Leaders in Customer Experience for B2C

•  Adobe System Inc. has a revenue of $9.03 billion and is in use by 9,406 customers.
•  Avaya has a revenue of $3.272 billion and is in use by 297 customers.
•  CA Technologies, Inc. has a revenue of $4.036 billion and is in use by 232 customers.
•  IBM Corporation has a revenue of $79.1 billion and is in use by 12,151 customers.
•  Genesys has a revenue of $1.9 billion and is in use by 549 customers.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

Adobe Systems Inc.

• Adobe core services include advertising, analytics, audience profiles, campaign management, content management, commerce, marketing, broadcast media, and personalization & optimization.
• Adobe business strategy for B2C businesses include the providing the best capabilities for optimized digital experiences that pays attention to digital marketing.
• The company combines its "Adobe Experience Cloud and Adobe Advertising Cloud" as an essential B2C solution offering to focus on its usability by business roles to improve customer agility, and responsiveness to empowers marketing groups, manage & optimize brand sites, and campaign responsibly with no need for any intervention from an IT staff.
• Adobe's marketing messaging to B2C customers is to "Make customer experience management your new obsession".

Avaya

• Some core services of Avaya include interactions, design experience, optimization, management, performance & analytics, and new & powerful customer experiences.

• Avaya is leveraging its AI-enabled customer experience solution in providing unique CX solutions that help make customer interactions more meaningful and intuitive. With AI, Customer Experience management is made more accurate, efficient, and useful.

• With the solution, Avaya plans to give organizations the ability to deliver the best type of self-service experiences to meet the increasing demand for a comprehensive conversational capability.
• Adobe's marketing messaging to B2C customers includes "Exceed Expectations Across Every Channel," "More Channels, More Opportunities."

IBM Corporation

• IBM's Customer Experience core services is an end-to-end solution to clients which include "management and maintenance of omnichannel digital marketing channels, website design & production, and total digital marketing process outsourcing."
• IBM business strategy for B2C businesses includes providing "accelerated time to market and minimizes business investment by implementing well-orchestrated business tools, ready-to-use integrations for essential e-commerce needs, and prebuilt responsive store templates for web and mobile."
• They help businesses achieve meaningful customer interactions by planning and engineering personalized, omnichannel marketing strategies across inbound touchpoints, including mobile, websites, and call centers.
• IBM's marketing messaging to B2C customers includes "Make AI your competitive advantage," "Create a differentiated AI-powered customer experience impactful enough to capture market share."

RESEARCH STRATEGY

Zendesk

• Zendesk offers a range of B2C support services through customer experience management software including, web, email, and social media, customer context, business rules, apps and integrations, and analytics and reporting.
• They also offer live chat, voice and SMS, knowledge base, and omnichannel dashboard and reporting services.
• The business strategy for the B2C segment is focused on customer retention, engagement, and creating a positive customer experience.

Genesys

• Genesys offers a range of B2C services across customer service, marketing, and sales.
• Its support software solutions include digital and AI innovations, customer interaction software, analytics and insights, employee development, omnichannel and communications, and intelligent routing and digital transformation.
• Genesys' B2C business strategy is focused around enriching the customer experience. The customer is at the center of its business strategy.

CA Technologies

• The core B2C services of CA Technologies include AI-driven insights, development and testing, cost optimization, creating digital trust, automation, API Management, testing, security, and providing a frictionless digital experience for customers.
• Since CA Technologies was acquired by Broadcom, the B2C business strategy has focused on the development of new products and engaging with new customers.
• The licensing model has changed from a perpetual model to a subscription model. CA Technologies products and services are being leveraged against Broadcom's portfolio to encourage customers to convert to CA tools.

Research Strategy

Oracle

• Oracle offers a range of B2C customer experience solutions including marketing, commerce, sales and service. They also provide solutions for different industries such as financial services, retail and consumer markets, communications and media, the public sector, automotive, high tech and manufacturing.
• Oracle's business strategy for the B2C segment is focused on connected customer experiences through the use of connected data and connected intelligence. 

SAP SE

• SAP integrates a variety of solutions for marketing, sales, and customer relationship management. SAP C/4HANA's portfolio consists of SAP Customer Data Cloud, SAP Marketing Cloud, SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Service Cloud. 
• SAP's business strategy for the B2C segment is focused on covering every step of a customer's engagement with a business, from the first contact to when they choose to buy a product.

