In the experience economy we’re living in, customers expect seamless experiences and simplicity from every brand in any industry. So, excelling in customer experience (CX) can make or break a business. But what exactly sets a CX leader apart? Merkle’s latest report on the state of CX, Winning in Today’s Experience Economy: What CX Leaders Do Differently, delves into the unique characteristics and strategies that distinguish leading CX organizations.

Whether you already see yourself in these descriptions or are looking to refine your approach, the strategies shared in this article will help you align your internal efforts and be seen as a leader.

First, let’s define what “leader” means here.

To uncover what sets successful CX leaders apart, we surveyed 820 global business leaders. The survey revealed five stages of CX maturity, based on leaders’ evaluations of their organizations’ commitment to customer centricity, adoption of AI, and customer retention metrics. The primary inputs were largely behavioral questions, providing a more objective measure of CX maturity than subjective opinions or perceptions.

Among the surveyed organizations, 19% stood out as “CX leaders.” These are the customer-centric companies with advanced processes and strategic technology investments that intentionally align with their business objectives.

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What sets a leader apart?

CX trailblazers possess qualities and employ specific strategies that drive their organizations forward. Understanding what sets these leaders apart can help those aspiring to elevate their own CX efforts.

Outlined below are four key attributes and practices that distinguish top CX leaders from their peers:

1. Leading CX orgs have a solid CX strategy and customer-first cultures.

Great customer experience begins with a commitment to empowering customers and improving their daily lives. This spans every employee and guides the projects that teams work on. You must understand your customers’ baseline expectations and organize your strategy around meeting – and exceeding – them. First, get everyone on board and establish a single source of truth for your customer data so you break down silos from the get-go.

While centralizing data can be hard to do, it’s a must to make sure that customer records are accurate. From there, you can personalize brand touchpoints based on a customer’s latest interaction and whether it was in store, on social, email, via a call center, etc. When you begin to treat experience as the product, you start to measure what matters – long-term metrics versus individual touchpoints. This measurement can serve as a feedback loop to inform the organization for ongoing efforts to improve as you go.

2. CX leaders’ investments are driven more by customer feedback than competitors’ actions.

It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the competition, but competitors’ activities shouldn’t dictate your CX strategy. Listening to customer feedback improves the experiences you deliver and is a prerequisite for delivering business value.

But how do you get there? You can start by asking your customers for their preferences. Leaders gauge customer satisfaction and seek ways to improve the experience.

3. Leading CX orgs have well-integrated technology.

Our consumer study revealed that consumers are mostly comfortable sharing their data, but less confident that brands are using their data to improve their experiences. Data can only power CX if a brand’s technology stack is integrated, working seamlessly to marry channels and deliver data-driven, personalized experiences.

Business leaders need to actively break down silos that may exist between organizational functions and their respective tech – silos that inhibit the responsible sharing of customer data to improve the overall customer experience. Start with a revisit of your data strategy and find ways to bring IT and business leaders together so these efforts are coordinated.

4. Leading CX orgs integrate AI-driven technology at a faster rate than their peers.

AI and other new innovations help leaders work smarter and more efficiently. Respondents affirmed that many forms of AI-enabled tech, such as voice commerce, smart devices, and natural language processing (NLP) platforms, play a crucial role in enhancing brand experiences.

However, simply investing in AI is not enough. AI and other emerging technologies should be implemented and evaluated against a clear, practical strategy and measurement framework spanning the total customer journey. This strategy should be broadly adopted across the organization to ensure success.

Whether you’re already on the path to CX excellence or just starting to refine your approach, hopefully these insights provide some inspiration and guidance for the journey ahead. And if the path forwarded seems daunting, there is hope: our research found that even less mature CX organizations that have made a commitment to becoming more customer-centric see higher-than-average customer retention and acquisition. There’s no better time to start than right now.

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