Six Signs of a Successful Chief Experience Officer

Remember the idea of keeping an empty chair in the corporate boardroom as a reminder that the customer deserves a seat at the table? The concept of “experience” embraces every touch point that a customer (or an employee) has with a company or brand, from browsing a website and making a purchase to initiating a return or planning a store visit.

The chief experience officer (CXO) serves as the voice of the customer, asking, “From the customer’s perspective, does it make their life easier? Does it remove friction? Does it create a delightful experience?” If it doesn’t, the experience needs to be redesigned. The CXO gains insight into the customer’s lived experience by leading direct and indirect research on different customer segments. They explore questions ranging from “How is the experience of Generation Z different from that of a millennial customer?” to “What would make our digital products more accessible to the millions of people who have vision impairments?” The CXO debunks the myths about what the customer wants with data that reveals what the customer really wants.

Filled by people with backgrounds in strategy, innovation, and service, the role comes with a range of titles — chief customer officer, customer advocacy officer, customer success officer, or customer experience officer. CXO is one of the fastest-growing roles in the C-suite: Nearly 90% of Fortune 500 companies in 2020 had a CXO, and almost 50% of those were the first to have taken on the role in their organization.

Based on my own experience, I’ve found that as CXOs learn to navigate their new roles, the following six skills are key to successfully delivering a positive customer experience:

1. The CXO offers a vision that inspires others to take the view of the customer. Whether the problem is streamlining a billing process or introducing a new technology, a great CXO need not be in the room to prompt a team to ask, “What would a better experience look like from the customer’s perspective?” They set the vision by telling stories of both customer successes and points of failure; they advocate, champion, and inspire using data, benchmarks, and lessons from elsewhere.

2. The CXO teaches the disciplines needed to design for the customer.