A new global index from Adobe shows consumers in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) have the highest customer experience expectations in the world.

The index, released on Monday, is based on a survey that asked thousands of consumers in ANZ, the US, UK, France, Germany, India, Japan and South East Asia about their expectations for digital experiences in the retail, travel and hospitality, media and entertainment and financial services industries.

According to the findings, Australians and New Zealanders have higher expectations of personalisation and automation than consumers in other regions.

Seventy-nine percent of ANZ consumers demand tailored experiences from organisations and 66 per cent are happy to have completely automated interactions if done well, the survey found.

ANZ consumers also are more critical of things being broken or failing to meet their expectations, the survey found.

This drove ANZ’s overall score in the index to 221, higher than any other market. Consumers in the US had the next highest overall score with 219, followed by the UK with 217, Japan with 216, South East Asia with 212, Germany with 210, India with 202 and France with 196.

“It’s no surprise that Australians and New Zealanders have high consumer expectations,” said Suzanne Steele, managing director of Adobe Australia and New Zealand.

“In the past few years, we’ve seen an explosion of online businesses in the region, which has given consumers more choice than ever before.”

Steele believes organisations are at a crossroads, where managing customer experiences is becoming business critical.

According to the survey, almost half of ANZ shoppers (48 per cent) said they have abandoned their shopping carts due to a poor customer experience.

“Organisations that listen to what their customers want and leverage data to deliver personalised, seamless experiences in real-time will be the ones that succeed in this increasingly competitive market,” Steele said.

According to the survey, customers are most impressed by online retailers providing samples as part of their loyalty program, automated hotel settings and preferences on arrival and using mobile apps as hotel keys and no need for check-ins.

They are most frustrated by a lack of returns policies for marketplace sellers, hidden fees and no-cancellation policies for travel packages.

The financial services sector was the standout winner in customer experience across most metrics, rating highest for customer service and online experience on both apps and websites, while media and entertainment struggled to meet customer expectations and was rated the worst at accessing content via a website.