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The US Customer Experience Index, 2017How Brands Build Loyalty With The Quality Of Their Experience

by Rick ParrishAugust 1, 2017

FoR CustomeR exPeRienCe PRoFessionAls

fOrrESTEr.COm

Key takeawaysCustomer Experience Quality Worsenedtwice as many brand scores fell as rose; losses were, on average, bigger than gains. As a result, the number of scores in the excellent category fell to zero; the percentage of good scores dipped by one percentage point; and the percentage of poor scores rose by three points. For the first time, no industry averages improved, but three fell.

Top Brands’ Stagnation Leaves A CX Leadership Gapnot a single brand has risen to the top of our rankings and continued to move upward — the mark of a true Cx leader. this year, scores among elite brands — the top 5% of brands in the entire Cx index — stayed flat, while new industry frontrunners earned their spots because last year’s high scorers declined. As a result, we see no Cx leaders, only languishers, lapsers, locksteppers, and laggards.

focus On Emotion To Become A CX Leaderemotion has a bigger influence on customer loyalty than effectiveness or ease in nearly every industry. elite brands provided an average of 17 emotionally positive experiences for each negative experience. in contrast, the lowest-performing 5% of brands provided only two emotionally positive experiences for each negative experience.

Why Read this ReportHow well do leading brands build loyalty with the quality of their customer experience (Cx)? this year, we reveal the complete rankings of all 314 brands across 21 industries in the us Cx index. We also unveil surprising trends in Cx quality and the role that emotion plays in Cx. Customer experience professionals can use this report to inform their ongoing improvement efforts.

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© 2017 Forrester Research, inc. opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, technographics®, Forrester Wave, techRadar, and total economic impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. [email protected] or +1 866-367-7378

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table of Contents

Customer Experiences Got Worse

With Torpor At The Top, There Are No Real CX Leaders

Without Real leaders, only Four types of Brands Remain

Emotion Holds The Key To Achieving CX Leadership

How Forrester Can Help

Supplemental Material

Related Research Documents

the Five essential steps to Plan Your Cx transformation

Gauge Your Cx management maturity

improving Cx through Business Discipline Drives Growth

FoR CustomeR exPeRienCe PRoFessionAls

The US Customer Experience Index, 2017How Brands Build Loyalty With The Quality Of Their Experience

by Rick Parrishwith Harley manning, Roxana strohmenger, xiaotong Duan, Will Willsea, and Rachel Birrell

August 1, 2017

http://www.forrester.com/go?objectid=RES137907





http://www.forrester.com/go?objectid=BIO7424



For Customer experienCe proFessionals

The US Customer Experience Index, 2017august 1, 2017

© 2017 Forrester research, inc. unauthorized copying or distributing is a violation of copyright law. [email protected] or +1 866-367-7378

2

How Brands Build Loyalty With The Quality Of Their Experience

Customer experiences Got Worse

Customer experience leaders grow revenue faster than Cx laggards, drive higher brand preference, and can charge more for their products. Based on a survey of over 118,000 us adult customers in 2017, Forrester’s Customer experience index (Cx index™) methodology measures how well a brand’s customer experience strengthens the loyalty of its customers so it can reap these benefits (see Figure 1). We use this methodology to benchmark Cx quality at 314 us brands. Between 2016 and 2017, our benchmark shows that the quality of customer experiences in the us dipped.

› Losses were broader and deeper than gains. twice as many brands sank as rose: of 314 brands in the Cx index, 49 lost points and only 24 gained points (see Figures 2 to 22).1 What’s more, 21 brands dropped by at least five points, but just three brands improved by at least five points. two brands — 21st Century insurance and the us Bureau of Consular Affairs — lost more than 10 points. in contrast, no brands gained more than 10 points. overall, brands that worsened lost an average of five points, while brands that improved gained an average of just four points. this contrasts starkly with our 2016 study, in which only 11 brands declined while 58 improved — of which 28 gained at least five points and two gained at least 10 points.

