A very interesting survey has been released by the TUC (Trade Union Congress) which says that over half of adults in the UK (51%) are concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on their jobs.  

In addition, the concern is particularly acute for workers aged between 25 and 34, with nearly two-thirds (62%) of those surveyed reporting such worries. This comes as major employers such as Amazon and Microsoft announce that advances in AI could lead to significant job losses.

In business today the talk of AI is everywhere. Conferences and events have wall-to-wall companies selling the latest ground-breaking technology for customer service and any number of applications. The current uptake of AI is far from what these companies would have you believe and their current successful implementation and effectiveness is far from evident. 

However, there is undoubtedly a huge opportunity for AI to make a difference. For organisations it will make customer service far more efficient by dealing with the functional and process driven issues and complaints. For simple queries a chatbot, properly set up, can provide a fast and efficient service.  

So we are told that as these AI bots improve and learn they will be able to do more and more. You might even ask yourself – what use will human workers be anymore? 

Here lies the opportunity…

For AI to succeed it is critical that it provides a win-win-win outcome for each of the key audiences.  Firstly, it must benefit the customer in terms of ease of doing business with you. Secondly, it must allow staff to create deeper relationship building and doing work they never dreamt possible and thirdly it must benefit business owners and shareholder ROI.

The obvious answer is staring us in the face. We must upskill our workers to far higher standards and make their contribution to profitability far greater.  Sure, let AI deal with all that drudge work but train our workers to be smarter, more empathetic and effective.  

We are all human and when the chips are down we all want another human to talk to. Properly skilled, our employees can build trust with customers, manage their expectations, treat them as people and simply put – make their lives easier. 

Training that focuses on building customer focused employees that go the extra mile and are empowered will differentiate companies from those who purely rely on AI. 

In business terms, the combination of smart AI and highly trained customer-facing staff will mean less customer churn, lower costs, improved customer acquisition and above all a happier workforce.

In the survey, the TUC recognises the benefits AI can bring but “wants assurances that workers will receive a ‘digital dividend’ of the productivity gains achieved through AI, by requiring companies to invest in workforce skills and training, by improving pay and conditions for employees.”

Workers are worried and anxious. This is not good for morale, motivation or to be very blunt – profit.

So why not invest in our workforce? Doing nothing is not an option and we will sleepwalk into much greater problems.

Give employees higher, more effective skills and in this way they will not only be more responsive to change but they will also add significant value to our organisations.

This blog references research reported by The Guardian. Read more here.

Customer Experience (CX) is one of the biggest differentiators in today’s business world. Customers have endless choices, and what often sets one brand apart from another isn’t just the product or price, it’s the experience. To help you navigate this vital area, here are the top 10 most common questions people ask about CX.

1. What is customer experience (CX)?
Customer experience is the overall perception customers have of your brand based on every interaction, from marketing and sales to service and support. Strong CX builds trust, loyalty, and long-term customer relationships.

The CX Academy, the largest global provider of CX education, defines CX as how your customer feels about all of the interactions they have with your business.

2. Why is CX so important for businesses?
CX directly impacts customer retention, revenue, and brand reputation. A great experience keeps customers coming back, while a poor one can quickly push them to competitors. It’s a key differentiator in today’s competitive market.

The CX Academy will help your business lock in your most valuable customers, and it also makes them strong advocates who will do the selling on your behalf to help you acquire new customers.

3. What’s the difference between customer service and customer experience?
Customer service is one interaction, usually when a customer needs help. CX is the end-to-end journey, including how easy, enjoyable, and consistent every touchpoint feels. Service is just one part of the overall experience.
And while customer service is one department within most organisations, customer experience needs to be carried out by all departments within your organisation including customer service.

4. How do you measure CX?
Businesses measure CX using tools like Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES). Combined with feedback, reviews, and retention data, these give a clear picture of how customers perceive the experience.

There are many different ways to measure CX and different departments will have a bias for one over another based on their key KPI’s. Ideally, all metrics should be reviewed to get a more accurate insight on the organisation’s overall CX performance.

5. What are the key drivers of great CX?
The main drivers are: ease of use, consistency, speed, personalisation, empathy, and trust. Customers value seamless interactions and feeling understood. Businesses that focus on these areas create stronger relationships and long-term loyalty.

The CX Academy created the world-leading six drivers of CX Excellence, which are being used by successful organisations around the globe. They are: I trust you, you know me, you get me, you deliver on your promise, you make it easy, and you fix things.

6. How does technology impact CX?
Technology enables personalisation, faster service, and smoother customer journeys. Tools like AI, chatbots, and CRM systems help businesses anticipate needs, reduce friction, and deliver consistent experiences across digital and physical channels.

Technology blended with human touch is critical to deliver consistent CX excellence and getting the right balance is a key challenge for organisations around the world.

7. What role does employee experience play in CX?
Happy, engaged employees deliver better service. When staff feel valued and empowered, they create more positive customer interactions. Employee experience and CX are deeply linked; investing in one improves the other.

8. How can a company improve its CX quickly?
Listen to customer feedback, remove friction in key journeys, and train frontline teams to be proactive and empathetic. Small changes, like clearer communication or faster support, can deliver big improvements fast.

9. What’s the future of CX?
The future of CX is hyper-personalised, AI-driven, and seamless across channels. Customers expect brands to anticipate needs, respect their time, and balance digital convenience with human empathy. Trust and authenticity will be critical.

10. How does CX impact revenue growth?
Great CX leads to higher retention, more referrals, and increased lifetime value. Studies show customers are willing to pay more for better experiences. Simply put: strong CX isn’t a cost, it’s a profit driver.