SAS Institute, Inc.

• The core B2C customer experience management solutions from SAS Institute include SAS Customer Intelligence 360, which makes use of unprecedented customer insights in marketing decisions; SAS Marketing Automation, which organizes campaigns in an automated, traceable and highly repeatable method; SAS Marketing Optimization, which measures how business variables will affect outcomes; and SAS Intelligent Decisioning which facilitates analytically driven real-time customer interactions.
• SAS's business strategy for the B2C segment focuses on getting to know customers and providing them with personalized experiences that makes them stay loyal to a business and tell others about the business.

CX is Generally Handled Internally

• Lists of the top CX experts show them overwhelmingly working for successful companies in other industries, not CX consulting firms.
• The exception to the above rule is the Healthcare industry, which is new to focusing on CX and for which several successful consulting firms, like Influence Health and Acxiom Corp, have stepped in to bridge the expertise gap.
• B2B CX vendors come in two primary types:
• "CX/UX research companies" (aka consulting firms), which provide services such as research and strategy solutions, competitive intelligence, market analysis, social media marketing, and other, similar services.
• "Customer experience management companies," which primarily focus on providing software solutions to help companies manage their CX internally, from building customer journey maps, to customer review management, to better desktop, mobile, & app experiences, among others.

The Maturity of the CX Strategy Affects a Company's Desires

• A company's maturity level when it comes to using CX is a major factor in what they want.
• For example, those with a novice level of CX (e.g., lacking a clear CX strategy) or who completely "ignore" their strategy are far more likely to see CX in terms of profit-building, with 50% (novice) to 65% (ignore) saying that the goal of their company's CX initiatives is to acquire more customers, become the industry leader, increase sales, or increase customer retention.
• However, those with a mature approach to CX focus on the customer end, with 55% saying that the goal of their company's CX initiatives is to deliver an outstanding experience or improve customer satisfaction.
• This is ironic, given that companies with a mature CX approach are far more likely to be in the top tier of revenue than those with a novice approach (28% to 10%).
• This is because focusing on immediate purchases in a company's CX can drive out the 72% of customers who are browsing, researching, or comparison shopping.

A Disconnect Between Company Desires and Needs

• There is a major perception gap between marketers and customers on CX: 87% of marketers think they are offering an engaging CX, but nearly half of consumers believe that brands are not meeting their expectations and two-thirds can't remember the last time a brand exceeded their expectations.
• Successful CX initiatives focus on "old-school" approaches, "such as talking directly to their customers, having the best talent on board, and doing market research," while less successful approaches rely too much on technology fads such as chatbots, predictive analytics, and augmented reality, as well as relying far too much on social media.
• Even so, experts expect the adoption of "descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics," AI-driven chatbots, APIs, and AI "CX enablers" to continue to grow among companies, suggesting a disconnect between perception and reality in many companies.
•  70% of customers prefer that companies simply ask them for their feedback, compared to only 40% of brands.
• Customer feedback is the "#1 driver of successful customer experience strategies," but the less competent a company is in developing a successful CX strategy, the less they are likely to recognize it (45% mature vs. 19% "ignore").
• Likewise, successful CX strategies depend heavily on employee training, but the less mature a company is in its approach, the less likely they are to recognize it (21% mature vs. 13% "ignore").
• From this, we gather that what a company, particularly a novice in CX, wants is not the same as what they need.

From Content Management to Digital Experience Management

• Companies are shifting from Content Management Platforms to Digital Experience Management Platforms ("DX platforms") which "manage, deliver, and optimize experiences consistently across all digital touchpoints."

The Need For Data Management Tools and Expertise

• Companies are starting to recognize that, due to the volume and complexity of the data about their customers now available to them, data management is becoming a barrier to developing winning CX strategies and the consequent need for someone who can answer the following questions:
• "What is the business’ data strategy? "
• "How will we manage the data (e.g. collection and processing)? "
• "Why employ data for CX initiatives?"

