| A global survey of around 11,500 consumers, conducted by Opinium on behalf of customer engagement platform Freshworks, found that people simply have different opinions about and expectations of customer experience. For example, while 71% prefer to engage with real people at brands, a healthy 39% prefer self-serve options. 49% want to hear more from brands, while 26% don’t relish communication with brands at all. Very low numbers expect to be delighted by brands or to enjoy personalized experiences (14% each); and while most consumers are willing to share personal data in return for a better experience, almost a quarter of those surveyed are not. Why we care. Although respondents were all 18 or over, it would have been interesting to see the data broken down by age. It’s possible, of course, that a younger demographic prefers self-serve when dealing with brands, but the survey doesn’t tell us. It’s interesting because of the relatively large sample, and because of the questions it leaves open. Should brands focus on engagement when only half their customers want to hear more from them? Freshworks, given their CX software offering, would doubtless say yes, as long as the engagement is great — but as the headline suggests, consumers are more complicated than that. | 