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The “Why” Behind CX Pros’ Failure to Prove Business Results

Jim Tincher Jim Tincher 02/07/2020
The-“Why”-Behind-CX-Pros’-Failure-to-Prove-Business-Results

while back, I posted here on Forrester’s prediction that 1 in 4 CX pros will lose their jobs this year. When CustomerThink reposted my thoughts on this, it generated a great conversation, with Sampson Lee, Shep Hyken, Lynn Hunsaker, Harley Manning, Bob Thompson, and others weighing in in the comments section.  

One issue that came up repeatedly was why  CX Pros don’t tie into business results. Here’s my take in a nutshell (see the post for my full response and what others had to say): 

Connecting CX to Results

look at this through the ADKAR change model. (Quick refresher: To change, a person must be Aware of the need to change, Desire to change, Know what to change, bAble to change, and have that change ReinforcedYou can learn more about ADKAR here.) 

There are certainly some who are not Aware of the need to tie to business value. In my first CX job, I just said we needed to listen to customers, and never included the value to the business. This also ties into Desire – I just thought that we should listen to customers, no business case required. still see a lot of CX pros in this space: we put business KPIs into the scope for a project, and the CX lead will replace them with something unmeasurable like “improve the customer experience.” 

Others do not Know how to tie in business value or have the Ability to do so. If a B2B CX department tries to take credit for a 5% revenue increase, Sales and Marketing are likely to objectYou can’t claim credit for success across an entire experience when you only looked at a specific journey. (But if you have the right mindset and analytical capability, you can show that those who go through your new ordering process order more.) 

Lastly, sometimes it’s just due to leadership that implicitly believes in the power of CX and therefore doesn’t require proof. Which is short-sighted all around. 

The bottom line is that CX pros need to internalize and respond to executives’ need to see the business case supporting why their initiatives merit investment. 

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