› Excellent scores died off, while the number of poor scores increased. For the first time, the number of brands in the excellent category fell to zero (see Figure 23). What’s more, even the percentage of scores in the good category sank from 17% to 16%. At the same time, the percentage of brands with poor scores rose from 20% to 23%. the only good news came from a one-percentage-point reduction in very poor scores. However, even that was no cause for celebration: it only occurred due to small gains by the transportation security Administration and the internal Revenue service.

› Three industry averages fell; none rose. in another first, not a single industry average improved this year. the bar dipped, however, for three industries: auto and home insurance providers, parcel shipping/delivery providers, and internet service providers (isPs) (see Figure 24). that’s slightly worse than last year, when only two industry averages declined. the end result was that the auto and home insurance industry dropped from 3rd to 9th; the parcel shipping/delivery industry sank from 15th to 16th; and the isP industry fell from 20th to tie us federal government agencies at the very bottom of the Cx index.




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figure 1 Forrester’s Cx index is A measure of A Brand’s Ability to Drive loyalty With its Customers

CX QUALITY CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Forrester’s CX Index score measures how successfully a companydelivers customer experiences that create and sustain loyalty.

RetentionLikelihood of keeping existing business.

CX INDEXSCORE

EnrichmentLikelihood of buying additional products and services.

AdvocacyLikelihood of recommending to others.

EffectivenessThe experience

delivers value to customers.

Ease

to get value from the experience.

EmotionCustomers feel

good about their experience.




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figure 2 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Airlines

Very poor (0-54) Excellent (85-100)Good (75-84)Okay (65-74)Poor (55-64)

Airlines

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1

3

6

2

4

5

7

9

8

10

11

12

JetBlue Airways

Southwest Airlines

Hawaiian Airlines

Virgin America

Alaska Air

Air Canada

Delta Air Lines

American Airlines

Allegiant Air

United Airlines

Frontier Airlines

Spirit Airlines

2017 2016 BRAND PERFORMANCE




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figure 3 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Auto And Home insurance Providers


2017

1 of 2

2016 BRAND PERFORMANCE

Auto And HomeInsurance Providers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

8

4

5

15

14

13

3

6

USAA

The Hartford

Nationwide Mutual Insurance

State Farm Insurance

Geico

MetLife

Progressive

Farmers Insurance

Erie Insurance

Travelers Insurance




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figure 3 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Auto And Home insurance Providers (Cont.)

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

10

11

9

12

7

18

20

17

16

Allstate

Safeco Insurance

AAA

Liberty Mutual

American Family Insurance

National General Insurance

Esurance

Auto-Owners Insurance

21st Century Insurance

2017

2 of 2

2016 BRAND PERFORMANCE

Auto And HomeInsurance Providers





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figure 4 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Auto manufacturers


1 of 2

Auto Manufacturers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

1

6

4

7

18

3

15

12

14

19

13

Lexus

Mercedes-Benz

Subaru

In�niti

Toyota

BMW

Honda

Hyundai

Kia Motors

Jeep

GMC





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figure 4 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Auto manufacturers (Cont.)


2 of 2

Auto Manufacturers


12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

5

16

11

8

2

21

9

17

10

22

20

Acura

Chevrolet

Mazda

Cadillac

Audi

Nissan

Ford Motor

Volkswagen

Buick

Dodge

Chrysler




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figure 5 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Credit Card Providers

Credit Card Providers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

1

2

6

5

4

9

7

8

12

3

10

11

15

13

14

USAA

Discover

SunTrust Banks

PNC Financial Services

U.S. Bank

Capital One

American Express

Chase

Citizens Bank

Barclaycard

Wells Fargo

HSBC

Citi

Bank of America

Synchrony Financial






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figure 6 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Digital-only Retailers

Digital-Only Retailers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

5

1

2

7

4

3

8

11

6

13

12

9

14

10

Etsy

QVC

Zappos.com

Wayfair

Newegg

HSN

eBay

Rue La La

drugstore.com

Groupon

Overstock.com

Amazon

Gilt

LivingSocial






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figure 7 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Direct Banks

