Growth oriented companies focus on CX data: Gartner

Companies that have seen a positive revenue growth collect more customer experience (CX) data than non-growth companies, indicates a recent survey by research firm Gartner. The survey found that nearly 80% of growth organisations use customer surveys to collect CX data, compared with just 58% of non-growth organisations.

“There is a clear trend among growing companies to actively collect CX data using a wide variety of tools such as surveys, usability testing, focus groups and real-time analytics,” said Jessica Ekholm, research vice president at Gartner. “This is what we call the outside-in approach – the idea that customer value creation, customer orientation and CX will drive long-term business success.”

Customer surveys remain the most popular medium among both growth and non-growth organisations for collecting CX data, according to the Gartner survey. However, consumers are increasingly experiencing “survey fatigue.”

“Despite their widespread use, customer surveys have some flaws that limit their ability to collect quality CX data,” added Ekholm. “Recognising this, growth companies are beginning to use near- or real-time analytics, to complement or build upon the data collected from surveys.”

The use of near- and real-time analytics to collect CX data is a rising trend among growth companies, with 43% of product managers at growth companies using analytics to collect and analyse customer perception and sentiment data. This is compared with just 22% of product managers at non-growth companies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can help organisations gather real-time data about customers’ current issues and experiences. This data can then be used to predict the customer’s next move, proactively recommending features, solutions or actions that improve the customer journey.

The Gartner Changing Approaches to Product Development survey was conducted online between July and September 2019; 214 respondents were interviewed across the US, China, India, Canada, the U.K., France and Germany.