2013 Customer Experience Data Survey Facts & Analysis 2013 Consero Group LLC www.consero.com
INTRODUCTION 2013 Chief Customer Experience Officer Data Survey The advent of successful Internet-age businesses operating with a minimum of marketing expenditure has induced many industries to shift attention and funding away from traditional advertising campaigns and to focus instead upon the bedrock of enduring patronage: positive customer experience. In a tough economy with more demanding consumers, Customer Experience executives must effectively manage the increasingly vital tasks of understanding their company s customers and cultivating and maintaining those relationships. And with the rapid advent of new communication media, the ease with which consumers can publish evaluations of products and services has made the duties of the Chief Customer Experience Officer more complex than ever. It is essential that Customer Experience executives collaborate in cultivating a pool of collective insights, tools, and strategies for effective customer outreach and engagement. This survey was developed in connection with an invitation-only event hosted by Consero Group LLC in March 2013 for a group of Fortune 1000 Chief Customer Experience Officers. While the survey was limited to 40 participants, the answers provide some useful benchmarking data, as well as valuable insight into the perspective and concerns of this group of senior executives. Survey Structure And Methodology Consero s 2013 Chief Customer Experience Officer Survey included a total of 12 questions in the following areas: Staff & Budget Size Organization & Access Impact Of Social Media Salary The questions were posed to all Fortune 1000 Chief Customer Experience Executives in attendance at Consero s invitation-only March 2013 Forum. A total of 40 responses were provided, yielding data that appears with brief analysis on the pages that follow. 2 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
STAFF & BUDGET SIZE What Is The Size Of Your Departmental Budget? In a competitive job market, businesses of every size tend to expect their staffs to do more with less, and this seemed to be true for the survey participants. The majority of the respondents reported either no change or less than a 5% increase in their department budget from the previous year, though a few enjoyed more dramatic growth. On the other hand, staff sizes grew at a faster rate, with a full quarter of departments augmenting their personnel by more than 10%. Despite this pattern of increase, over 20% of Chief Customer Experience Officers felt that their departments remained inadequately equipped to meet their expectations. Figure 1: What Is The Size Of Your Departmental Budget? Under $500,000 5% 10% 5% 15% $500,000 $999,999 15% $1,000,000 $2,499,999 22% $2,500,000 $4,999,999 3% 20% $5,000,000 $9,999,999 15% $10,000,000 $24,999,999 10% $25,000,000 $49,999,999 20% 10% 22% $50,000,000 $100,000,000 10% 15% 3% Figure 2: How Did Your Department Budget Change From 2012 To 2013? Increased 26 50% 7% 18% 7% 7% Increased 11 25% 7% Increased 6 10% 15% Increased 1 5% 38% 15% 15% No change 15% Decreased 1 5% 18% 38% 3 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
STAFF & BUDGET SIZE Figure 3: What Is The Size Of Your Departmental Staff? Under 10 35% 10 25 10% 26 50 7% 51 100 10% 101 150 Over 150 18% 20% Figure 4: How Did The Size Of Your Departmental Staff Change From 2012 To 2013? Increased 11 20% 25% Increased 1 10% 50% No Change 15% Decreased 1 10% 10% Figure 5: Do You Have Sufficient Resources To Manage Your Department Effectively? Yes 78% No 22% 4 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
ORGANIZATION & ACCESS To Whom Do You Report? Given the relatively recent evolution of the role of Chief Customer Experience Officer, it is no surprise that its relationship to corporate leadership has yet to settle into a uniform pattern. Responses displayed a diversity of organizational structures, with more executives reporting directly to the president of their company than to any other member of leadership. Figure 6: To Whom Do You Report? President 30% CIO or CTO 18% Supply Chain or Logistics Executive 12% CEO 10% Loyalty Executive 10% Other 20% 5 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
ORGANIZATION & ACCESS Do You Have A Sufficient Level Of Access To Your CEO? One of the more common general complaints among today s executives has been corporate leadership s lack of availability. Surprisingly, respondents reported enjoying relatively open access to their CEOs. This may reflect the virtues of a certain elasticity of governance structure and organization in companies that have Customer Experience executives. However, availability of higher-level governance was less encouraging, with nearly one third of respondents displaying dissatisfaction with access to their Boards of Directors. This latter discontent may suggest a sense of need for reform to corporate culture. Figure 7: Do You Have A Sufficient Level Of Access To Your CEO? Figure 8: Do You Have A Sufficient Level Of Access To Your Board Of Directors? Yes 95% No 5% Yes 68% No 32% 6 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA Is Your Department Sufficiently Prepared To Handle Risks Arising From Social Media? Since the advent of social media in the mid-1990s, both popular culture and the narrower universe of sales and marketing have, for better or worse, undergone a gradual, though radical, overhaul. In a world of hashtags, blogs, and likes, it certainly appears that the mass desire to express feelings and judgments through social media is here to stay. Now Chief Customer Experience Officers must find ways to manage their company s reputation through traditional media outlets as well as social media, and it seems that there is yet much work to be done. Two thirds of the surveyed participants responded that they do not feel that their departments are prepared to handle the risks arising from social media. While the attempt to contain and manage public response in an age of instant publicity may appear an impossible feat, Chief Customer Experience Officers must develop strategies with which to minimize blowback, and capture opportunities, from online chatter. Figure 9: Is Your Department