Direct Banks

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

3

6

4

2

9

10

8

7

5

USAA

Capital One 360

Discover Bank

Fidelity Investments

Ally Bank

State Farm Bank

Goldman Sachs Bank

Synchrony Bank

American Express Bank

Charles Schwab Bank






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figure 8 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Direct or Discount Brokerages

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1

2

10

3

4

12

5

6

8

9

11

7

USAA

The Vanguard Group

TradeKing/Ally

Charles Schwab

TD Ameritrade

State Farm

Fidelity Invesments

Scottrade

E-TRADE

Merrill Edge

Firstrade

Capital One Investing


Direct Or DiscountBrokerages





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figure 9 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Full-service investment Firms

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

1

4

3

8

2

9

5

6

7

11

10

Edward Jones

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

T. Rowe Price

AXA Advisors

Ameriprise Financial

U.S. Bank

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management

JPMorgan Chase

Wells Fargo Advisors

PNC Investments

Citi Personal Wealth Management


Full-ServiceInvestment Firms





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figure 10 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Health insurance Providers


1 of 2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

3

8

6

10

9

11

7

16

Kaiser Permanente

Humana

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield

Health Net

Florida Blue

UnitedHealthcare

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Other Blue Cross Blue Shield


Health InsuranceProviders




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figure 10 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Health insurance Providers (Cont.)


2 of 2


Health InsuranceProviders

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

12

14

15

4

13

5

17

Blue Shield of California

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Cigna

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois

Aetna

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

Anthem Blue Cross




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figure 11 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Hotels


1 of 3

Hotels

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

2

13

1

4

7

9

8

20

5

16

12

6

Homewood Suites by Hilton

Omni Hotels & Resorts

Residence Inn by Marriott

Hampton Inn & Suites

Marriott Hotels & Resorts

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts

W Hotels

Hyatt Regency

Hilton Garden Inn

Holiday Inn Express

Hyatt Place





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figure 11 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Hotels (Cont.)


2 of 3

Hotels


13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

15

11

19

3

14

18

22

17

10

23

28

21

Fair�eld Inn & Suites

Westin Hotels & Resorts

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts

Embassy Suites Hotels

Hilton Hotels & Resorts

Grand Hyatt

Radisson Hotels

Courtyard by Marriott

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Holiday Inn

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

La Quinta Inn & Suites




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figure 11 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Hotels (Cont.)


3 of 3

Hotels


25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

27

24

26

30

29

33

25

32

31

35

34

Comfort Inn

Quality Inn & Suites

Crowne Plaza

Ramada Worldwide

Clarion Hotels

Travelodge

Best Western

Super 8

Days Inn

Econo Lodge

Motel 6




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figure 12 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of internet service Providers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

3

1

6

4

8

2

7

11

5

10

9

13

14

12

Suddenlink Communications

Bright House Networks

Verizon Fios

Verizon High Speed Internet (DSL)

Charter Communications

Cablevision Optimum

AOL

AT&T U-verse

Cox Communications

Windstream Communications

Time Warner Cable

CenturyLink

X�nity by Comcast

Frontier Communications


Internet ServiceProviders





20


figure 13 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of mobile Device manufacturers

Mobile Device Manufacturers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1

2

5

4

7

9

8

10

6

12

3

11

Amazon

Google

Asus

Samsung

Apple

Motorola

Dell

Microsoft and/or Microsoft Lumia

HTC

LG

Barnes & Noble

Acer






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figure 14 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of ott Providers

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

4

2

5

6

3

Net�ix

Showtime Now

Hulu

HBO NOW

CBS All Access

Amazon Prime Video


OTT Providers





22


figure 15 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Parcel shipping/Delivery Providers


1

2

3

1

2

3

UPS

USPS

FedEx


Parcel Shipping/Delivery Providers




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figure 16 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of PC manufacturers

PC Manufacturers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

3

2

1

10

4

8

6

7

9

5

Google

Samsung

Apple

HP

Asus

Gateway

Lenovo

Dell

Toshiba

Acer






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figure 17 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Rental Car Providers


Rental Car Providers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

3

4

5

10

8

9

11

7

6

National Car Rental

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Alamo Rent A Car

Avis Rent A Car

Payless Car Rental

Hertz Car Rental

Dollar Rent A Car

Thrifty Car Rental

Budget Rent A Car

Advantage Rent A Car





25


figure 18 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of traditional Retail Banks


1 of 2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

7

6

4

8

5

3

11

9

Navy Federal Credit Union

Regions Bank

BB&T

PNC Bank

TD Bank

SunTrust Banks

U.S. Bank

Huntington National Bank

Chase

Capital One Bank


Traditional Retail Banks




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figure 18 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of traditional Retail Banks (Cont.)


