Customer Experience Importance on the Rise

By Jeremy Zimmerman

Did you celebrate Customer Experience Day this past Tuesday? Maybe you just hadn't heard about the unofficial holiday, but if you're not familiar with the entire concept of customer experience, then it's time to start making some adjustment to your strategy. A new in-depth study from Gartner has the analytics you need to get your head around building better customer experience.

Customer experience—often abbreviated to simply "CX"—is changing the very definition of "customer," which now stretches to include prospects, influencers and the general audience of your marketing. Creating a great customer experience is all about providing unique, branded moments before, during and after the purchase.

Gartner's survey of business leaders revealed that two years ago, only 36 percent of companies were planning on competing with each other primarily on the basis of customer experience. The same leaders said that by 2016—only two years out—that same number would be at 89 percent. Currently it's sitting at 58 percent. If your business is one of the 42 percent who currently don't plan on competing based on CX, then you'd better start—or you may be left behind, instead.

Far too often in the course of their study, Gartner's Research Director Jake Sorofman found that CX is "an unfunded mandate without a locus of responsibility." It's not enough to only spend money on analyzing your customer base without operationalizing that data to give your clientele the experience that they deserve—and the experience that will ultimately give you the results that you're looking for. After all, customer data is what drives truly great multichannel consumer experiences.

Even though people are usually noted as the top priority area when talking about how to improve customer experience, investments were made more on the side of technology, totally getting the equation backwards. If your organization is large enough to warrant it, consider creating a Chief Customer Officer position, to head up your CX planning and implementation.

Even if you didn't take place in any of the Customer Experience Day festivities, you need to start getting serious about CX and how it impacts your strategy. Recognizing whether you've got a deficiency in this area is the first step towards correcting that, and getting yourself back out in front.

It's time to start making every day a Customer Experience Day.