The CX Cast

Forrester interviewed customer experience (CX) professionals at brands that showed the biggest year-over-year improvement in Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) from 2015 to 2016. In this episode, we discuss key takeaways of how those brands achieved significant CX improvements. Click the title below to read more: How Companies Improved Their CX Index Scores, 2016

Conducting research for a customer journey mapping effort involves more than learning what customers do, interact with, think, and feel. To yield meaningful benefits, CX pros must gather research that not only exposes the customer journey but also lays the groundwork for the broader CX improvement initiative. In this episode, we uncover the real objectives […]

In 2016’s edition of research about digital customer experience (CX) trends, Forrester identified the rise of conversational interfaces and concierge services. In this year’s report, we examine how those trends are playing out and highlight two new ones gaining momentum as we enter 2017: 1) artificial intelligence (AI), voice, and biometric capabilities further transforming user interfaces and 2) companies […]

In this episode, we welcome Senior Analyst Jenny Wise to discuss her upcoming research on emerging interfaces, interaction design, and what CX pros need to think about when exploring new technologies. Prior to her current role on Forrester’s CX research team, Jenny was a senior analyst serving B2C Marketing Professionals. In that role, her research examined the consumer […]

Prior to joining Forrester’s research team, Faith spent nine years working in customer and patient experience. In this episode, Faith shares lessons learned from the field and an overview of research of hers that we can look forward to in coming months.

CX professionals and their teams need the support of the entire organization to create and deliver great experiences in a sustainable way. The most important group of colleagues to work with is senior executives. The best way to work with them is through an executive steering committee that makes key decisions about the experience. In […]

Thanks to the Obama administration’s final push to improve the federal digital customer experience (CX), customers are using and enjoying most digital channels more than ever. The bad news is that federal websites and mobile apps are in trouble, and customers remain skeptical about the future of digital government. In this episode, we detail key findings from […]

To show the connection between improving CX and growing revenue, Forrester built models that demonstrate how CX improvements drive revenue growth through increased loyalty. In this episode, we discuss the underpinnings of those models. To see the revenue potential from improving CX for 13 of the industries included in Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CX Index™), […]

Unless you have a well-defined customer experience (CX) strategy, your CX will be haphazard at best and fail to deliver sustainable benefits. In this episode, we explain how to develop a research-based CX vision aligned with the business and translate it into a CX strategy the organization can understand and implement. This is an extensive update of […]

The nascent Trump administration has said virtually nothing about customer-centric government. However, the actions that President-elect Trump has promised in other policy areas will impact the customer centricity of US federal agencies — in some cases reversing efforts by the Obama administration. In this episode, Principal Analyst Rick Parrish joins us to discuss major trends […]

For many business-to-business (B2B) companies, selling new products and services to current customers is the pathway to growth. To get customers to spend more, though, B2B firms must prove they’ve given customers a valuable experience. Enter customer success management (CSM). Emerging from the tech industry, this new discipline seeks to ensure that the value B2B […]

Customer experience (CX) professionals know that the first step on the path to delivering good experiences is doing research to understand their customers. Yet many fail to recognize that it’s easy to draw false conclusions — and that doing so is even more dangerous than being ignorant. In this episode, we discuss some of the most […]

In part 2 of our discussion on quantifying emotion with Forrester CMO Victor Milligan and VP of Customer Experience Index Roxie Strohmenger, we dig into the nitty gritty of how to measure the specific emotions your customers have, including how to “titrate” your measurement program (explanation included). Please listen to episode 79 before this this episode.

Human beings aren’t getting more emotional; it’s just that they now have the power, willingness, and ability to take action when provoked by a delightful or frustrating experience. Understanding these emotional responses can help brands design experiences that elicit the specific feelings that drive loyalty. In part 1 of a 2-part series, Forrester CMO Victor […]

In September 2016, news broke that Wells Fargo had opened more than 2 million checking and credit accounts without customers’ knowledge. Now we find the scandal runs deeper, with Wells Fargo unfairly firing employees as retribution and blacklisting them from future jobs in banking. In this episode, we dissect the various aspects of the scandal and […]

Empowered consumers fuel the age of the customer — you’ve likely heard this repeatedly. They now have more choices, richer resources, and higher demands than in the past. But this is more than just a catchy idea; it is a measurable trend. Here, we prove it. This episode reveals how evolutions in customer behaviors and attitudes are […]

Decades of quality and process improvement efforts have left firms awash in tools for mapping experiences and analyzing processes. Customer experience (CX) pros who hope to introduce customer journey maps as a new tool for understanding experiences often face pushback from stakeholders who are reluctant to adopt yet another tool. Forrester Principal Analyst Tony Costa returns in this episode […]

Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) leaders of 2015 barely improved in 2016, even as brands that had lagged behind caught up significantly. Does this herald a leveling out in 2017, with companies converging toward CX parity? No. Forrester CX Research Director, David Truog, lays out for CX professionals what will happen instead. Click the title […]

Last week, 900 attendees gathered in San Francisco at Forrester’s annual CXSF forum to discuss how emerging technology like AI-powered chat bots, IoT and voice recognition platforms are about to change customer experiences (CX) once again. In this episode, Analyst Kelly Price recaps key themes from the forum, like how CX pros must design for new […]