For Customer Experience Professionals (Length: 18 pages)

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Forrester asked nearly 5,000 consumers about their interactions with a variety of companies, gauging the usefulness, usability, and enjoyability of those experiences. Based on these consumer responses, we calculated the Customer Experience Index for 112 firms in nine different industries. Led by Costco, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, retailers dominated the top of the rankings. But on average, there's a lot of room for improvement: Only 10% of the firms wound up with "excellent" ratings — and 21% were "poor" or "very poor." That's why firms should put customer experience initiatives near the top of their 2008 strategic plans and chart a course toward Experience-Based Differentiation.