There are five key habits that successful CX professionals have in common, according to the newly published State of Customer Experience 2018 report.
The study is one of the most comprehensive global surveys of CX practitioners and was carried out by Confirmit in partnership with Engage Business Media. The resulting report analyses the factors that define leaders and laggards in CX across different industries, and across B2B and B2C markets. The results show that leaders share common attributes which are critical in driving CX success, increased investment and customer-centricity.
Claire Sporton, SVP of CX Innovation at Confirmit, explains: “Unlike other studies, our report defines a CX Leader in terms of specific business outcomes, rather than those organizations that simply achieve the best CX metrics. Our experience shows that the proof of any program is the value it delivers across an organization and as such the most successful programs are seeing significant increase in investment.
“The report makes for fascinating reading, particularly when compared to our findings from last year. We’re seeing a clear maturity curve in terms of the sophistication of responses, which is reflected in the fact that nearly 60 percent of respondents have more than four years’ experience in CX. While this is great, there are also some red flags for us to consider, particularly around how companies are investing in actually driving change based on their CX programs.”
The findings of the research identify the five habits of highly effective CX professionals which should be adopted and cultivated by a CX team aiming to have an impact across their company:
Habit 1: Define goals and drive the right ownership
Rather than focusing solely on CX metrics, successful practitioners are able to talk in the language of the wider business and define outcomes that make sense to all employees. Fifty-seven percent of leaders in the report agree strongly that stakeholders across the business are strongly invested in the goals of their programs, compared to just 25 percent of laggards.
Habit 2: Think innovation and action
The most successful CX practitioners understand that programs must drive innovation and real action, both of which must be tangible and communicated across the business. Fifty-one percent of leaders strongly agree that their programs drive measurable innovation or change within their organisation, compared to just 16 percent of laggards.
Habit 3: Listening to more voices collectively
While an increasing number of companies surveyed are actively capturing both the Voice of the Customer and the Voice of the Employee in their programs, questions still linger over whether the feedback gathered is integrated and therefore useful in its combined form. Only 31 percent of organisations strongly agree that their programs combine multiple sources of insight. Leaders are those that work to drive integration between customer and employee voices – as well as those of partners, suppliers and other stakeholders, and other forms of data such as operational and financial.
Habit 4: A focus on customer-centricity
Respondents to the report stress the importance of driving a customer-centric culture across their organisation for CX to be successful. This means that employee engagement needs to be high across all levels of the organisation, from the front line to board level. Again, this relies on a strong communication strategy, which is something 57 percent of leaders already have in place, while only 35 percent of laggards say the same.
Habit 5: Continuously re-think
The report shows that the most experienced CX practitioners aren’t necessarily those who run the most successful programs. It is easy for CX programs to go stale and get into bad habits, meaning constant innovation, re-evaluation and adjustment is critical. Sixty-seven percent of leaders in the report agree strongly that their program has driven significant investment in change, compared to 27 percent of laggards, supporting the view that continually asking ‘what’s next?’ is a key step in delivering long term CX success.
The full report investigates each of these habits, providing detailed insight and analysis that provides learning points for individuals and teams across the CX industry. To learn more, the full State of Customer Experience 2018 report is available for download here.