Customer experience starts from the top, but the executive who takes the helm can be different at each company. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to who in the C-Suite should own customer experience. Consider these five scenarios with various executives leading the customer experience charge.
1. When the CEO drives customer experience, a culture of customer centricity permeates through the entire company.
A recent study from the Economist Intelligence Unit found a direction correlation between CEO engagement in customer experience and profitability. 58% of Australasian companies reported a higher profitability than its competitors when its CEO led the customer experience initiatives.
Increasingly in the business press there is research showing companies with CEOs who lead customer experience have higher profits than other companies. The CEO doesn’t necessarily have to micro-manage every aspect of customer experience, but they should be involved in creating the strategy and monitoring its progress. However the CEO is clearly the most influential person at the company – and the CEO can decide when departments and teams need to work together to create a strong customer experience. When the CEO decides the likelihood of follow through is greater. CEOs also generally oversee the money and shareholder relations, which means they are more likely to be able to designate funds to use for customer experience development than perhaps other executives. The CEO is also the face of the company, and it can be powerful for customers to know the CEO is involved in ensuring they are satisfied.
2. The CMO already has an understanding of the customer base and the tools available to provide an experience that truly meets the customers’ needs
In many cases, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is the person who owns customer experience. Instead of solely overseeing marketing campaigns, the CMO can also coordinate and drive customer experience. CMOs focus on an omnichannel customer experience and making sure customers have a cohesive experience no matter if they are shopping in store, talking to the contact center, or using the company’s website. At many companies, including Verizon, the CMO is in charge of the brand-building process, which also relates to customer experience. Companies should want their brand to reflect how they treat and interact with customers, and a CMO can make customer experience part of the company’s brand and culture.
3. CCOs use research, customer interactions, and industry trends to see how customer experience can be improved across the entire company.
A new wave of executives hold the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) title. In many companies, CCOs represent the customer to other C-Level executives and work with various departments to put the company’s customer experience strategy into action. When Boeing’s Flight Services division wanted to reorganize with the customer at the center, it turned to the CCO to bring together all departments. The CCO was the person who rallied the troops, led the charge, and changed culture and organizational structures to better represent the customer. Without an executive dedicated to customer experience, the program would not have had a dedicated and strategic focus.
4. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) oversees data and can play a crucial role in customer experience.
Customer experience is all about providing personalized experiences for customers, and that comes down to having the data to understand and target customers. Many companies known for their high-quality customer experiences, including Airbnb, Google, and Facebook, use a data-centric approach to customer experience where the CIO plays a pivotal role. When the CIO drives customer experience, companies can push their data and IT departments to the limit. Instead of a customer experience leader who creates theoretical uses of technology and data, the CIO actually knows what is possible and can make it happen. The result is a more agile customer experience that can adapt quickly to changes in technology. Using data to personalize customer experience also makes it possible to measure customer experience by tracking the right metrics.
5. Many companies use the CTO as the chief driver of customer experience because they are most aquatinted with the devices and channels customers use to communicate with the brand.
As customers use more technology to interact with brands, the role of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) has become more customer-focused. When the CTO leads customer experience, the company can create a strong omnichannel presence across all devices—how a customer interacts with a brand via an app can be the same as how customers chat with representatives at the call center. At food delivery app Just Eat, the CTO is involved in creating a “friction-less” customer experience that is more convenient and efficient for customers. Customers want to interact with brands that use the latest technology, and having a CTO at the helm makes that possible. As new technology becomes available to make customer interactions more efficient and enjoyable, the CTO can implement them into the company to create an organization that leads on both technology and customer experience.
Customer experience deserves a seat in the C-Suite. There are numerous executives who can drive success in customer experience as they work across departments and involve the entire company. Depending on the needs of the customers and the company, different C-Level executives may be tasked with leading customer experience.
Blake Morgan is a keynote speaker, customer experience futurist and author of More Is More. For more from Blake sign up for her weekly newsletter here.