Customer Experience is no longer a “nice to have”, it’s a business essential. By focusing on trust, personalisation, and thoughtful interactions, organisations can not only meet customer expectations but exceed them. These 10 questions highlight just how central CX is to long-term success. At The CX Academy, we specialise in helping professionals and organisations build the skills, confidence, and strategies needed to deliver outstanding experiences. If you’d like to deepen your expertise and take the next step in your CX career, explore our professional courses, designed to be practical, inspiring, and industry-recognised.

How do I protect my customer support job when it’s predicted that 80% of jobs in our sector will be redundant by 2030?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly transforming both the workplace and the way people work.  With one of the main Customer Experience AI tech players recently announcing that by 2030 80% of call centre jobs will be replaced by AI. That is a frightening statement and job loss anxiety is a real fear in our industry especially in offshore and outsourced call centres. AI is having a significant and multi-faceted impact on call centre jobs, reshaping roles, workflows, and the overall nature of customer service. So here’s a breakdown of the key impacts to address job displacement and identify the opportunities to excel heads and shoulders above everybody else.

We are witnessing greater innovation in AI-powered chatbots and voice assistants who now handle a large volume of routine and repetitive tasks (e.g. password resets, order tracking, FAQs), reducing the need for human agents in those areas.

While AI takes over simpler tasks, there is going to be a shrinking demand for basic call centre positions. It is difficult to effectively predict the future as the technology continues to evolve but it’s clear that AI is already causing job losses in the workforce. The most impacted to date have been recent graduates or entry-level workers. For example, according to an Oxford Economics report, unemployment for recent college graduates raised to an unusually high 5.8%. And The Federal Reserve Bank of New York warned that the employment situation for these workers had ‘deteriorated noticeably’.

Our hope now lies in a shift to complex problem-solving and using reclaimed time to work on deeper relationship building. On the positive side, human agents are increasingly dealing with more complex or emotionally sensitive issues, requiring greater empathy, critical thinking, and wider Customer Experience (CX) skills. This opens the door for agents to invest in CX training to prepare you for relationship building and providing you with the key accreditation needed to be noticed and remain a critical asset in any organisation.

The CX Academy is the global leader in CX advancement training and predicts that there will be smaller, deeply skilled customer support teams with AI handling the less complex issues and repetitive tasks. We also note that certain sectors where complex issues occur regularly, will have a significant requirement for highly skilled and well-paid customer support roles.  Call centres are leaning toward leaner teams staffed with highly skilled professionals and having a professional accreditation will be a real advantage in your ability to be unreplaceable.

AI will in the short term also make it easier for agents to be more effective.  Tools like real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, and knowledge surfacing assist agents during live calls, improving efficiency and decision-making are already in place across the board. AI can streamline post-call wrap-up (automated summaries, ticket creation), reducing admin time and burnout.  And AI is providing effective analyses on calls and gives agents feedback on tone, resolution time, and adherence to scripts.

There is a significant move towards a skills evolution in the contact centre sector. Upskilling is now critical for agents and Call Centre managers. Agents now need digital literacy, adaptability, strong empathy and listening skills along with advanced communication skills. Customer Experience training is more valued than ever. And our courses are designed to address the impacts of AI in our CX world.  The CX Academy has created an approach of ‘digital when you want it, human when you need it’, which is the best way to approach CX excellence for your organisation. Download our most recent eBook to learn more.

In summary, AI isn’t killing the call centre sector, it’s transforming it. Our job today is becoming less about repetition and more about deep relationship-building and problem-solving to help deliver CX excellence. While there are many roles and skills that AI won’t replace, technology definitely is having an impact on call centre jobs. Yes, AI is intelligence, and yes, it is evolving. However, no matter how good it gets, empathetic humans will always have the advantage when dealing with or selling to other humans.

The CX Academy is the global leader in CX accreditation and offers you individual and team accreditation courses that can be done online or in blended format. Contact info@thecxacademy.org to find out which is the right course for you and your teams.

In today’s customer-centric world, one question frequently arises among customer experience (CX) professionals: “What is the perfect CX metric for your organisation?” While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, understanding the landscape of CX metrics can help organisations tailor their measurement strategies to align with business goals and customer expectations.

In this article we will explore insights CX metrics specialist Terry McCarthy, the Founder of The Experience Edge, shared during a recent Masterclass on CX metrics, shedding light on how professionals can leverage these tools to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Why should you measure CX? 

CX metrics serve as a compass, helping organisations navigate the complex landscape of customer relationships. Metrics provide quantifiable indicators of whether customer experiences are improving, stagnating, or declining. However, metrics alone don’t tell the whole story. Combining quantitative data like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) with qualitative insights from customer feedback, complaints, and frontline employees creates a holistic view of the customer journey.

For instance, an organisation might see an improvement in NPS over time. But without understanding the customer sentiments driving this change, they risk misinterpreting the reasons behind their success or failure. Metrics must be contextualised within the broader narrative of customer experiences to be truly actionable.

The Four Pillars of CX Metrics

Organisations typically rely on four types of CX metrics to capture various aspects of customer and business performance:

Business Metrics

• Examples: Customer acquisition, retention, churn rate, lifetime value.
• Importance: These metrics are closely tied to financial performance and often attract C-suite attention.

Operational Metrics

• Examples: Average handling time, first contact resolution, and response times.
• Importance: While inward-facing, these metrics indicate how well internal processes support customer experiences.

Employee Metrics

• Examples: Employee satisfaction, and engagement.
• Importance: Happy employees create better customer experiences, making these metrics a crucial component of CX strategies.

Customer Metrics

• Examples: NPS, CSAT, Customer Effort Score (CES).
• Importance: These metrics measure customer perceptions directly, offering insights into their satisfaction and loyalty.

