However, New Zealand businesses should be cautious because overall the customer experience is lagging behind global standards.

The results, released this week, revealed that only 11% of Kiwis are left feeling 'enchanted' after a customer experience, compared to 20% of customers globally. Only 4% of New Zealand customers feel 'disenchanted', and a whopping 84% feel 'unaffected'.

With the imminent arrival of Amazon to New Zealand ready to disrupt the digital customer experience, the advice from Kantar TNS New Zealand Executive Director Nigel Green to local businesses is to create memorable experiences for our customers.

"Our research showed that truly enchanting experiences create memories by being both ranked excellent and leaving the customer feeling delighted. Those customers who felt 'enchanted', had a 95% likelihood of remaining a customer."

So what are ANZ, AA Insurance and Air New Zealand doing that others can learn from?

Mr Green said the key to achieving this is to cut through the complexity and to treat each communication channel with the attention it deserves.

"Many customer interactions fail to leave a lasting positive impression on customers. Businesses are spreading themselves too thin - they have a Facebook page because they think they should, but it's frustrating for customers if it's not being monitored or the information is out of date."

Identifying the right communication channel for your customer is also key.

Not surprisingly social media is a popular option for younger customers, and also for the sale of simple services or products. However many businesses treat social media as an afterthought and don't treat it as a communication channel in its own right.

Online contact forms are preferred for time-poor customers however response time was a common concern.

While telephone was the preferred option for older customers or for those with complex issues, 46% of those surveyed did not want to make a call, regardless of the complexity of the problem, but 36% had to resort to picking up the phone.

"In addition", Mr Green said, "we had people tell us that when they rang a call centre it was not the first time they had tried to contact that company. They may have tried contacting them on social media or email first and had no joy so they're resorting to their least preferred option of calling."

"To ensure businesses deliver the ultimate customer journey, companies should measure what is important - to you and your customer, focus on the precise issues and ensure your customer can interact with you using their preferred method in a way that will leave them feeling enchanted."