Shoppers carry bags as they walk along Oxford Street in central London© Neil Hall / Reuters/Reuters
Most companies will tell you that customer experience is the bedrock of their organization. With help from 3,000-plus books preaching the virtues of focusing on the client, this statement has become a truism.
But in reality, many businesses aren't set up to be customer-centric. Don't make the same mistake. Here are 10 reasons why it's crucial to have a chief customer officer (CCO) who puts the client front and centre:
1. They think about the big picture. CCOs looks at the journey holistically, considering every single way the client interacts with the company and its brand. They know that the customer's experience – from first consideration of a product to post-purchase care – is circular.
2. It takes just one misstep to ruin that journey. Every part of an organization, whether it be sales, service or operations – can contribute to a negative customer experience. With that in mind, a CCO takes action across the entire business to make critical improvements.
3. Companies that put customers first get rewarded. Forrester Research compiled a stock portfolio of corporations leading the 2014 Customer Experience Index and found they gained 43 per cent in performance between 2007 and 2012, compared to a drop of almost 34 per cent for those that neglected customer experience.
4. They foster a customer-centric culture. You may have a great product, but it won't go far without strong customer relationships. A CCO will keep you ahead of product-centric companies by building all business decisions around the client.
5. CEOs have too many other things to worry about. Sure, there are those rare CEOs who drive and champion customer-focused success; think online retailers Amazon.com Inc. and Zappos. But not every company is lucky enough to have a Jeff Bezos or a Tony Hsieh at the helm, and even the most diligent CEO may overlook the customer amid the demands of daily operations.
6. They help companies break free from outdated organizational structures. Most companies remain stuck in a silo approach to running a business that harks back to the early 1900s. This old-school structure works fine if you're an industrial corporation looking to make a uniform product. But does it provide the integration needed for a customer focus? Not so much.
7. They use data the right way. Without powerful insight, big data is just ones and zeros. Its impact comes from deriving insights on the right trade-offs between elements of the value proposition such as pricing, service levels, or product features. A CCO is able to draw these insights and make decisions across functional areas to drive optimal trade-offs, achieving and monetizing the ideal customer experience.
8. No single part of the business has a monopoly on understanding the customer. Marketing creates desire for a product, the sales team sells that product, operations manages the delivery, and customer service helps solve problems. So far, so good – but without a CCO pulling all of those threads together, client needs and values can get lost in translation.
9. Customers constantly change. Their tastes and appetites can shift quickly, and businesses must react just as fast. With a CCO keeping a close eye on customer behaviour, your company will note trends early and adapt to them.
10. The role is manageable, and you can add it to your business cleanly. There's no need to clean house: Other executives will keep doing their jobs with influence and direction from the CCO. However, to make a maximum impact a CCO must have direct managerial control over as many parts of the customer interaction as possible, from product features to pricing, channels, sales and marketing, and brand engagement.
Appointing a good CCO will move an organization towards making the customer experience pivotal in every decision. It will ensure the customer is front of mind all the time. Walk the talk. Your customers will thank you.
Samuel Puchala is a partner with SATOV Consultants, a leading Canadian mid-market consultancy with practice areas in corporate, customer, and operations strategy. He leads the customer strategy practice area, tackling issues such as customer insight and segmentation, pricing and customer profitability analyzes, loyalty and rewards, and marketing effectiveness.
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