Together, these metrics provide a comprehensive view of how an organisation performs from multiple perspectives, enabling balanced decision-making.

Popular CX Metrics: Strengths and Weaknesses

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Strengths: Universally recognised and easy to understand. NPS asks a single, powerful question: “How likely are you to recommend us to others?” This metric offers a high-level view of customer loyalty and advocacy.

Weaknesses: External factors, like rising prices, can distort NPS scores. For example, an energy company might see declining NPS due to price hikes, even if their service quality improves. Additionally, NPS is a slow-moving metric, which can demotivate teams looking for quick wins.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Strengths: Focused on specific interactions, CSAT is ideal for measuring immediate customer sentiment following a touchpoint, such as a support call or a product purchase.

Weaknesses: CSAT lacks long-term predictive value. A customer might report high satisfaction after one interaction but still churn later due to other unmet needs.

Customer Effort Score (CES)

Strengths: CES measures how easy it is for customers to do business with you. Simplifying processes is universally appreciated and motivates internal teams to act.

Weaknesses: While excellent for identifying friction points, CES doesn’t provide a complete view of the customer journey or predict long-term loyalty.

Likelihood to Repurchase

Strengths: Closely aligned with business growth metrics, this score is particularly valuable in recurring revenue models like subscriptions.

Weaknesses: Not suitable for one-off purchases or industries where repeat business is rare. For example, a luxury travel customer might not repurchase soon but could still provide valuable referrals.

Five-Star Ratings

Strengths: Simple and globally understood, this metric works well across diverse markets and customer segments.

Weaknesses: Oversimplification can mask underlying issues. Without additional context, it’s difficult to derive actionable insights.

The CX Academy Framework Metric

The CX Academy Framework Metric is a comprehensive tool based on millions of customer and client Voice of the Customer (VOC) surveys, that were done to understand how customers feel about their interactions with an organisation. This framework is designed for benchmarking, planning, implementing, and sustaining CX excellence across diverse markets and industries.

At the core of the CX Academy Framework are six Emotional Drivers that enable organisations to build strong emotional bonds with both B2C customers and B2B clients. These drivers reflect the most critical aspects of customer experience and are distilled into one unified metric. Thousands of companies worldwide across various sectors use this metric to evaluate their CX performance and implement actionable improvements.

A unique feature of the CX Academy Framework Metric is its dual focus on both staff and customer experiences. Each emotional driver is supported by a set of behavioural actions, offering clear guidance on how to sharpen CX delivery. This makes the framework both practical and adaptable, ensuring organisations can continuously elevate their customer experience strategies.

Choosing the Right Metrics for Your Organization

The “perfect” CX metric doesn’t exist. Instead, organisations must evaluate metrics based on their specific goals, industry nuances, and customer expectations. A scoring framework can help assess metrics across criteria like:

Relevance: Is the metric aligned with your business objectives? For example, ease of interaction (CES) might be more relevant than NPS in financial services, where customers value seamless experiences over advocacy.

Clarity: Can employees across all levels easily understand the metric? Simple metrics ensure better engagement and alignment.

Actionability: Does the metric provide insights that drive meaningful improvements? Metrics like CSAT are actionable when paired with questions identifying satisfaction drivers.

Stability: Is the metric resilient to short-term fluctuations? For example, NPS offers a stable view of customer loyalty, whereas operational metrics may vary with daily changes.

A table to help you choose your beacon metric designed by Terry McCarthy. 

The Importance of a Balanced Scorecard

Many organizations adopt a balanced scorecard approach rather than focusing on a single metric. By combining strategic metrics like NPS with tactical ones like first-contact resolution, businesses can address immediate issues while tracking long-term progress.

A balanced scorecard might include:

• NPS for benchmarking against competitors.
• CES to identify friction points.
• CSAT for measuring satisfaction at critical touchpoints.
• Employee engagement scores to monitor internal alignment with CX goals.

This approach ensures that every department—from HR to operations—contributes to and benefits from a unified CX strategy.

Watch the full masterclass here: Masterclass: What is the perfect CX metric for your organisation?

If you want to learn more about measuring CX enrol in our Professional Diploma in CX today.

2025 is officially here and as a  CX Professional you need to be up to date on all things CX. AI was the biggest elephant in the room in 2024 and will probably remain this way this year too. However, there are other areas you should focus on to ensure you deliver CX Excellence for all your customers this year. 

1. 97% of leaders plan to invest in Gen AI with 45% prioritising improving CX as part of the investment. (KPMG)

Investment plans reflect the growing importance of CX. With customer expectations rising and the recognition that AI will be a major player in improving CX and businesses’ overall performance, CX Professionals have a unique opportunity to secure budgets for CX strategies. 

However as Jeff Mango states, “The fact that they think that AI is going to improve customer experience is really good for the industry. But connecting the dots between the value of improving customer experience and what it actually means and then how that AI actually helped to drive that value [is] going to be a critical story for CX leaders to be able to tell.” 

2. Organisations that demonstrate how customer satisfaction is associated with growth, margin, and profitability are more likely to report customer experience success and are 29% more likely to secure more CX budgets (Gartner, Inc.).

As a CX Professional, it is your responsibility to show the ROI of CX investment. We understand this can be hard as CX is sometimes hard to measure because getting direct correlations between CX improvements and increased profits can be tricky. On top of that, if you add AI to the mix as mentioned above it can be harder. However, if you do manage to get this right the C-suit will be more likely to approve budgets that will provide you with the resources you need to deliver successful CX strategies. 

Learn More: Masterclass: What is the perfect CX metric for your organisation?

3. 64% of customers will spend more if a business resolves their issues where they already are. (Zendesk CX Trends Report)

Today’s customers expect quick, seamless resolutions to their problems. This statistic emphasises the growing preference for convenience and omnichannel solutions.