Research Strategy

Cross-Industry Drivers

• Studies show that 86% of consumers are willing to pay a higher price in return for an excellent customer experience.
• By 2020, customer experience is expected to surpass both price and product as the "key brand differentiator."

Retail

• The retail industry is expected not only to have the highest spend in CX in 2019 at an estimated $56.7 billion but to have the fastest growth in its spend at a CAGR of 13.1% over the next four years.
• The drivers for developing a strong CX strategy (see above) are particularly important for retail.

• Many retail companies, particularly in the fashion sector, are using augmented reality to allow customers to "try on" their wares before making online purchases, including eyeglass retailer Warby Parker and Rolex.

• Likewise, clothing store Hollister has developed its in-store CX by tantalizing "shoppers’ senses with enticing lighting and even a bespoke store fragrance."
• Nike offers a value-added app that enables customers to track their runs but which also provides Nike with information about the customer's habits and suggests when it is time to purchase a new pair of shoes.
• Neiman Marcus' "Snap. Find. Shop" app enables customers to take a picture of a product that they like. The app then pairs those customers with links to similar items in Neiman Marcus' inventory.
• However, the most winning CX strategies in the Retail industry are those with a personal touch, as 75% of consumers say they want more human interaction in their customer journeys, not less.
• An example of a company successfully engaging with its customers is clothing-store chain Reformation, which provides "a shopping experience that makes customers feel like rock stars," including the ability to have different sizes or even items brought to the wardrobes by employees via a tablet.

Discrete Manufacturing

• Discrete manufacturing is in second place in its CX spend for 2019.
• The main driver in this spending appears to be an attempt to overcome several acknowledged disconnects in the industry's CX, which follow the disconnects noted in another brief in this project.
• As noted in a Verndale report, "Manufacturing & Distribution companies are at a critical inflection point — rethinking their business and their customers relationships in a digital context."
• Tesla has particularly stood out among manufacturers seeking to capitalize on excellent CX, opening "fancy showrooms in shopping malls and prime locations, with a completely transformed customer experience" which focuses on the tangible, human-centric side of CX over the digital despite being a cutting-edge technology company.

Banking

• Banking is in third place in its CX spend for 2019.
• According to the Digital Banking Report, "improving the customer experience" has been a major trend in this industry for at least the past several years.
• Likewise, according to another report by Kantar, "financial institutions that lead in customer experience (CX) have a higher recommendation rate, a higher share of deposits, and a greater likelihood that customers will increase their portfolio of new products and services from their bank."
• The most recent trends have focused on "humanizing" the digital banking CX, bringing human and digital resources together to focus on partnering with customers and building long-term relationships.
• Among financial institutions, USAA tops Kantar's CX scoring list, followed by Regions Bank, Chase, BB&T and Citizens Bank. Kantar attributes this to pursuing a customer-centric model that delivers "a great customer experience that exceeds their brand promise."

Healthcare

• Healthcare is second only to Retail in how fast it is growing its CX spend, with a CAGR of 11.5% expected over the next four years.
• As noted in a recent Forrester report, healthcare organizations (HCOs) have historically had a limited understanding of their customers' desires, needs, and behaviors, have put too much focus on digital channels, and have lost control of the end-to-end customer experience, and yet these matters are critical to future success.
• Taking the above two together, we understand the Healthcare industry to broadly recognize the truth articulated by Forrester and, consequently, to be rapidly accelerating their CX programs.
• Increased CX spend is also necessitated by the fact that CX is an "unknown frontier" in healthcare, leaving the industry unprepared for the shift towards consumerism in the industry, further forcing the rapid shift in budget priorities.
• HCOs have, therefore, turned to consulting companies to fill the experience gap. Examples include:
•  Influence Health, "a vendor of CX-related technologies geared at healthcare providers, including a CRM system, authoritative health content, appointment systems and related details," which improves the healthcare CX by providing patients with more communication and information tools.
•  Acxiom Corp, a Big Data company which provides HCOs the tools they need to leverage their existing patient data into improved customer experiences.

