Based on research with global brands such as Google, First Direct, Cisco, and Philips, the Customer Management Exchange Network has identified the top four challenges and priorities for customer experience leaders.
The top four priorities identified were:
Developing a customer experience strategy that sticks
Ensuring organizations become more customer-centric
Staying ahead of competitors
Better understanding customers
According to the research, many organizations recognize the power of customers in today’s connected world, but few are behaving in a truly customer-focused fashion. Developing a customer experience strategy that sticks and the need to ensure organizations become more customer-centric remain the top priorities for global leaders in customer experience.
Growing and intense competition among global brands has been accompanied by companies vying for customers' loyalty. As a result, it’s no surprise that staying ahead of the competition is also a top priority and an area of high investment, according to the research. Customer experience is certainly the new competitive battle ground; organizations must decide how they will innovate to stay ahead and whether it is better to strive to gain first mover advantage, or learn from competitors’ mistakes to secure market share.
The fourth priority – an ongoing need to better understand customers – is pivotal for customer experience leaders. With 90% of the world’s data having been created in the past two years alone, brands are struggling to find the best approach for turning customer insight into business value.
Arne van de Wijdeven, Director of Customer Advocacy at Philips, said in the research report that he believes customer insight is “the key to a competitive edge” and is vital for creating an exceptional customer journey. According to Arne, organizations must not only deliver, but also exceed customer expectations, and should prioritize customer loyalty over acquisition.
Abi Manders, Group Head of Products at the Customer Management Exchange Network, said that organizations often struggle with how they can safeguard the future of their companies and ensure that customer experience initiatives are resulting in customer acquisition, increased loyalty, and profitability.