This is important because if you can make it easy for customers to do business with you they will! It’s great news for all CX Professionals who are investing their CX efforts into omnichannel technologies. Whether it’s through email, chat, or social media, businesses that meet customers where they are stand to see a significant impact on customer loyalty and sales.

4. 59% of all consumers feel companies have lost touch with the human element of customer experience. 71% would rather interact with a human than a chatbot or some other automated process. (PwC)

While AI and automation play a growing role in CX, there is a clear desire for human interaction. This highlights the importance of maintaining a human touch at all touch points in the customer journey. Balancing automation with human empathy is key to retaining customer trust.

As Zig Serafin, CEO at Qualtrics, predicts, “Organisations must return to basics: clear communication, setting realistic expectations, and consistent delivery. Trust isn’t granted – it’s earned through every interaction and every commitment honoured. In this environment, meeting heightened expectations isn’t sufficient; you must exceed them while maintaining unwavering reliability. Those who neglect these basics risk being left behind in 2025 as consumers gravitate toward brands they can rely on. Looking ahead, the real differentiator won’t be the latest technology or the flashiest marketing – it will be the ability to build genuine trust.”

5. Only 57% of customers trust companies to use AI ethically. (Salesforce)

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integral to CX strategies, trust remains a major hurdle. Companies must prioritise transparency and ethics in their AI implementations. Concerns surrounding data privacy, bias, and accountability are at the forefront of customers’ minds, and companies that fail to address these concerns risk damaging their reputation and losing customer loyalty.

On top of this Suzanne Steele, from Adobe, says, “2024 has been the year that companies have taken AI out of the playground and into production… Coming into 2025, organisations will need to turn their attentions to enablement and education, ensuring everyone across the business – from users to leadership and advisory boards – understands not just how AI and generative AI should be used to boost productivity and enhance the customer experience, but also where the guardrails are to ensure responsible and appropriate use. Those companies that put a focus on AI governance and education will be well positioned to deliver greater personalisation, higher productivity and enhanced service to customers at scale.”

This is important because it clearly shows that AI can be extremely helpful, and all businesses are adapting to it rapidly. However, if not done right, it could destroy customer trust and loyalty. 

6. 70% of CX leaders struggle to increase customer loyalty (Gartner) 

Despite recognising the importance of customer experience, CX leaders still find it difficult to drive loyalty. This shows the gap in skillsets and qualifications in CX Professionals. 

At The CX Academy, we provide training for all team members, from short courses for customer-facing staff to our Professional Diploma in CX perfect for all CX Managers, and Professionals who design and deliver CX strategies. After completing our Professional Diploma course you will have the tools, skills and confidence to deliver great CX strategies that will increase customer loyalty and retention. 

You will be also empowered by our CX Framework which has been designed based on thousands of customer insights. 

Learn more: Professional Diploma in Customer Experience (CX)

7. 86% of B2B customers expect companies to be well-informed about their personal information during service interactions. (Gartner)

When it comes to personalisation CX tends to focus on B2C interactions. However, for B2B clients, it’s just as important, if not more. B2B customers are placing an increasing emphasis on personalised service. Forrester’s research shows that B2B “personalisation targeted to specific needs is most impactful in the early stages of discovery, while personalisation based on organisation increases in impact closer to purchase and post-sale.”

As well as this, Tara DeZao, from Pega, predicts, “Gen AI is being rapidly adopted by marketers globally, but it’s not as simple as plugging your existing data directly into your Gen AI. As we head into the new year, brands need to understand that messy, unchecked data will give you messy, unchecked results that can alienate, frustrate, or even offend customers when it underpins customer engagement.”

As a CX Professional working mainly with B2B companies gathering reliable data will become immensely valuable. One way you can do that is by using our CX Academy Framework to survey your customers which will give you very accurate and contextual data that you can use to further improve your CX and identify if your customers are satisfied with the level of personalisation they are receiving. 

Learn More: Using TCXA Emotional Framework to Survey Your Customers

8. 77% of CRM leaders believe that AI will handle most ticket resolutions by 2025. (HubSpot)

AI is set to revolutionise customer service by 2025. Automation will help businesses scale their support operations and provide customers with quicker resolutions, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues. 

It is during those interactions that CS agents will have the power (and now hopefully more empowerment) to build relationships and strengthen customer bonds that drive loyalty.

It’s important to understand that by AI taking over some of the tasks and direct human interaction it’s directly making gaps in the opportunities for customers to have deep emotional connections to the business. Therefore the few human interactions that will be left will be even more important to get right. 

The good news is, as Birago Jones, CEO at Pienso, predicts, “Next year, enterprises will shift their approach to purchasing AI solutions for CX departments—moving away from large, proprietary and expensive AI ‘copilots’ towards smaller, more efficient and customizable solutions.”

This means that there will be more businesses using more tailored AI to their and their customer’s needs further fostering customer loyalty. 

9. Gen Z and Millennial customers are 27% more likely to purchase from a company that cares about its impact on people and the planet. (HBR)

Younger generations, including Gen Z and Millennials, are placing increasing importance on corporate social responsibility (CSR). This highlights the growing significance of ethical business practices for driving purchasing decisions.

As a CX Professional whose biggest target group is Gen Z and Millennials, you need to ensure your business is constantly working on sustainable solutions. Furthermore, you need to lead with transparency to strengthen customer relationships. 

If you would like to learn how to deliver successful CX strategies, enrol in our Professional Diploma in CX course today.

During December we posted 12 CX Wishes going through all the things your customers wish for when it comes to great CX – not just for Christmas but for all year round. To save you time here they are all in one place. Follow us on our LinkedIn page for more CX insights!

