CPG Tech & Telecom Media & Entertainment Travel & Hospitality Auto & Manufacturing FinServ & Insurance Healthcare Non-Profit

More Human More Digital More Digital Equal Split More Digital More Digital More Human Equal Split
Researching
+6% +16% +21% +/-5% +11% +7% +19% +/-5%

More Human More Digital More Digital Equal Split Equal Split Equal Split More Human Equal Split
Evaluating / Selecting
JOURNEY STAGE

+13% +20% +12% +/-5% +/-5% +/-5% +21% +/-5%

More Human Equal Split Equal Split More Human More Human Equal Split More Human More Human
Purchasing
+21% +/-5% +/-5% +17% +20% +/-5% +27% +13%

Paying More Human More Digital More Digital More Digital More Digital More Digital Equal Split More Digital
+7% +30% +31% +8% +11% +28% +/-5% +10%

Requesting Support More Human More Human More Human More Human More Human More Human More Human More Human
+42% +34% +32% +44% +21% +38% +49% +42%

Digital Experiences Strongly Preferred (20% or more)

Human Experiences Strongly Preferred (20% or more)

©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)

CSGI.COM 41
 Use the Power of Print
to Push to Digital Channels
A mobility company was working with a U.S. highway authority
to make it as easy as possible for drivers to pay their
electronic tolls (in an industry in deep need
of digitization).

Knowing most consumers open and read their This solution

statements, it wasn’t a matter of replacing print, it was reduced the average
about connecting the statement to the greater payment
time to pay by
journey. To do so, the mobility company turned to CSG.

We looked across our portfolio to create a payment

solution inspired by innovation we’ve supported in other
industries. Adding a QR code on the physical statement gave
drivers immediate access to a microsite payment gateway. And
if drivers didn’t follow through on payment, they received a text
Out of the eight total
containing a link to the gateway. From there, drivers could sign up payment channels the
for digital bills moving forward.
highway authority offers,
the microsite
took:

14%of all
payments

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 2024 Winning Move: Stay Open

5
The Takeaway
It wasn’t just about adding a channel
to Adopting New Channels.
for payment. It was about making
the most of a widely adopted
channel (print) as a launchpad to
offer drivers more choice on how Steps to Raise Your
they could pay and stay engaged
with the highway authority. Engagement Channel Game

1. Squeeze more engagement out of the channels you have today.

Think of which audiences you would capture by adding a feature,

15
Collected a message or even a language. What functions can you embed in

$ M
a channel to help customers self-serve there?
2. Build 5G-enabled ecosystems of connection. With this next generation
of connectivity, look to join people, things and businesses with the
purpose to drive sustainable business growth in your industry and/or
new revenue streams.

9
3. Plan in a channel-agnostic, customer-centric way. Be open-minded
and agile in adopting new channels. But don’t let the novelty of the
In its
months

channel determine whether you add it: Let the customer journey do that.
first 4. Focus on designing more empathetic experiences. While technology
collects data and even executes decisioning, empathy provides the
essential understanding of customers’ emotions, needs and experiences
to show you care about them.
5. Keep testing to figure out what’s working and detect shifts
in customer behavior trends.

©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)

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 When Trends Shift Quickly,
Your Testing Needs to Keep Up
Many organizations have the data and the analytic tools to do multivariate testing (including
A/B testing as a simple first step) to start optimizing their customer experience. However, too
many do not test and learn in a systematic way. They get stuck doing the wrong thing to
customers because that’s ‘always the way it’s been done in the past,’ thus never learning
something better. I challenge your businesses to reimagine how you test and learn to optimize
experiences. Zoom out of trivial variables like email A vs. email B, and instead consider which
journeys and different channels would wildly tip the scale towards better business outcomes.

44 CSGI.COM ©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)
 Mark Smith
SVP of Customer Experience, CSG

Curious what it takes to use your channels

and communications more intelligently?
Sit down with Mark to talk it over.

