In today's competitive market, the link between customer experience (CX) and commercial success is undeniable; yet 'customer experience' can still sometimes be considered a bit fluffy and non-tangible – and as a result it can get overlooked in favour of what is often perceived as more direct growth drivers like sales and marketing.
The results and research speak for themselves:
According to Forrester research (via Retail Customer Experience), brands that do best with CX bring in 5.7 times more revenue than their counterparts who lag in this area.
Harvard Business Review emphasises that great customer experience drives revenue growth. Their research shows that stores with a more experienced and skilled customer-facing employee base generated a 50% increase in revenue.
Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products or services and spend 31% more than new customers.
In many cases, it can take time to make back the cost to acquire a new customer.
So, investing in CX makes commercial sense.
Our proprietary insights, gathered from interviews and surveys with thousands of Australian employees - from frontline staff to C-suite executives – reinforce this.
We have seen first-hand that positive sentiment in customer experience links strongly to positive financial outcomes as depicted in this simple word cloud analysis of our interview and survey responses. Where CX is considered consistently good, employees frequently use words like ‘good’, ‘great’, ‘solid’, and ‘high’ to describe financial performance. Where we see words like ‘improving’ and ‘average’, these often relate to the team’s, functions or organisation’s path to maturity.
But where do you start?
Understanding the end-to-end customer journey is key to unlocking the opportunities and determining where to invest resources. Focusing solely on individual touchpoints can create a distorted view of CX and companies should instead manage the entire customer journey to achieve true competitive advantage.
This holistic approach boosts customer satisfaction and, in turn, revenue through higher customer lifetime value, increased loyalty, advocacy, and share of wallet. As a bonus, it also fosters a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement within the organisation.
At CXO2, we know the challenge of budget constraints and proving ROI is critical to ensuring the right activity is prioritised. We work with leaders to uncover the 'Moments that Matter' and how they combine to deliver the end-to-end customer experience, and deliver on CVP, strategy, and commercial outcomes.
CXO2 is a dedicated team of customer-obsessed practitioners who, with over 100 years’ combined experience, work side-by-side with business leaders on all aspects of CX transformation. The team understands that where CX happens, is not where it starts. It starts in the boardroom, with strategy and with culture. From customer strategy to execution, operational health checks, journey design, channel optimisation, and culture and capability, CXO2 was created to “breathe new life into customer experience.”
For further information please contact Mitisha Paleja, CXO2 - mitisha@cxo2.com.au or +61 483 829 707.
Sources:
CXO2 and The Bridge International Research, ongoing
Forbes Agency Council. "The Value of Investing in Loyal Customers." Forbes, January 29, 2020.
Dicso, Jim. "Why Personalization is Key for Retail Customer Experiences." Retail Customer Experience, January 28, 2020.
Forbes Business Council. "Customer Retention Versus Customer Acquisition." Forbes, December 12, 2022.
Harvard Business Review. "How Great Customer Service Drives Revenue Growth." Harvard Business Review.
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