Wish #1 – Personalisation

Everyone loves a personal touch. Use data to tailor each touchpoint delivering relevant and meaningful experiences that make customers feel valued. Personalising your customer’s experiences shows them that you understand their needs and they’re more than just a number in the system for you. Personalisation fosters deeper bonds, turning one-time buyers into loyal advocates.

Wish #2 – Convenience

You need to make every interaction with your business as easy and effortless as possible. Even the slightest friction can cause your customers to leave to your competitors. Customers want an omnichannel experience so that they can do business with you in a way that suits them. This is especially important today when customer’s expectations are rising even faster due to recent AI developments.

Wish #3 – Consistency

Your customers want you to deliver on your promise and stay consistent in delivering great experiences every time. As well as that, consistency builds trust, so the quality and standard of the experience should be aligned across every channel and touchpoint. A consistent experience reassures customers that they can rely on you, no matter where or how they connect with you. This reliability can be a key differentiator in a crowded market.

Wish #4 – Empathy

Empathy in CX means understanding your customers’ emotions, circumstances and behaviours. Customers want you, as an organisation, and all your staff – especially the ones who are directly dealing with customers – to understand how they feel at any given touchpoint in the customer journey. In a contact centre setting this would be demonstrated by, active listening, putting yourself in your customer’s shoes, and responding in a way that reassures the customer you understand where they’re coming from.

Wish #5 – Recognition

Loyal customers will stay with you longer and buy more from you. Research has shown that loyal customers will spend almost 70% more than new customers.  This highlights the importance of recognising your customers’ loyalty.

By recognising your customers for their loyalty you strengthen customer bonds and turn them into advocates for your brand.

Wish #6 – Quality

Customers have high expectations and standards – they want to receive a great product or service but also a great experience. It is important to remember that customers’ expectations are constantly and rapidly rising. What  was a great experience a year ago, today is assumed to be a given. So to meet these constantly rising expectations of great quality, you need to train and empower your staff to go above and beyond for your customers.

Wish #7 – Respect (for my time) 

‘Time is money’. Customers want to invest their hard-earned money in a business that will deliver exceptional experiences. Therefore, long waiting times on the phone, never-ending queues in physical stores, slow loading times on the website or waiting for a delivery for 2 weeks is a big no-no. Your customers wish for immediate results, to make this wish come true you need to use the right technology, employ the right staff and train them to deliver exceptional experiences.

Wish #8 – Transparency 

Transparency sells better than perfection. This is because customers like to make informed decisions. So it’s important to tell your customers what they won’t be able to do with your product or service. But that’s not all – you should also be upfront about any changes or issues that may have come up. By being proactive and transparent your customers will trust you and the customer bond will grow stronger.

Wish #9 – Innovation

Customers are looking forward to all the ways businesses will utilise AI to improve and develop their experiences. Naturally, they will want not only simple improvements like faster resolutions but other ones that will change (for the better) how they interact with your business on a daily basis. Customers want to deal with creative businesses. A great example of this is the beauty brand Prose which combines data from customer profiles and automated fulfilment technology to deliver personalised products and reduce environmental waste.

Wish #10 – Reliability

Having to worry about a missing order or an issue with a refund is not something customers want in their daily lives – especially if they’re paying a lot of money for it. Customers want to feel at ease knowing that if something happens you will take ownership and fix issues brilliantly. They rely on you to take care of everything.

Wish #11 – Confidence (in your brand) 

Customers want to trust you. They want to have confidence when buying your products and when using your services. As well as this they want to feel safe with sharing their data with you. So that they can recommend you to their friends and family with confidence. Trust is earned slowly over time, interaction by interaction. CX training can help your staff to build trust and confidence with your customers, leading to more loyal and engaged customers who stay longer and buy more from you.

Wish #12 – Human Touch

AI & Technology are great – but customers don’t want to interact with robots all the time. When it’s convenient for them customers are happy to use technology such as self service and chatbots. But when they need real help on complicated or sensitive matters,  they want to speak to a human with empathy that will understand them and go above and beyond to help them.  With the rise of AI capabilities, it is important to ensure you balance your investment in AI with investment in your people, giving them the knowledge and skills to deliver a genuine and excellent experience for your customers when they want to speak to a human.

If you want to learn how to deliver great CX strategies that will make all your customer’s wishes come true, enrol in our Professional Diploma in CX here.

Today businesses understand that customer experience (CX) is crucial in fostering customer loyalty and employee satisfaction which ultimately drive business and revenue growth. It’s because of this understanding that CX is one of the fastest-growing business disciplines in the world. In 2023, the global market for customer experience management was valued at $12.04 billion, and it is projected to grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.8% from 2024 through 2030. (Grand View Research)

As well as this,  95% of leading organisations cite CX job roles as critical to achieving business growth (Econsultancy). This makes CX no longer just a trend – it’s a necessary component of all businesses striving for success. 

For those of you interested in starting or advancing your career in this field, the role of a CX Specialist may be the best next step. It’s a perfect role for those coming from Marketing,  Customer Support or Sales roles and entry-level CX associate roles. This article will provide insights into what a CX Specialist does, the skills and qualifications needed, career progression, and the promising future of CX careers.

What Does a CX Specialist Do?

A Customer Experience Specialist is a professional focused on understanding customer needs, gathering feedback and using it effectively to improve and optimise customer experiences at every touchpoint in the customer journey. CX Specialists serve as the bridge between the different teams in the organisation, ensuring that the customer is always at the centre of all decisions. 

Key Responsibilities of a CX Specialist:

Customer Journey Mapping: Identifying, mapping out and analysing each interaction at every touchpoint along the customer journey for the customer. The goal is to create a simple picture of how your customers currently interact with your business and find ways to sharpen their future journeys. This will help you to identify different emotions, pain points and issues that need to be addressed. 

