Report: The State of CX Management, 2012

May 8, 2012 4 Comments

We just published a new Temkin Group report, The State of Customer Experience Management, 2012. The report examines where large companies are on their CX journeys based on a survey of 255 companies. Here is the executive summary:

We surveyed more than 200 large companies and found an abundance of Customer Experience (CX) ambition and activity. Most companies have a CX executive leading the charge, significant CX activities being coordinated by a central team, and a staff of six to eight full-time CX professionals. Using Temkin Group’s CX competency assessment, we found that only seven percent of companies are truly customer-centric as firms struggle the most to master Employee Engagement and Compelling Brand Values. When compared with CX Laggards, CX Leaders have more ambition, more CX leadership, are better at using VoC programs and NPS, and they focus more on employees and less on cutting costs. Comparing results over the previous three years we found more analysis of email and chat conversations, improvements in VoC governance, and a wider gap between companies that are good at CX versus those that are not.

Download report for $195

The research shows that only 7% are very strong at customer experience today. We found this exact same percentage in what respondents said about their companies and in results from the Temkin Group CX competency assessment which shows that 35% of companies are in the lowest stage of CX maturity. But companies have high ambitions; 59% of respondents state that their company’s goal is to be the industry leader in CX within three years.

Here’s one of 27 figures in the report:

Here are some other findings from the research:

  • The weakest CX competencies are employee engagement and compelling brand values. Only about one-third of companies scored highly in these areas.
  • Nearly six out of 10 respondents have a senior executive leading customer experience efforts across the company.
  • On average, companies have six to eight employees focused on customer experience; 28% have more than 20 employees in this area.
  • Nearly 80% of companies with voice of the customer programs report that they are already delivering positive business results.
  • Voice of the customer programs run into the most obstacles when it comes to integrating CRM data and analyzing social media conversations.
  • The percentage of companies using NPS increased from 49% last year to 56% this year.
  • Companies with higher levels of customer experience maturity focus more on employees and culture and less on cutting costs.

Download report for $195

The bottom line: Customer experience management is maturing.

Filed under Customer experience, Temkin Group Research, Trends

About Bruce Temkin, CCXP
I'm an experience (XM) management catalyst; helping organizations improve results by engaging the hearts and minds of their employees, customers, and partners. I enjoy researching and speaking about these topics. I lead the Qualtrics XM Institute, which is the world's best job. We're igniting a global community of XM Professionals who are inspired and empowered to radically improve the human experience. To achieve this goal, my team focuses on thought leadership, training, and community building. My work is driven by a set of fundamental beliefs: 1) Everything starts and ends with human beings, so you need to understand how people think, feel, and behave; 2) XM is a discipline that needs to be woven throughout an organization's entire operating fabric; and 3) Building the XM discipline requires a combination of culture, competency, and technology.

4 Responses to Report: The State of CX Management, 2012

  1. Ted Bray says:
    May 8, 2012 at 10:57 am

    Great report. Are the 255 companies surveyed all from the U.S.?

    Reply
    • Bruce Temkin says:
      May 8, 2012 at 1:07 pm

      Ted, glad you liked the report. The companies are global. Most responses are from US, Canada, Western Europe, or multi-national.

      Reply
      • Ted Bray says:
        May 8, 2012 at 6:13 pm

        That’s great. Did I miss that in the report? It would be great to clearly call that out – it provides validity for CX initiatives around the world.

      • Bruce Temkin says:
        May 20, 2012 at 9:52 am

        Ted: I usually only call out survey audiences when respondents are from a specific location (for instance, I’d label the base if it was from the US only). But I think you make a good point and I will start being even more explicit in describing the respondents even when they are not limited to a single location. Thanks!

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