Despite Challenges, Marketers Remain Committed to CX Technologies

In my last post, I discussed some of the findings from a recent study by The Harris Poll and RedPoint Global. Addressing The Gaps In Customer Experience was based on the results of two surveys. One involved 454 senior marketing and customer experience executives, and the second involved 3,002 adult consumers. The participants in both surveys resided in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom.

As the title of the research report suggests, the primary objective of this study was to identify where and how the perceptions of marketers and consumers about the quality of customer experiences differ. I discussed some of those findings in my earlier post.

This research also provides several interesting insights about how marketers view the technologies they use to deliver customer experiences. Somewhat surprisingly, the marketers in this study view technology as essential for providing great customer experiences and as a source of major challenges.

The Strategy-Execution Gap

First, it’s important to put the findings about technology in the right context. Most of the marketers in this study were satisfied with their customer experience strategy, but not with its execution. More than half (57%) of the surveyed marketers said their company has the right customer experience strategy, but isn’t able to execute it effectively. An even higher percentage (63%) said their company doesn’t execute its customer experience strategy “very well.”

When the survey participants were asked about the challenges associated with closing the strategy-execution gap, the top three challenges identified were:

• The complexity of technology solutions (39% of respondents)
• Lack of cross-functional commitment to strategy (35%)
• The inability to integrate new capabilities with existing processes or technology (33%)