Customer Engagement: Interacting with customers across various channels to gather feedback. This helps you to address their concerns and provide support, during, and after the sales and service process as well as learn and discover areas that need improvement.

Data Analysis and Reporting: Collecting and analysing data from sources like surveys, direct customer feedback, and usage patterns to provide actionable insights that shape CX strategies.

Collaboration with Other Departments: Working with teams in sales, marketing, HR, and product development to ensure that customer feedback is effectively used in wider company initiatives. At The CX Academy, we recommend setting up a CX Taskforce which would make this much smoother.

Adapting to New Trends: Keeping up with emerging CX trends and customer behaviours to ensure strategies stay relevant.

Skills You Need

Succeeding as a CX Specialist requires a mix of hard and soft skills, alongside relevant qualifications. CX Specialists must have strong interpersonal abilities to connect with internal and external customers, as well as technical skills to interpret customer data and translate it into meaningful strategies.

Essential Skills for a CX Specialist include:

Empathy: Understanding customer pain points and building trust are fundamental to this role. Empathy enables CX Specialists to put themselves in the customer’s shoes and understand their feelings at every point in the customer journey. 

Empathy in CX is about moving beyond the numbers and statistics of quantitative research. While quantitative methods have their place, they are best used in conjunction with an empathetic approach that uncovers the underlying human emotions that drive decision-making. This is where empathetic customer research stands out—it focuses on understanding what people have done in the past, why they did it, and how they felt during the process.

Learn more: Empathy is the New Black

Communication & Collaboration: The CX Team works closely with multiple departments, from sales and marketing to operations, billing and product development. Being an effective team player is crucial to successfully implementing customer-centric strategies. As well as this, strong communication skills ensure that strategies and insights are shared effectively with team members and other departments.

Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills: Gathering data is a key aspect of this role, therefore CX Specialists require the ability to analyse both qualitative and quantitative data. They must be able to examine feedback, identify issues, and develop solutions that improve the customer journey. 

Learn more: Feedback to Action: Transforming Customer Insights into CX Excellence

Flexibility and Agility: Given the dynamic nature of customer expectations, CX Specialists must be adaptable, updating strategies as needed to stay in tune with changing demands.

Are qualifications optional? 

While some entry-level roles in CX may not require a specific degree, many employers now seek candidates with a bachelor’s degree in fields like business, communications, marketing, or a related area. A strong foundation in customer service or sales is often a plus, as these positions provide valuable customer-facing experience. If you want to enhance your professional credibility, getting a professional qualification is a preferred option. However, a qualification is more than just this. 

For example, at The CX Academy, we provide various CX courses. One of them is a Professional Diploma in CX. This course is a superior asset offering essential knowledge and practical tools that you will need to build & deliver effective CX strategies. 

However, because it is very practical it will empower you with confidence and practical skills that you will be able to apply in any CX role – not just a CX Specialist. It will also validate your commitment to the field, making you an extremely attractive candidate for employers. As well as this, a CX course can help you decide if this is the right career for you. We offer a Professional Certificate in CX, which is a shorter course and one that will introduce you to the main concepts in CX. 

In either case, a CX Certification/Qualification will be very helpful when you apply to get your dream job and start one of the most exciting careers. 

If you want to learn more about how our Professional Diploma or Certificate in CX can help you become a CX Specialist or advance in your CX career book a short call with our Education Advisors here.

Career Path and Opportunities

A career in CX offers significant growth potential, with multiple paths depending on your interests and strengths. 

Getting into CX is not difficult as you can start with entry-level positions like Customer Service Representative or Sales Associate, where you can gain experience in handling customer interactions and solving issues firsthand. As you gain experience and the relevant skills, you may look into getting a professional qualification to get into a CX Associate or Specialist role. 

As a CX Specialist, your most important tasks will involve analysing customer feedback identifying pain points, and enhancing customer journey interactions. When you gain experience in dealing with senior stakeholders, planning and executing initiatives to drive customer loyalty and retention and using internal feedback loops to optimise all touchpoints across different channels, you’ll be able to apply for higher positions. 

They could include a Customer Success Manager, CX Manager or even a CX Director. 

Learn more: Do You Have What It Takes To Be a CX Director?

The great news is that CX Specialists are in demand across different industries, including retail, finance, healthcare, and technology. Each of these fields provides unique opportunities to impact customer satisfaction and loyalty. With almost 25 thousand CX roles currently advertised on LinkedIn – in UK alone – the career outlook for CX professionals is highly promising.

Future of the CX Field

As a key differentiating factor between different organisations, CX is a field full of potential for career growth. CX teams are becoming an integral part of successful organisations. As companies continue to invest in CX, CX roles are evolving to include positions such as CX Data Scientist or AI and Automation Specialists in CX.

CX, just like many other business disciplines, is driven by technological advancements and changing customer expectations. As technologies like AI advance, CX professionals will be able to leverage them to personalise customer interactions. This will result in increased customer satisfaction but also improved efficiency in the organisation. Additionally, the growing availability of data will help CX professionals extract actionable insights, understand behaviours, predict future needs, and drive decision-making.

Which leads us to a higher emphasis on personalisation. As customers continue to demand more tailored experiences, organisations will depend even more on the CX Team to ensure customers are treated as individuals – rather than just a number in the system. 

Businesses recognise the strategic value of customer experience, and the demand for CX experts in niche areas will likely grow. For those looking to build a career in this field, staying updated with the latest digital tools and industry trends will be essential for maintaining relevance and progressing professionally.

