News

Customer experience a senior-level focus for 69% of leading UK firms

January 6, 2014

More than two-thirds of leading U.K. firms now have a senior level customer experience position, a confirmation that customer experience strategy has now entered the mainstream. This is the major finding of a new report from user experience experts Mando Group.

The new report, "Are you Experienced?", shines a light on the rise of customer experience as a key strategy for leading firms across all sectors. Mando Group investigated the top 20 firms across a variety of consumer-facing sectors to establish whether these leading players employed a senior customer experience professional. The banking sector and telecoms emerge as the customer experience frontrunners, with the retail sector — both traditional and pureplay e-tail — showing surprisingly as laggards.

"The challenge for today’s businesses is to provide a consistent and compelling user experience across all devices, and for that service to be available around the clock," said Jonathan Seal, strategic director, Mando Group. "In answer to this challenge, the report shows that U.K. businesses are placing customer experience at the core of strategic decision-making. Indeed, in sectors such as banking, the user interface is becoming the product — the key differentiator.

"To see retail with the least incidence of customer experience professionals is a surprise. This is a sector with a traditional focus on the consumer experience — albeit centered on the physical environment. Pureplay e-tailers operate only via the digital interface, so one would expect these businesses to be at the forefront of customer experience innovation. The findings, and the resulting report, make for essential reading for all businesses looking to drive loyalty and customer satisfaction."