Customer Experience, or CX, is quickly becoming a major source of attention for companies in recent years. The customer experience is the overall interaction a person has with a brand — good, bad, or indifferent.
The term appears self-explanatory and easy to understand. However, the nature and discipline of CX can be a little more complex.
By and large, the customer owns the customer experience. Some companies believe they can create and control CX — but this is essentially an illusion. The smart companies try to understand their customers’ needs — then employ rigor to deliver products and services that fulfill their brand’s promise. 
The School of CX
Esteban Kolsky, CEO of thinkJar — is one of the top CX experts in the world.
Here are some interesting stats about Customer Experience, which are culled from Kolsky and thinkJar’s research:
- 84% of customers are frustrated when an agent does not have information.
- Customer frustration leads to the following: 13% tell 15 or more people if they’re unhappy. Conversely, 72% of consumers will share a positive experience with 6 or more people.
- Only 1 out of 26 unhappy customers complain. The rest churn. A lesson here is that companies should not view the absence of feedback as a sign of satisfaction. The true enemy is indifference.
- 91% of unhappy customers who are non-complainers simply leave.
- 65% of companies are able to successfully upsell or cross-sell to existing customers.
- 75% of brands do not know what engagement means – but are measuring “it”.
- 66% of consumers who switched brands did so because of poor service.
- 85% of customer churn due to poor service was preventable.
- 55% of customer requests for service on social media are not acknowledged.
- 91% of non-engaged customers leave with dissatisfaction.
Another result of CX analysis is Customer Journey Mapping. This gives companies some helpful and objective perspective on how people are navigating through their journey as they interact with the brand.
CX vs. UX
One of the most notable and important subdivisions of CX is the User Experience (UX) — which has to do with Internet, software, mobile, and app engagement. UX is measured with metrics like success rate, error rate, abandonment rate, time to complete the task, and clicks to completion.
Despite its often nebulous nature, the impact of CX and UX on the bottom line is formidable — and has severe consequences:
- Companies with strong customer experience have a 35% higher ROI than companies in the S&P 500 Index. Companies with weak customer experience had a 45% lower ROI than the same index.
- 88% of online customers are less likely to return to a site after a bad user experience.
- Judgments on credibility are 75% based on a website’s overall aesthetics.
And the UX Side of Things …
Why CIOs and IT Leaders Are Prioritizing Customer Experience
In the past, IT departments within companies were self-contained, problem-solvers who ‘kept the lights on’. Things are rapidly changing today though: CIOs and other IT leaders are reaching out to different departments — in order to align themselves and also be a part of the greater customer experience.
After all, IT has a big influence on customer relations now — and is powering changes in the user experience. A good example? How about the chat-bots? These AI representatives are now being employed on the front lines of customer interaction. Their dynamic R&D efforts are resulting in more accurate and powerful bots — able to answer questions and begin the customer journey.
Customers don’t care about how a business/company is organized: They only a see a single entity. This means they want a seamless, consistent interaction.
61% of IT leaders say that creating this single view for the customer is a high priority next year.
Get alerted when part 2 of of The Customer Experience: Why business leaders should care, it’s all about the mobile experience.