Building a Career as a CX Specialist

Becoming a CX Specialist offers an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of customer-centric businesses. As you embark on this journey, remember that investing in your education, especially through a professional qualification like our Professional Diploma or Certificate in CX, can be an excellent first step to building confidence and gaining the essential skills needed for this role. From mapping customer journeys to crafting strategies and interpreting data, CX Specialists play a pivotal role in driving satisfaction and loyalty, making their contributions invaluable to any organisation.

The future is bright for CX professionals, with rising demand and expanding career opportunities across industries. By improving your skills and gaining hands-on experience, you’ll be well-prepared to grow and succeed in this rewarding field.

If you want to learn more about CX enrol in our Professional Diploma in CX today.

Building a Customer Experience (CX) team is one of the most crucial steps for organisations aiming to deliver exceptional service and meet the ever-growing expectations of their customers. A well-structured CX team does more than just enhance customer satisfaction, it drives business growth, reduces operational costs, and improves workplace culture.

This guide will walk you through the steps of setting up a CX team, explaining the importance of each role and sharing best practices to ensure your team thrives.

Why you need a CX Team

From our experience, in companies that are only starting with CX, the department often is a one-man show. However, if you invest in a proper CX team including multiple members it will have a major impact on your overall customer experience and as a result your bottom line. 

Organisations that prioritise CX, see great improvements in their customer retention and loyalty as well as shareholder value. With a dedicated CX team, you can be sure that your business listens to customers, understands their needs, and their feedback is actioned upon. 

One of the most important responsibilities of a CX Team is to identify areas in the customer journey that can be improved or even fixed. Through consistent analysis, the team can uncover potential problems, like a broken check-out journey, that directly impact operational efficiency and revenue generation.

Without a CX Team, all initiatives may be siloed and may lack customer-centric thinking. As we know a seamless customer experience, leads to repeat purchases, and purchases of higher value, but these will occur less often if all teams are only worried about achieving their goals and targets. 

Which brings us to the benefits beyond financial gains. Having a CX team also greatly impacts internal culture. When employees see the direct impact their efforts have on the customer experience, it fosters a sense of pride and engagement. A positive feedback loop emerges: engaged employees deliver on customers’ expectations, which improves the overall CX. This makes the employees feel more connected to the company’s values and mission – and the cycle repeats. 

This connection between employee satisfaction and customer experience can transform a company’s workplace culture, making it a place where people want to work and stay. (Which also impacts the company’s profits.)

Ultimately, a CX team is far more than just a stand-alone department; it’s a team that focuses on the customer and one that can break down the silos and drives long-term success. Whether it’s increasing revenue, cutting costs, or improving workplace culture, the ripple effects of a strong CX team touch every corner of the business.

What roles are included in a CX Team? 

A successful CX team requires diverse skill sets, with each role contributing to a cohesive strategy. However, depending on the size of your company you may have different needs and therefore different team sizes.

Smaller companies will only have a few people in their CX Team. The team members may be responsible for multiple areas, some even outside of the CX realm, making the team more cross-functional. 

Some examples of roles in these organisations can include: 

• CX Manager / Director
• VoC Manager / Insights Manager
• UX Manager / Experience Design Manager
• Customer Experience Specialists / Admins

In larger organisations, the teams may have up to 20 people. In these cases, the team members will be more focused on specific tasks. In these types of teams, it’s important that the whole team works together and communicates so that all projects and initiatives are aligned. 

Some examples of roles in these organisations can include: 

1. CX Manager / Chief Customer Officer (CCO)

The CX Manager oversees the entire CX program, ensuring that strategies align with both customer needs and business objectives. This leader is responsible for fostering collaboration across departments and is often the voice advocating for customer-centric decisions.

2. Voc Manager / Insights & Analytics Lead

The insights and analytics function is critical. This team gathers and analyses customer feedback, identifying key trends and business drivers that inform decision-making. They help track performance like NPS, CXi, CSAT and CES (Customer Effort Score), providing actionable insights for improving the customer journey.

3. Experience Design Manager

The design team’s role is to apply design thinking to solve roadblocks in the customer journey. This role works closely with departments to map out the customer journey and ensure every touchpoint is intuitive, easy, and rewarding.

4. CX Specialists / Admins

The core of your CX Team will be composed of CX Specialists and Admins who play a supportive role in the team. They will be the ones to carry out strategy tasks such as creating new experiences, gathering and analysing customer feedback and customer journeys. 

As well as these roles, you should have a CX Task Force set up which will be composed of multiple representatives from different departments. Having a CX Task Force will further foster collaboration and delivery of unified goals across the organisation. 

Steps to Set Up Your CX Team

Assess Your Starting Position – Inside and Out

Before forming your CX team, evaluate your organisation’s current standing in two critical ways. First, look “outside-in” by comparing your company’s CX performance to that of key competitors. Then, take an internal inventory of the CX capabilities you already have. 

This dual assessment will highlight your strengths and gaps, offering a realistic view of the resources and changes required to reach your CX vision. Conducting this analysis within your broader strategic planning process can ensure CX development aligns with the company’s long-term goals.

Define Your Goals and Objectives

Begin by clearly identifying the objectives your CX team should achieve. These goals should be closely aligned with the company’s overarching mission and business objectives. As well as this you should also understand the extent of change your organisation can manage effectively. This way leadership can agree on both the pace, scale and budget of this transformation.

Identify Key Roles and Hire the Right People

A well-rounded CX team needs a variety of skill sets, from data and analytics to design thinking and change management. Start by identifying internal candidates, who can often bring valuable insights into customer pain points and a strong understanding of the current company culture. Then recruit individuals passionate about enhancing the customer experience.

Integrate Cross-Functional Collaboration

Effective CX teams work seamlessly with other departments, from marketing and product development to sales and support. This is why setting up a CX Task Force is so important. 

