41% Of Indian Brands Find CX A Biz Priority: Adobe

In the rapidly evolving landscape of consumer preferences, Indian consumers have emerged as global frontrunners in embracing AI-driven interactions, however, Indian brands are trailing the world in harnessing the latest AI innovations, a new report shows.

According to the latest Adobe’s 'State of Digital Customer Experience' report, more than half (57 per cent) of Indian consumers, would choose an AI-enabled tool or service over human interaction, far more than the global and APAC average of 39 per cent and 48 per cent respectively. However, human interaction remains a top choice when considering aspects of decision-making, customer support, and returns or cancellations. Many (39 per cent) want both options to be available, particularly when exploring new products and services. 

Despite these preferences and Indian consumers anticipating customer experience (CX) benefits from generative AI, Indian brands are falling behind global peers. Only 15 per cent are leveraging generative AI to enhance CX initiatives compared to 18 per cent globally. Brands in Europe and the US are also twice as likely to already have dedicated AI budgets and internal usage policies.

However, 41 per cent of Indian brands are seeing CX as a business priority today and 87 per cent of Indian brands are prioritising CX enhancements over other business goals. That puts it at the top of the strategic agenda, equal to integrating the CX technology stack while accelerating the adoption and integration of generative AI. Moreover, in the next 12 months, 53 per cent of Indian brands are committed to improving their generative AI capabilities whereas 76 per cent of brands already have or will pilot generative AI solutions to support experience delivery.

“Advances in generative AI have been already transformational for consumers, and they now expect brands too to also adopt the technology for better and personalised experiences. Our latest research shows that Indian brands are embracing the shift to GenAI and devising avenues for its responsible usage to enhance personalisation at scale, and digital customer journeys,” says Anindita Veluri, director of marketing, Adobe India.

Indian brands are world leaders in adopting customer data management (89 per cent), and almost all have the data to balance personalisation and privacy (95 per cent). While brands lead the world in customer data capabilities, they are currently lagging in the adoption of technologies and tools that support personalisation. 

Both consumers and brands agree that data privacy and security concerns constrain personalisation. Brands say consumer reluctance to share data is a top barrier, but they underestimate the impact of data missteps. 59 per cent of Indian consumers will stop or consider not buying from a brand that isn’t transparent about personal data use. 

Indian consumers are most concerned about responsible and ethical usage of their personal data. 60 per cent of them think that a decision would be made about their data without consent, 65 per cent believe that brands will collect too much data and 56 per cent say that brands won’t be able to build ethical AI tools. 

68 per cent of respondents expect to be informed when content is AI-generated, whereas 64 per cent would be more diligent about fact-checking content due to generative AI, further the report.