The CX Cast

A lot of companies are focused on customer journeys and we all know why journeys matter. However many companies struggle to assess whether journeys are successful for the customer and the company. How well does each journey perform? Does it deliver value to customers? Does it meet short-term and long-term organizational goals? In this episode, […]

Employee experience is more important than ever right now as it has an impact on customer experience. However, most companies still rely on annual snapshots of employee engagement from traditional surveys. These insights are often stale by the time you’ve analyzed the data. In this episode, we discuss with VP Principal Analyst Joana Quintanilha, about […]

Judy’s research focuses on prioritization, the return on investment of customer experience, and culture. In this episode, she talks about her past experiences as a Principal Advisor for Forrester’s Customer Experience Council, supporting CX leaders through the building, management, and ongoing improvement of their programs. We also discuss her time at Blue Cross & Blue […]

Brands who create value for customers get business value in return. However, many customer experience (CX) professionals fail to identify and deliver the right value to customers. In this episode we discuss with Forrester principal analysts, Maxie Schmidt and Shar VanBoskirk, about the definition of value and their framework on how to think and provide […]

Five years and 209 episodes later, we say goodbye to Sam Stern as he makes the move from The CX Cast co-host to a CX practitioner and listener. In Sam’s last episode, we discuss his time at Forrester, key lessons learned, and both what he looks forward to and what challenges he anticipates as a […]

For our bicentennial, we’re reflecting on the biggest themes of the podcast. We discuss the evolution of customer and user experience practices; the greatest challenges that persist; and we lay out the strategic work that firms have yet to master.

A wave of so-called digitally native direct-to-consumer (DTC) startups, like Casper and Dollar Shave Club, have burst on the scene, gaining market share and media attention. Long-standing brands are scrambling to respond with their own direct strategies. But without understanding why consumers are trying these new brands and how their expectations are evolving, traditional organizations’ […]

This year Forrester fielded a survey to hundreds of customer experience (CX) professionals across the globe. We received feedback on what CX professionals are responsible for, where they report in their organizations, the size of their budgets and much more. In this episode, Forrester analyst Angelina Gennis discusses the data and trends for the state […]

Companies strive to innovate but their attempts often fizzle. Two root causes of this failure are 1) lack of organizational buy-in for the innovation function and 2) a company culture that puts too much of the risk on the shoulders of individual employees. In this episode, we discuss the best practices for CX Pros and […]

When it comes to customer experience (CX) predictions, there’s an elephant in the room that’s dominating our thinking this year: money. Why? Because proving that CX delivers business results has turned into a career-defining issue for people who work in this field. Unfortunately, many CX professionals who can’t tie experiences to dollars will find themselves […]

CX pros often feel trapped by their voice-of-the-customer (VoC) vendor — even when the vendor falls short on meeting basic expectations. That’s because the complexity associated with switching vendors makes customer experience (CX) pros struggle to accept that a change is essential to achieving their CX transformation goals. To help CX pros be more confident […]

Employee experience (EX) is becoming ever more important due to an increasingly educated workforce, incredibly low unemployment rate, pervasive AI/automation, and workplaces beset by multiple transformation initiatives. Contrary to common perception, the ROI of EX is quantifiable, and investments in EX will manifest in unexpectedly large returns. So Forrester built a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) […]

Many product management teams struggle to connect design and development. The siloed model doesn’t yield high-quality software or pleasurable customer experiences. In this episode, we discuss what Forrester means by product management, how companies can do this effectively, and where we see the future of the role. Click the titles below to learn more: Adopt […]

Companies increasingly have to align their value with stakeholders for business success. The evidence is clear and strong: Data shows a company’s approach to moral, social, and political values matters to both its consumers and employees. Senior analyst, Anjali Lai, discusses this trend and how companies can live their values. Click the titles below to […]

Design thinking has historically enjoyed “blind support” among executive leaders based on its perceived value. However, many of these same leaders now find themselves under mounting pressure to show the return on their investments (ROI) in the practice. So Forrester built a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) model to help. It quantifies the value of design […]

Many customer experience (CX) pros believe customer success management (CSM) only applies to a subset of businesses (e.g., SaaS). This is not true. CSM’s mission — ensure the customer gets value — is important to all businesses. In this episode, Principal Analyst TJ Keitt explains the basic tenets of the discipline and how to apply […]

Prioritizing inclusive design helps companies win and retain more customers, break into new markets, and get employees more engaged. But what does inclusive design look like in practice? In this episode, Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar discusses best practices for infusing accessibility into research and design practices — a topic she’ll be covering in greater depth […]

Perception, with all its nuances, is often misunderstood. And yet, it’s core to the very definition of “customer experience” — customers’ perceptions of their interactions with a company. In this episode, Forrester Analyst Kelly Price helps us understand the dynamics of customers’ perceptions and how to account for their complexity in structuring customer research — […]

For our bicentennial, we’re reflecting on the biggest themes of the podcast. We discuss the evolution of customer and user experience practices; the greatest challenges that persist; and we lay out the strategic work that firms have yet to master.