Can Cx (Customer Experience) Be Successful Without CRM?

Things have changed since companies started paying attention to the idea that functionality, accessibility, and emotional connection are better indicators of customer retention and referral than traditional measurements like customer satisfaction. What we have christened "Customer Experience" or Cx, is yielding better metrics and data we can use with customer economics. Asking three basic questions about our interactions with customers, (Did we give you what you needed? Did we make it easy? Did you feel good about the experience?) is helping us keep customer retention and customer referrals high.

However, Cx expert companies like the Temkin Group have noted low adoption of Cx programs for a number of reasons that range from lack of clear strategy to limited funding. Among the other obstacles Temkin Group has listed are deeper issues we should examine in relationship to how we implement CRM strategies and technology. Internal organizational conflict, lack of commitment, and unclear understanding of the customer are serious culprits when it comes to improving functionality, accessibility, and emotional connection for customers.

Where many customer experience experts have done a fantastic job of educating us on the importance of Cx programs, not enough is being done to improve the way CRM supports these efforts. Even though the technology is in place to support Cx (and I am talking about more than one type or brand) we are still not thinking about the components CRM must manage in order for Cx practices to be effective. That's because it is not Cx tools managing the actual interaction with customers, it is really CRM that manages the relationship with the customers at every level across multiple customer segments, products, services, and demographics. It is CRM tools companies use to evaluate the relationship, determine level of interaction, and follow business processes ...