The Economist Intelligence Unit recently conducted a global survey of over 500 senior executives across 21 countries, including 165 CEOs. The results conclude that,

“if done well, CX initiatives can reduce costs, increase profitability and revenues, and improve customer satisfaction.”

Other key findings included:

• 27% of companies will increase investment in Customer Experience Programs over the next 3 years by more than 25%
• 57% of companies plan to increase investment by at least 10% in the next three years
• 86% of A/NZ c-level executives surveyed considered “improving CX” a key driver for their company’s digital transformation
• an upsurge in investment is linked directly to the correlation between CEO engagement in customer experience and company performance in revenue growth and profitability
• 58% of A/NZ companies said the CEO directly leads CX initiatives, followed by the CMO (1%) CXO (9%) and CIO (9%).
• A direct correlation between CEO engagement in customer experience and profitability is also driving investment
• CEOs leading CX initiatives are more likely to transform a company’s future success
• 58% of A/NZ companies reported a much higher profitability than their competitors when the CEO was in charge of customer experience
• 67% of A/NZ companies were more likely to measure the success, or return on investment, of CX initiatives
• Spending on traditional CX channels in A/NZ companies were set to drop to 45 % in terms of importance in the next three years. These are being overtaken by social media, Web self-service and online assistance.
• 60% of business leaders still believe face-to-face interaction between companies and customers is an important and effective CX channel

Read the full report here.