Publicis Sapient’s “DIGITAL LIFE INDEX” finds seamless digital experiences influence people’s choices and purchase decisions

Publicis Sapient, a digital business transformation company, today launched the third edition of its Digital Life Index. The global report, which is based on a survey of 9,300 consumers from the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and the UAE, explored people’s behaviors, satisfaction and expectations as they relate to their digital experiences across three industries: retail, financial services and health.

Overall findings indicated that 93% of respondents are spending more or the same amount of time online than they did in 2020, and when they engage on digital platforms, they prefer seamless experiences.  What was also evident is that omni-channel experiences are very important to keeping people satisfied and the quality of those experiences can influence purchase decisions, either positively or negatively.

“Over the last 18 months, people have shifted many of their activities from the physical to the digital world.  What our research shows is that today people have different expectations when they engage online.  Experiences are table stakes and convenience trumps experiences,” said Teresa Barreira, Publicis Sapient’s Global Chief Marketing Officer.  “This expectation of convenience now makes it that much more important for businesses to offer convenient options online that people want.  For those companies that are successful, they will have the power to influence people’s choices and purchase decisions.” 

• Nearly half of respondents (48%) said that they are more likely to buy from a brand that offers an easy-to-navigate website or mobile app.
• 68% of respondents said they will abandon their shopping cart if the checkout process is too difficult or confusing to navigate.
  
• Nearly half of respondents (49%) said they’ll stop using a website or platform because of bad design.

Retail

• The five greatest frustrations respondents said they have when visiting a brand or a retailer’s website are out of stock products (73%), poor search function (62%), slow loading time (60%), lack of seller information (54%) and unclear site navigation (54%).
  
• Only 38% were satisfied with their ability to “try on” and “try out” products online.
  
• Respondents said returns (45%) and resolving customer service issues (48%) fell short.

“Omni-channel commerce shows no sign of returning to pre-COVID levels, making it increasingly critical for retailers to optimize and enhance the digital experiences they create for shoppers across all channels,” said Sudip Mazumder, Publicis Sapient’s Retail Industry Lead for North America.  “Our research findings provide further proof that creating ‘shopper-first’ digital experiences, designed with people’s expectations top of mind, is vital for business success.”

Health

• 34% of respondents said the biggest barrier to telehealth use is having a condition or health concern that requires an in-person visit.
  
• 14% said that they are not confident in their ability to navigate telehealth technology.
• However, consumers indicated that improving the overall telehealth experience should involve enhancing the digital experience by offering a mobile app for scheduling (37%) or offering online portals where medical information can be easily accessed (35%).

“We need to integrate multiple relationships into the new ‘distributed care’ model. These relationships need to be seamless, involve multi-specialists, need to function in a way in which people expect digital experiences to work, such as responding to messages in a timely manner, and, most importantly, they need to add value with minimal effort required by the end user,” said Hugo Manassei, Publicis Sapient’s GVP of Healthcare Transformation.

Financial Services

• Compared to other industries, such as retail, travel, auto and health, people were most satisfied with digital experiences in financial services, with 33% of respondents rating their experiences a 9 or 10 out of 10. Online, dissatisfaction typically occurs when a certain activity is too difficult to navigate or requires too many steps to complete, signaling a need for more seamless digital experiences across channels.
  
• Digital experiences must remain a priority in financial services, as 77% of respondents said they prefer to interact with their banks online rather than in-person. 

“Since customers today have easier access and exposure to a large and diverse set of digital services, they’re no longer satisfied with just getting what they want,” said David Donovan, Publicis Sapient’s EVP and Head of Financial Services for the Americas. “Today’s consumer demands flexibility in how and where they engage financial services in order to get what they want. Banks that take advantage of this shift will outpace their customers and attract a new generation of customers. Banks that fail to adapt risk extinction.”

• When asked which features shoppers would like an online retailer to provide, personalized offers based on spending preferences was one of the top three features, with more than a third (37%) of respondents selecting this option.  31% of respondents said that they would like personalized content or advice to help them shop.
  
• In financial services, 28% of respondents said they would like personalized offers based on their spending preferences, and 27% said they would like personalized content or advice to help them better manage their money.
  
• In the health sector, 31% of respondents said they would like their healthcare provider to offer more personalized communications to improve the telehealth experience.

To view the full report, please visit https://thedigitallifeindex.publicissapient.com.

Data were collected through an online survey sent to 9,300 people in 12 global regions, including the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia and the UAE.  The survey was fielded in June 2021.

Publicis Sapient is a technology company that provides enterprise AI platforms and services. With over 30 years of digital business transformation experience, we enable enterprise clients to transform how they operate and serve their customers, unlocking new value and enabling them to thrive in an AI-driven world. Our platforms Sapient Slingshot, Sapient Bodhi and Sapient Sustain use AI built off this deep enterprise context to help organizations modernize their legacy tech systems, build agentic solutions, and automate their IT operations.  The combination of our AI platforms and the expertise of our people enables us to deliver faster and more effective outcomes through solutions that are specific to the unique needs of our clients’ businesses, their industries and their customers.  Publicis Sapient is the technology hub of Publicis Groupe, uniting 20,000 people worldwide across 28 countries. For more information, visit publicissapient.com.