Customer experience management (CEM) is in danger of being “misunderstood into extinction,” maintains Steven Walden, senior head of research and consulting for Beyond Philosophy.
Walden bases his conclusion on a just-completed global survey conducted by the CEM consulting and research firm. The research, done between June and September, included 53 in-depth interviews with CE executives/industry experts and analysis of 8,000 CE executives (including 500 in the U.S.) from 2,106 “CE-active” companies across 239 countries. Companies and executives were limited to those with a CE presence on an in-country Google site and/or a presence of executives with a CE title on LinkedIn.
The study found that 78% of executives now in CE have been redeployed from areas such as marketing and customer service, with no background in CE. “We’re seeing a large number of companies simply handing out new titles to operations staff without truly committing to customer experience management,” says Walden. “The lack of effort behind the change ensures the failure of customer experience management in the eyes of corporate leadership.”
The study also found that in many cases, transaction-based CRM initiatives/software or simple product/services competence are being mistakenly “rebranded” as CEM. CEM, says Walden, is a broader concept that is properly defined as an ongoing, organization-wide focus on emotionally engaging customers in ways that enhance loyalty.
“Emotions account for more than half the typical customer experience; thus, proper CEM must consider emotions in order to deliver any significant value,” he stresses. “CEM is all the ‘wow factor’ or giving customers those ‘moments of delight.’” Nor can CEM be implemented effectively on a piecemeal basis, he adds.
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