Forrester Outlines Six CX Priorities on Day 2 of CX North America

Among companies that provide excellent customer experiences, 42 percent saw revenue growth of 10 percent or more, compared to just 24 percent of companies that don't provide great customer experiences, Forrester Research vice president and principal analyst Rick Parrish told attendees during his keynote that opened the second day of Forrester's CX North America virtual conference today.

So it pays for companies to offer great customer experiences, with huge returns for customers, businesses, and the CX pros challenged with delivering those great experiences, Parrish said.

But, for CX departments to deliver the desired results, they must fulfill six key priorities, according to Parrish.

The first requires companies to establish and scale their CX functions, Parrish said, pointing out that a key step in this process is overcoming data siloes and deciding on a path forward.

The second priority is to collect and analyze data for customer insight."You have to know your customers, what they do, and how they feel," said Parrish, who pointed out that data by itself is not enough. Companies, he said, need to begin by identifying their business objectives and then getting the data they need and analyzing, measuring, and sharing it, to finally revise programs.

They then need to embed the insights into every aspect of the business, Parrish's third priority. "And this means not just the customer-facing stuff, but also the behind-the-scenes stuff," he said.

Companies also need to design experiences that drive loyalty, the fourth priority. "It's about making CX a center of excellence for the whole company," Parrish said.

The fifth priority is enabling CX with technology. "The CX function needs to be involved in all tech decisions" Parrish explained.

And finally, companies need to measure CX performance and prove the returns, the sixth priority. This, Parrish said, relies heavily on interaction analytics that can show what happened during a customer interaction, perception analytics that can show how the customer felt during the interaction; and outcome analytics to show the result of the interaction.

Parrish also highlighted three questions company CX leaders should ask themselves along the way:

• Does the CX function prove value and justify scaling its work through data and ROI modeling?
• Does the CX function help create customer-focused business processes?
• Does the CX function perform user support and vendor management activities for all of the CX technology it acquires?

But, the bottom line in all of this, Parrish maintained, is that CX leaders need data to show what needs to be done and then to prove the results. And, that data needs to be at the relationship level, the journey level, and the touchpoint level.

By adopting the six priorities, Parrish assured CX leaders that they would be able to "drive customer loyalty, deliver business results, and drive greater investments in CX."

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