Tiffani Bova

Executive Summary:
The very nature of experience — for both customers and employees — has been upended by ongoing societal and cultural shifts during this era of heightened uncertainty. Customers expect personalized, empathy-driven digital experiences while employees demand more flexibility and agency in their roles. Meeting the expectations of this moment requires businesses to adopt new mindsets and tools to unlock ingenuity and innovation.

While many companies are clear on the… Show more

Executive Summary:
The very nature of experience — for both customers and employees — has been upended by ongoing societal and cultural shifts during this era of heightened uncertainty. Customers expect personalized, empathy-driven digital experiences while employees demand more flexibility and agency in their roles. Meeting the expectations of this moment requires businesses to adopt new mindsets and tools to unlock ingenuity and innovation.

While many companies are clear on the importance of a seamless customer experience (CX) and its impact on growth, the role of the employee experience (EX) has yet to be fully quantified — until now. In 2020 we set out to better understand the impact of employee experience on customer experience, finding that EX ---> CX ---> revenue growth. We’ve now set out to quantify the direct impact an increased focus on employee experience has on growth.

For this report, Salesforce surveyed over 4,100 C-level executives and employees across 12 markets to identify the key elements of EX that drive CX and increase revenue. We then commissioned a first-of-its-kind retail study with Dr. Lalith Munasinghe, Professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, and Kate Gautier, a Doctoral Researcher at Stanford University and Co-Founder of Talenteck Research Labs. The survey and case study together illustrate the material and measurable impact of EX on CX and growth, showing how the pandemic catalyzed long-emerging trends, providing an opportunity to reimagine how we think about experience and to supercharge growth. We hope you find these insights useful as you embark on the journey of adapting to and building new ways of working that serve both your customers and employees.

https://www.salesforce.com/form/conf/the-experience-advantage/? Show less

Executive Summary:

Research has long established the link between customer experience and revenue. But research shows the situation is more nuanced—and more interesting—than that. Customer experience (CX) is in fact locked with employee experience (EX) in an intricate relationship in which one depends on the other to gain maximum results. In addition, the right strategic efforts have critical implications that can result in higher revenue growth. What is unique about this study is that… Show more

Executive Summary:

Research has long established the link between customer experience and revenue. But research shows the situation is more nuanced—and more interesting—than that. Customer experience (CX) is in fact locked with employee experience (EX) in an intricate relationship in which one depends on the other to gain maximum results. In addition, the right strategic efforts have critical implications that can result in higher revenue growth. What is unique about this study is that we have used three separate data sources to assist us in drawing our conclusions:

RESEARCH: Forbes Insights used publicly available data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index and Glassdoor Ratings as well as three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) information to analyze the correlation between employee experience, customer experience and revenue growth across 263 companies. 2. SURVEY: In June 2020, we surveyed 300 U.S.-based senior executives about the importance of CX and EX and how these executives seek to improve them to affect revenue growth and business outcomes. All respondents represent companies with at least $20 million in annual revenue. Two-thirds of companies surveyed have more than $500 million in annual revenue. Seventy-eight percent of executives are C-suite members.

https://www.salesforce.com/form/conf/forbes-ex-cx-growth/ Show less

Growth: Technology and service providers' (TSPs') profitable growth is increasingly dependent on an ability to optimize their go-to-market strategy. Gartner's 2013 research will provide the professionals responsible for product sales and marketing at TSPs with tools and best practices for making go-to-market choices a source of differentiation and competitive advantage, instead of an afterthought.

Radical technology shifts related to consumerization, social, mobile, information and… Show more

Growth: Technology and service providers' (TSPs') profitable growth is increasingly dependent on an ability to optimize their go-to-market strategy. Gartner's 2013 research will provide the professionals responsible for product sales and marketing at TSPs with tools and best practices for making go-to-market choices a source of differentiation and competitive advantage, instead of an afterthought.

Radical technology shifts related to consumerization, social, mobile, information and cloud solutions don’t just change what technology enterprises buy, they also change how, when and why these purchases get made. We expect a new future of technology sales in which eco-systems and marketplaces will become much more relevant in influencing and capturing sales; transactions will happen on multiple devices and channels and real solution or outcome based selling will separate yesterday’s sales force with tomorrows sales leaders.

If sales organizations are to continue providing real technology solutions or outcomes to their customers, selling must evolve at the same pace that the action of buying technology solutions is evolving. Sales organizations of today will become less effective without investing in becoming much more agile and responsive to the new informed buyers who have many more options that are ‘good enough’ in this highly competitive marketplace. Those who have the will and capability to innovate on their sales approach stand to gain another benefit: a durable competitive advantage.
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