With regular touchpoints and feedback loops, you’ll be able to create a unified approach to CX, ensuring that each department is aligned with the CX team’s objectives and that customer insights are shared across the business. Collaboration is key to fostering a customer-centric mindset organisation-wide.

Implement Measurement and Feedback Mechanisms

Develop a system to track progress towards your goals and continuously gather customer feedback. Regularly review this data, refine strategies, and use these insights to adjust goals or reallocate resources where needed. Continuous measurement ensures the CX team’s work remains aligned with business priorities and responsive to customer needs.

What a Good CX Team Looks Like

A successful CX team is open-minded, collaborative, and influential, working across the organisation to ensure every decision keeps customers front and centre. They maintain a customer-centric view without losing sight of business impact, using creativity and trust to develop customer-focused solutions that drive measurable results. Through strong collaboration, a shared vision, and a blend of data-driven insights and customer-focused creativity, a good CX team leads the way in establishing a culture where the customer is at the heart of every decision. 

If you would like to learn more about CX and how to develop a successful CX Strategy enrol in our Professional Diploma in CX today. 

When HR Meets CX

Customer experience is delivered from the bottom up. This means that the customer-facing staff are the ones who will have the greatest impact on CX. However, do not mistake this for full responsibility. 

We said it before and we will say it again: Every department in the company has a role in delivering CX Excellence. If just one of these departments don’t work as they should and are not doing their part your whole company will suffer the consequences. 

We all know that Employee experience is directly linked to CX and vice-versa, but it all starts with HR. 

What does HR have to do with CX? 

At first glance, it might seem like HR and CX are entirely separate. However, HR is the foundation upon which great customer experiences are built. Why? Because customer-facing employees are recruited, trained, and supported by HR.

Source: Aptien

At its core, HR is responsible for managing the employee experience – from recruitment and onboarding to training, development, and retention. HR oversees employee policies and benefits and helps to build and maintain company culture. By ensuring that employees have the support they need and are motivated to perform their best, HR grows all recruits into a workforce which directly impacts the quality of experience delivered to all customers. 

HR is where the journey begins. This is why recruitment of passionate, empathetic and customer-focused employees is so important. But it doesn’t stop there. HR must also design onboarding and training journeys that nurture these qualities and strengthen the “people-oriented CX muscle”. CX’s success depends on ensuring that staff members are not only skilled but also aligned with the customer-centric view from day one.

As well as that HR must help leadership understand that they are key to fostering a strong CX culture. Leaders need to set the tone by leading with customer-centric values and lead by example, and HR is critical in guiding this process.

How should you recruit CX champions and customer-facing staff? 

As mentioned above, the recruitment process of customer-focused, empathetic staff is where your organisation’s journey to Customer Experience Excellence begins. It sounds simple, but many organisations fail from the get-go because they have the wrong goals in mind, when they’re recruiting new employees. 

Hiring individuals who can deliver memorable customer experiences is not just about technical abilities or past experience. It is about identifying those who are naturally empathetic and emotionally intelligent. This is because you can easily train and teach technical skills, but teaching empathy is extremely difficult. 

During the recruitment process, HR can utilise behavioural interviews to assess candidates’ real-world responses to customer challenges. By asking candidates how they’ve handled difficult customer situations or when they’ve gone above and beyond, HR can identify people who are not only skilled but also have high emotional intelligence and will have the customer at the heart of their decisions. This approach ensures that every new hire is set up to contribute positively to the company’s CX objectives.

To make the hiring process easier, it’s advised that HR specialists are also versed in customer-centric language and the CX basics so that they know what to look for when carrying out the interviews. 

At the CX Academy, we specialise in CX training for everyone in the organisation. Doing a short two-hour course will give your HR department the tools, language and knowledge they need to spot great CX talent quickly. If you would like to learn more about how your HR department can benefit from CX training, please get in touch with our Corporate Director Jack, at jack@thecxacademy.org. 

Customer-centric Culture

“A customer-centric culture is where an organization focuses its beliefs, values and ideas on creating a great experience for the customer.” To deliver CX Excellence you need to create a deep customer-centric culture in your organisation. HR is one of the most important departments that can help make this happen. Training is one way to develop a unified customer-focused language. But more importantly, HR must ensure that employees are given the authority to make decisions that benefit customers without excessive oversight. This empowerment is a core aspect of building a customer-centric culture.

A company that excels at empowering employees while delivering excellent CX is Southwest Airlines. Steven Belleghem points to Southwest’s success in combining employee well-being and empowerment with customer experience. The airline recognises that treating employees well leads to happier customers and, ultimately, business success. With a 4% voluntary turnover rate, 44 consecutive years of profitability, and 85% of employees reporting pride in their work, Southwest demonstrates that a strong employee experience is directly linked to a strong customer experience. And HR is directly responsible for EX. 

However, while HR is a key driver of CX culture, it’s important to recognise that creating a customer-first environment is a shared responsibility. It involves various levels of the organisation, from the board of directors to frontline employees. The board guides the development of the culture, ensuring it aligns with business goals, while the CEO and senior management team define and cultivate the culture through leadership actions. HR, in turn, designs the employee experiences and systems that support this culture, from training to recognition.

Driving force of memorable experiences

From recruiting the right people and empowering employees to always have the customer at the heart of all their actions, HR can help create the foundation for lasting CX success. As Steven Belleghem points out, happy, empowered employees are the key to happy customers—and HR is at the heart of this equation. 

At The CX Academy, we understand the crucial role HR plays in achieving customer experience excellence. If you would like to learn more about how CX training can help foster a customer-centric culture contact our Corporate Director Jack, at jack@thecxacademy.org.