Hospitality and Entertainment

•  Disney uses "Magic Bands" at its theme parks to provide conveniences to their visitors such as freeing them from needing to carry a wallet, keys, and tickets while also providing Disney with valuable information about the movement of their visitors through the park, allowing the company to continually fine-tune its CX there.
•  Disney and Royal Caribbean use AI-driven facial recognition "to gauge how visitors are reacting to performances" or menu items to improve the customer's experience.
• Streaming services like Spotify and Netflix are using customized playlists which not only offer suggestions based on their customers' overarching viewing habits, but which take into account the time and day of the week to, for example, provide energetic music at the time when the customer is in the habit of working-out or only suggesting R-rated movies after 8 pm in families with children.

Others

• We are unable to determine the fifth most-common industry to invest heavily in CX based on the available public data.
• However, in addition to those above, IDC tracks the following 15 industries for CX, suggesting that they are among the highest spenders: Insurance, securities and investment services, process manufacturing, construction, resource industries, wholesale, professional services, personal and consumer services, transportation, federal/central government, state/local government, education, telecommunications, media, and utilities.
• Based on overlap with a Forbes list of the 100 most "customer-centric" companies, segmented by industry, we suspect that the insurance, telecom, or process manufacturing would be in the fifth slot; however, as this list focuses on success rather than expenditures, it appears more relevant to another brief in this project.

Research Strategy

Successful Industries in CX

• Retail
• Finance
• Healthcare
• B2B
• Software/Internet
• Hospitality
• Insurance
• Telecom
• Manufacturing
• Agriculture

Unsuccessful Industries in CX

Research Strategy

Gathering CX Information

• In addition to gathering information by the tried-and-true method of simply talking to their customers, companies will continue to develop technologies to gather information about their customers to include their CX.
• Forbes offers as an example Disney's "Magic Bands," which frees visitors from having to carry a wallet, keys, etc., but also gives Disney valuable feedback on the flow of visitors to the park, e.g., how long they are standing in line, which rides are the most popular, etc.
• Similarly, Nike offers a value-added app that enables customers to track their runs but which also provides Nike with information about the customer's habits and suggests when it is time to purchase a new pair of shoes.

"This Moment" CX

• According to Forbes, "Responding to customers at THIS moment is the next customer experience trend that's gaining traction today. This trend involves mass customization and taking advantage of micro-moments to offer customers what they need in the precise moment they have that need."
• As an example, Spotify is developing customized playlists for their customers which take into account that a customer wants different music on their morning commute from during their workout.

The Problem of Pathetic Personalization

• However, recognizing this is causing many companies to fall into what InMoment's 2019 CX Trends Report calls "pathetic personalization," such as including customer names in interactions rather than being aware of their interaction history (e.g., "calls, chats, email history, social media engagement").
• In fact, when asked what brands could do to improve their CX, 69% of customers placed "knowing me" dead last and expect complete transparency on how their data is being collected and used by the company: 89% of customers say they would give a transparent brand a second chance after a poor experience.

From Omnichannel to Segmented Customer Journeys

• Following from the above, combined with the difficulties in properly implementing it, leading some experts to expect the "much sought-after omnichannel strategy" to start to fade out in favor of managing customer journeys across multiple, segmented channels.
• However, this will be a slow transition, as strong omnichannel strategies currently result in far higher retention rates than weak strategies (89% to 33%).
• However, companies who have a "formal customer journey management program" see lower customer service costs combined with a 54% higher marketing ROI and 3.2 times as much revenue from customer referrals.

Value-Added Digital and Tangible Experiences

• Many companies are offering value-added products in addition to their core product line, as when health insurer Vitality Health offers their clients an Apple Watch and "feedback about how to be healthier."
• Others offer augmented customer experiences, such as the ability to "try on" different glasses and clothes on one's mobile device before buying.
• However, despite the advancement of digital CX solutions, both Forbes and surveys of companies with a mature CX strategy emphasize the necessity for "tangible experiences," including direct human contact.

Being More Direct

•  70% of customers prefer that companies simply ask them for their feedback, compared to only 40% of brands; in addition, customers who provide consistent feedback, even negative, consider this to be a badge of loyalty to the company. Companies tend to overlook this, thinking of loyalty purely in terms of dollars spent.
• As a result, more successful CX programs focus on "old-school" approaches, "such as talking directly to their customers, having the best talent on board, and doing market research," while less successful approaches rely too much on technology fads such as chatbots, predictive analytics, and augmented reality, as well as relying far too much on social media.