One key stat on executive buy-in for CX

I’m always talking to people in customer experience roles about the importance of executive buy-in. Other executives should feel connected to the work you’re doing, and ultimately that should move towards one-company leadership. Now everyone is ideally on the same page, and making decisions that benefit a customer-driven growth engine. Not every company gets there, but in recent years you’ve seen more and more companies trying to align silos and collaborate better. That’s very positive and heartening, especially for long-time CX professionals.

There are hundreds of different arguments for the importance of executive buy-in, and I just came across a new one. In this Blake Morgan article on Forbes entitled “Customer Experience: Why Now?”, she links a study from Genesys. The key takeaway from said study is one of the better “quick hit” executive buy-in arguments I’ve ever seen.

What’s the executive buy-in stat here?

58% of companies with a high degree of profitability relative to their rivals report that, ultimately, the CEO has ownership of customer experience management.

Now, this doesn’t mean there isn’t a CCO. There probably is, and they’re probably doing a great job. What it means is that the CEO has CX on his/her docket. There’s tons of research out there on CEOs and their responsibilities, and a lot of it argues that CEOs should focus on 4-5 key things. (Not try to do everything.) This 58% stat above means that customer experience has become one of those 4-5 things. That’s executive buy-in.

The most obvious example …

… would probably be Amazon. Jeff Bezos focused on customer experience from the literal beginnings of his company. There are people with CCO roles in the company and they do great work, but the executive buy-in is clearly there. He cares deeply about CX and how CX is being perceived and tracked. Now, you can argue that Amazon wasn’t profitable until the last three years, and there’s some truth to that. But Amazon has changed multiple industries and, frankly, human behavior. It’s a good example of the power behind executive buy-in.

Some more executive buy-in stories

I have the pleasure of speaking to CCOs from multiple industries each week on my podcast. We’re at 36 episodes now, and in probably all 36 so far, we’ve talked about executive buy-in and aligning the silos. Scroll through the episodes and find one where the industry/vertical is close to what you do, then give a listen. There will be some actionable strategies for executive buy-in and silo alignment.

Back Thursday with a new post. For now, though: any thoughts on the importance of executive buy-in?