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First Global Business Customer Experience Management BenchmarkingStudy Results Published

The world's first global benchmarking study of B2B practices in customer experience reportsincreasing investment in internal capability for customer retention. Customer profitability andcustomer centric culture techniques are explored, with recommendations for stronger customerexperience management strategy and implementation of under-utilized tools for initiativemomentum and cross-organizational cooperation.

Sunnyvale, California (PRWEB) January 6, 2011 -- The world's first global benchmarking study of business-to-business customer experience management (B2B CEM) provides insights on the growing role of customerexperience in corporations. Four out of five B2B firms assign overall responsibility for customer experienceinitiatives to a vice president or director-level executive, and half of the organizations have increasedinvestment in customer experience management over the past five years. One in five companies treats customerexperience inputs as a determinant of corporate strategy.

Current CEM practices are largely centered on revenue through customer retention and share of wallet. Thegreatest success factors reported by B2B firms are executive sponsorship and employee engagement, and mostcustomer experience management programs are driven by Service, Marketing, or Sales organizations.Company-wide implementation appears to be on the rise, although many firms still focus their CEM efforts ona specific functional area such as customer service.

This study of business-to-business firms analyzed some elements unique to the B2B environment, such as therole of social media and multiple buying influencers in customer experience management. While manycompanies view word-of-mouth monitoring as irrelevant, other B2B firms are finding useful ways to capturethis important component of customer input. Improvement can be made in tapping into the perceptions of themultiple influencers of buying decisions, and use of tools to stimulate ongoing progress, such as systemsthinking, knowledge management, data integration and change management.

The primary obstacles for B2B firms are the same as those reported in other benchmarking studies: lack ofcross organizational cooperation and lack of customer experience management strategy. Ten characteristics thatdifferentiate CEM from customer satisfaction or customer relationship management were assessed. The bestunderstood tenets of CEM reflect aspects of customer perception measurement. The lesser known tenetsdescribe the customer's high degree of control in characterizing customer experience, and the need fororganizations to maintain insatiable curiosity and uncanny adaptability for delivering superior customerexperiences.

Recommendations for stronger customer experience strategy, cross-organizational cooperation, and businessresults are provided in the study. Participating companies are headquartered in North America, Europe, Asia,and the Middle East, and industries represented include equipment, financial services, insurance, legal, medical,manufacturing, publishing, telecommunications, technology, and transportation. This study was sponsored byClearAction and The Insight Advantage.

The second annual B2B CEM study is scheduled for publication in mid-2011. Access the First AnnualClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Benchmarking Study report at

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http://www.clearaction.biz/benchmarking.html.

About ClearActionClearAction is a customer experience consulting firm specializing in customer experience innovation,enterprise-wide employee engagement in customer experience management, and customer relationship skill-building. ClearAction emphasizes prevention of customer hassles for greater results in customer retention,lifetime value, and sustained profitability. Lynn Hunsaker, head of ClearAction is author of three ebooks:Innovating Superior Customer Experience, Metrics YouCan Manage for Success, and Customer ExperienceImprovement Momentum.

About The Insight AdvantageThe Insight Advantage is a full-service research firm, providing a wide range of services (web surveys, focusgroups, telephone interviews) to help companies implement customer research for ongoing insight into theircustomers' evolving needs and expectations. Jennifer Berkley Jackson, head of The Insight Advantage, is anextension faculty member of University of California - Santa Cruz.

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Contact InformationLynnHunsakerClearActionhttp://www.clearaction.biz1-408-687-9700

Online Web 2.0 VersionYou can read the online version of this press release here.