©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)

CSGI.COM 45
 We need to
invest in improving
customer experience.

46 CSGI.COM ©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)
CX investments
must show ROI before
the next budget cycle.

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5
This Year’s New CX Project
Needs To Pay For Itself...In This Year
How did we get here? We’re going to see CX teams thinking
The pressure is creatively and working backwards from ROI.
higher than ever Businesses entered this year haunted by the
sense that despite their growing emphasis on
They’ll trace leading indicators of positive

to show return on CX, it isn’t getting better. Average CX quality

financial return and value of impact. They’ll
still work toward CX transformation, but
CX investments. in the U.S. dropped for an unprecedented
second year in a row in Forrester’s U.S. CX more incrementally.
For years, CX leaders have heard the Index Rankings in 2023.

drumbeat that they need to tie their initiatives Has that discouraged businesses from
to ROI. When they launched projects to investing in experiences? Apparently not:
improve digital experiences during the 74% of businesses surveyed increased
pandemic, many of those projects looked their CX spend in 2023, and 70% increased
like a monolithic overhaul of processes with dedicated CX staff, according to a Capterra
study. That tracks with what we’ve been
abysmal payback periods.
hearing from our clients, too.
But the economic conditions have shifted.
What’s also increasing is the scrutiny on
Risk tolerance has shrunk—and so has
the CX spend. Forrester also predicted that
the acceptable payback period on CX in 2023, one in five CX programs would
programs. In 2024, we see the ROI pressure dissolve. Businesses are more willing to ax We need to invest
squeezing the 2- to 3-year time frame down initiatives they see as less valuable. Setting
to one budget cycle. aside whether it’s shortsighted to discontinue
in our customer
this CX program or that, the reality is this: experience.
They have to show they’re contributing
Your company,
to growth. circa 2019

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Focus on Microjourneys For a bank, a credit card macrojourney
Over Macrojourneys is enormous when it tries to encompass
everything from customer awareness to
The game used to be about mapping end- application and approval, onboarding,
to-end journeys, even if these macrojourney making payments and beyond. Within it are
projects would grow revenue in theory, the microjourneys that are 1) more granular,
it’s tough to prove it by tying their myriad and 2) more easily tied to business KPIs.
facets to metrics.
One microjourney might be submitting a
Instead, we’ll see more CX programs take fraud claim—a key interaction the customer
a crawl-walk-run approach to nail the has with the bank that, if made effortless,
microjourneys—small but impactful is critical to retention and CLV.
customer journeys that can last mere
seconds but build CLV. This isn’t to say there’s no value in
orchestrating macrojourneys. That’s still the
Microjourneys focus on how customers end goal, but businesses can’t afford to start
accomplish a specific goal, like making there. Amid growing economic pressures,
a payment or scheduling an appointment. we see them achieving more success using a
While they may only last 60, 90, 120 seconds, crawl-walk-run approach to work their way
they are vital cogs in the greater customer across the sprawling macrojourney. Step
experience wheel. by step, they perfect microjourneys that have
quicker (and more easily demonstrable) ROI.

The most successful CX enhancement

These are the same projects are the ones that CAN END.
journeys that thrive
on the “forgettable
experiences” from
the first section.
Simplest is best!

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CSGI.COM 49
 Achieve Quick Wins
by Starting Small
Customer journeys are complex, difficult to change,
and involve departments that would otherwise be
focused on short-term revenue gains. In 2024, start
with high friction touchpoints across post-acquisition
experiences (i.e., onboarding, usage, support,
growth/retention) to achieve impactful wins.

Upsell Offers
Tier-1 Telco
Journey

Goal: Convert more existing customers

to additional products by optimizing
and personalizing offers.

Outcomes:

336% increase
in upsell success 887% ROI

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Major Retail Prescription
2024 Winning Move:
Take a Crawl-Walk-Run Approach

3
Pharmacy Refills Journey

Goal: Replace costly manual calls by

pharmacy techs by automating targeted
to CX Change.
notifications to customers.

