CX maturity can lead to business success

A report released today by the Enterprise Strategy Group, in partnership with Zendesk, matched CX criteria against business outcomes, finding that small businesses were likely to have grown customer spend — even during the pandemic — if they scored highly on CX-related capabilities.

The score was established through surveys of over 1,000 companies, including 500 companies with fewer than 100 employees in more than a dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada. Relevant questions focused on the training of service and support employees, ability to respond to customer feedback, and metrics, KPIs and technology.

Read more about the importance of customer feedback.

Comparing businesses with six or more key capabilities with place against those with three or less, the report found 9.2 times the likelihood of significant growth in customer spend, and 3.6 times the likelihood of growing customer base among small businesses. Mid-size to enterprise businesses were 8.7 times more likely to have seen significant growth in customer spend, and were 3.3 times more likely to have grown their customer base.

However, less than half (47%) of small businesses have moved beyond the lowest level of CX maturity. The report finds less ambition in the CX sphere among smaller businesses: while organizations with 100 or more employees were more likely to be working to boost customer interaction, and also more likely to be focused on use of customer data (33% against 20% of small businesses).

Also, small businesses showing high levels of CX maturity were 7.8 times more likely to have been successful in switching to remote working during the pandemic than those with the lowest levels.

Why we care. CX, rather than product, service and price, is where businesses can compete. The experience extends from brand awareness and top-of-funnel messaging, right through to post-sale service. Small businesses can benefit even more than the enterprise, this report suggests, but may be lagging in ability to invest in CX.