Sufficiently Prepared To Handle Risks Arising From Social Media? Yes 33% No 67% 7 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA Has Your Work Become Easier Or More Difficult With The Evolution Of Social Media? The impact of social media on the way of life of people across the world is undisputable, and similar in its transformative power to other major technological advances from recent history. However, this latest installment of the industrial revolution is not without drawbacks: Fully half of respondents indicate that the evolution of social media has increased the difficulty of their work. Figure 10: Has Your Work Become Easier Or More Difficult With The Evolution Of Social Media? Easier 5% No Change 45% More Difficult 50% 8 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA Will Social Media Or Traditional Media Have A Greater Impact On The Satisfaction Of Your Customers In 2013? Although these sentiments offer insight into the influence of social media, the Chief Customer Experience Officers surveyed also provided a surprising view on the value of social media to the customer experience. In particular, they indicated that more traditional means of advertisement are likely to have a greater impact on the satisfaction of their customers in 2013. That is, new methods of publicity have altered, without supplanting, the old. One of the greatest challenges in the customer-experience field will be to gauge the appropriate degree of commitment to the technical innovation demanded by avant-garde media, while maintaining a fidelity to the more tried and tested methods of publicity and consumer outreach. Customer Experience executives must deal with the expanding channels through which customers communicate while managing internal relationships, cost-optimizing tactics, and competitive strategy. Figure 11: Will Social Media Or Traditional Media Have A Greater Impact On The Satisfaction Of Your Customers In 2013? Traditional 62% Social 38% 9 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
SALARY What Is Your Salary? Figure 12: Distribution of Salaries 23% 7% 15% Under $150,000 7% $150,000 $174,999 15% $175,000 $199,999 17% $200,000 $224,999 33% $225,000 $275,000 5% Above $275,000 23% 5% 17% 33% 10 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
CONCLUSION Lessons For The Industry The speed and volatility with which product and brand reputations circulate and evolve through their customer bases renders the task of customer relationship management almost intractably complex. Nevertheless, with the right tools and the determination to overcome the challenges, Chief Customer Experience Officers can play an integral role in driving their company toward success. Proper support and attention from corporate leadership will be essential to this success. But perhaps the biggest challenge of all is the task of navigating the complex web of associations created by contemporary social media. Image management in an era of instant response may demand a radical re-thinking of customer relations. 11 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
How Is Consero Different From Other Conference Companies? Branded as the anti-conference company 1, Consero s model is a vast improvement over the traditional model for conferences and trade shows in several important ways. Exclusivity, Intimacy, and Commonality. Consero puts its executives first. Unlike other conferences, a Consero Forum brings together executives with common levels of experience and seniority, as well as similar business challenges. This ensures optimal networking and collaborative development of best business practices. Original Content and Thought Leadership. Consero views its events as a means to an end solving business problems. Consero prides itself on generating exceptional, original content that contributes to practical discourse, yielding impactful takeaways that help participants to improve their own performance, as well as that of their departments and organizations. By permitting its programs to evolve until the Forum takes place, Consero can integrate the most current significant developments e.g., a late-breaking Supreme Court decision impacting antitrust law into the solutions that emerge from the Forum. This focus on world-class content is an important differentiator for Consero. What Problems Does Consero Solve? Today s senior executives are busier than ever and inundated with information, too little of which addresses their specific current needs. Consero brings together those senior executives so that they can learn from one another in an efficient, exclusive format, and build relationships that facilitate ongoing post-forum dialogue. One of the primary components of a Consero Forum s substantive program is its KnowledgeBridges, 10- to 15-person roundtable discussions on specific topics of interest that relate to common business challenges. During these highly interactive discussions, each moderated by an industry expert, executives share ideas and address particularly difficult problems with their counterparts in the room. There is no substitute for this kind of professional learning. In addition to superior educational opportunities, Consero Forums expose senior executives to participant-requested and Consero-vetted industry solution providers that offer innovative enterprise solutions to business issues identified by the executives themselves. Consero s highly selective criteria for solution providers and insistence that those companies send their own executives (not salespeople) ensures that Consero executives are constantly educating themselves about world-class solutions that can improve their business. 1 Gonsalves, Antone. Consero Takes Aim at Bored C-Suiters with Its Anti-Conferences. Bloomberg. Jan. 28, 2011. <www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-28/consero-takes-aim-at-bored-csuiters-with-its-anti-conferences-.html> Jan. 28, 2011. 2013 Consero Group LLC. Reproduction Prohibited.
Opportunities To Participate at Future Consero Forums may be available on a limited basis. Please contact our team for additional information. Consero Group LLC 4915 St. Elmo Ave., Ste. 100 Bethesda, MD 20814 (202) 595-9300 tel (202) 595-9301 fax www.consero.com inquiries@consero.com