Outcomes:
$15.5M
Adjustments to
2x refills
in 6 months in incremental
revenue
627% ROI the ROI Pressure

1. Start smaller. Where in your customer journey do the quick

moments make a big difference to your customers and your
bottom line? (They’re not always obvious.)
Collections
Global Bank 2. Choose partners who can do the same. Your providers
Journey
should be able to iterate, de-risk transformation, mature
with you over time and not rush you into massive CX
Goal: Improve collections payment rates
using coordinated, proactive communication transformations. They can engineer a short-term proof of
with at-risk customers across all channels.
concept with an eye toward long-term maintenance plans.

Outcomes: 3. See the big picture. Make no mistake: You’re still working
toward a CX transformation. A connected tech ecosystem
35% increase in After 4 months, achieved
SMS recipients acting 3x the project’s expected is still the end goal. You’re getting there in incremental,
on messages ROI for the first year
easily provable wins.

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 Take It From a CFO:
Quick Wins Build Momentum
Maximizing shareholder value through strategic technology investments is critical. While
end-goal ROI is a key metric, financial teams should focus on the incremental value created
along the way. Positive trends are non-negotiable; if they are absent, it’s a sign to course
correct. This could involve scaling back underperforming initiatives, pivoting strategies or
even abandoning projects altogether. Being agile and ready to adjust strategy if returns
aren’t materializing will allow you to make the most of budget spend in 2024. Reporting quick
wins within departments will fuel momentum, while phased enterprise implementations
allow risk mitigation with continued progress. Ultimately, success hinges on working
backwards from a metric to realize value creation at every step of a CX investment.

52 CSGI.COM ©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)
 Hai Tran
EVP and Chief Financial Officer, CSG

Ready to talk numbers on the financial return

of REAL customer experience improvement?
Connect with Hai Tran here.

©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)

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 By now you know,
that great customer experiences are more than...
—360° View of the Customer —Marketing
—AI —5G Networks
—Digital Experiences —Acquisition
—Omnichannel Communications —Surveys

ƒ Is our customer experience unforgettable? Or is

it so effortless that it’s forgettable (in a good way)?
Reflect on the
insights and stories ƒ Are our customer profiles 360 degrees? Or are they
detailed to the degree we can plan the right actions?
of this report
ƒ Are we relying on just our martech? Or are we
and ask yourself
considering the whole tech stack beyond marketing?
these questions:
ƒ Are our CX investments passing the buck?
Or are our efforts paying off?

ƒ Is our strategy omnichannel?

Or is it in the right channels?

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 Remember:
Customers will compare you to their
best experience, regardless of industry.
It doesn’t matter who gets it in your the world’s best self-service process
industry. It matters who excels—period. to get a chicken sandwich, all without
Starbucks, once a simple coffee shop, has exiting your car.
managed to position itself as a favorite
So don’t let the CX strategy you have
bank to many due to its no touch mobile
today define what your customer
payments and simplistic rewards system.
experience can look like by year end.
Airbnb, originally a means to raise money
The buzzwords are for beginners. YOU
for rent, is a go-to hotel service for those
can move metrics with a real strategy.
planning their next vacation. Chick-fil-A
isn’t just a fast-food chain, it’s practically It starts with the right mindset.

©2024 CSG SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES (“CSG”)

CSGI.COM 55
About CSG
CSG empowers companies to build unforgettable
experiences, making it easier for people and businesses
to connect with, use and pay for the services they value
most. Our customer experience, billing and payments
solutions help companies of any size make money and make
a difference. With our SaaS solutions, company leaders can
take control of their future and tap into guidance along
the way from our fiercely committed and forward-thinking
CSGers around the world.

Want to learn more about how to be a changemaker and

industry shaper like the global brands that trust CSG?
Visit csgi.com to learn more.