The CX Awards 2024 Celebrates brands that excel in customer-centric practices in the Middle East.
The CX Awards 2024 honor companies that prioritize customer needs and strive to enhance customer experiences (CX).
Home to a tech-savvy population with high expectations for customer service and experience, the Middle East is a region of rapid growth and dynamic market changes. Its diverse and evolving consumer base presents unique challenges and opportunities for brands striving to excel in customer centricity.
Led by MIT Sloan Management Review’s editorial team, the CX Awards aim to spotlight and reward the most innovative and impactful customer-centric initiatives in the Middle East.
The Saudi Investment Bank designed the Corporate Currency Card as a unique multicurrency travel card for the business organization. This product helps business customers improve their cash flow by allowing them to better track and manage their expenses and to get data and insights on spending patterns and vendor payments. Over the last three years, the number of cards has doubled, the number of transactions on the cards has increased 5 times.
SAB boasts of a Voice of Customer program that has been active for the last decade. The bank uses data from this measurement program to track customer dissatisfaction, negative feedback, delays, and challenges with operational inefficiencies, and then it builds business plans to offer corrective strategies. In the last year, SAB has witnessed a 60% reduction in complaints in its credit card department and an NPS of +52 from +14 for its corporate digital app.
During the flood crisis in 2024, claims surged both in frequency and severity. Al Wathba Insurance experienced a 24% increase in calls made to its Call Centre as compared to the previous year. The business shifted from a reactive to a proactive approach with agents providing update calls, enhancing its First Notice of Loss portal to include multiple channels, and ultimately achieved a CSAT score of 90% during this challenging time.
The 360Health suite combines insurance products, health services, personalized experiences, and rewards for a holistic approach to wellness. Engagement rates showed that 70% of active users regularly interact with the app, particularly with the health tracking and telemedicine features.
A recent report predicted that loss to card fraud worldwide will reach $408 billion between 2020 and 2030. Mastercard’s Global Security Index has revealed that 92% of consumers would trust a biometric authentication method, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, powered by AI for secure payments. Mastercard’s repeated efforts to fortify the payment landscape show an impact on loyalty and brand trust.
Floward developed an occasion-aware algorithm to attach relevancy and offer personalization messaging options that boosted card attachment by 12 to 20% and impacted reorder rates positively by 5%.
Modern Electronics aimed to create a holistic view of its customers, so the marketing approach would be hyper-personalized based on the individual’s preferences, history and behavior. The impact of this initiative was a 60% uplift in conversions from cart abandonment campaigns, effectively recovering potentially lost sales.
Nice One, the makeup ECommerce brand located in the Middle East, launched a personalized shopping experience based on micro-segmentation to target customers based on their behaviors. The campaign resulted in an overall 15% increase in retention, with a 10% increase in repeat purchases for members of the loyalty program.
In 2020, when Lulu Hypermarket launched its Click and Collect services – it resulted in higher online sales and improved overall revenue. It is an outcome that has contributed to bear increasing returns by blurring the lines between physical and digital.
L’Oreal Middle East’s live shopping campaign was timed during Ramadan to cater to increased beauty spending and digital engagement. The campaign was culturally relevant and resonated deeply with the target audience. Products showcased in the live videos experienced an unprecedented 148% surge in sales compared to the previous year.
Whites is a leading chain of beauty & lifestyle retail in Saudi Arabia, with more than 100 stores across the country. The retailer wants to integrate data from its stores to get a better understanding of customer interactions both online and offline. By getting its data house in order, the business saw a 779% conversion uplift over the past six months, significantly boosting sales.
Data and Content is at the center of its customer experience strategy. This includes a suite of tools aimed at capturing and acting on data in relation to complaints and compliments. To cater to younger, more woke audiences, FIVE also focuses on its sustainability narrative. It holds the world’s highest ESG ‘A’ rating from ISS and its Dubai hotels have a carbon footprint 5x lower than the average luxury resort.
As a Licensing Authority in Dubai, enhancing customer-centric practices is critical for both clients (local and international) and the sustainability and growth of the institution. The results were measured. Meydan Free Zone has recorded positive month-to-month linear growth in terms of new licenses being issued, as well as continuous positive growth for licensing renewals.
Voice of customer data found that working at height or in confined spaces was a significant security concern for workers across manufacturing, oil & gas, construction, telecom, and utilities. 3M set up the Fall Protection Training Center in Abu Dhabi to increase awareness on safety protocols and experienced a positive impact on brand loyalty.
The Egyptian Food Bank (EFB) distinguishes itself with a focus on beneficiaries as its primary customers. A key approach is its Evidence-Based Interventions to ensure services are relevant, responsive to pressing challenges, and result in impactful outcomes for those served.