2 of 2


Traditional Retail Banks

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

10

13

15

12

17

16

18

14

Citizens Bank

KeyBank

M&T Bank

Fifth Third Bank

Citibank

Wells Fargo

Bank of America

Bank of the West




27


figure 19 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of traditional Retailers (stores And Digital)


1 of 3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

5

3

2

8

4

15

6

7

17

10

14

9

PetSmart

Nordstrom

Hallmark Cards

Neiman Marcus

Hobby Lobby

BJ’s Wholesale Club

Costco Wholesale

Bed Bath & Beyond

Michaels

IKEA

Walgreens

Petco


Traditional Retailers(Stores And Digital)




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figure 19 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of traditional Retailers (stores And Digital) (Cont.)


2 of 3



13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

11

19

30

13

21

31

1

18

16

12

28

23

Sam’s Club

Lowe’s

Toys R Us

Best Buy

Saks Fifth Avenue

Rite Aid

Barnes & Noble

J.C. Penney

CVS

Kohl’s

Old Navy

Target




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figure 19 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of traditional Retailers (stores And Digital) (Cont.)


3 of 3



25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

22

20

35

24

27

32

26

29

25

33

38

37

The Home Depot

Staples

Marshalls

Gap

Macy’s

H&M

Dick’s Sporting Goods

T.J.Maxx

Of�ce Depot/Of�ceMax

Sears

Walmart

Kmart




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figure 20 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of tV service Providers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

5

2

6

4

1

3

9

8

7

10

11

12


Dish Network

Verizon Fios

Cablevision Optimum


DirecTV

Charter Communications

Cox Communications

AT&T U-verse

CenturyLink

Time Warner Cable

Xfinity by Comcast


TV Service Providers





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figure 21 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of us Federal Government Agencies


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

1

3

4

6

8

5

7

2

9

10

11

12

13

15

14

National Park Service

United States Postal Service

Tricare

Medicare

Small Business Administration

US Citizenship and Immigration Services

Social Security Administration

Bureau of Consular Affairs

Department of Veterans Affairs

Medicaid

Internal Revenue Service

Transportation Security Administration

Department of Education

HealthCare.gov

USAJobs.gov


US Federal GovernmentAgencies




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figure 22 Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017: Rankings of Wireless service Providers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

2

1

4

3

5

7

8

6

9

10

11

Cricket Wireless

MetroPCS Communications

Boost Mobile

Virgin Mobile

Straight Talk

US Cellular

T-Mobile

TracFone Wireless

Verizon Wireless

AT&T Mobility

Sprint


Wireless ServiceProviders





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figure 23 the Distribution of us Cx index scores, 2016 And 2017

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Very poor Poor OK Good Excellent

3% 2%

20%23%

59%59%

17% 16%

1% 0%

2016 2017

Base: 118,992 (2017) to 122,500 (2016) US online consumers (18+) who interacted with a speci�c brand within the past 12 months

Source: Forrester Data Customer Experience Index Online Surveys, US Consumers 2017 and 2016




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figure 24 the Distribution of industry scores in Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017


2017 industry average Highest scoreLowest score

Traditional retail banks

Digital-only retailers

Direct banks

Credit card providers

Wireless service providers

Full-service investment �rms

Direct or discount brokerages

Auto and home insuranceproviders

Auto manufacturers

OTT providers

Traditional retailers(stores and digital)

Hotels

Mobile device manufacturers

PC manufacturers

Rental car providersParcel shipping/delivery

providersHealth insurance providers

Airlines

TV service providersUS federal government

agenciesInternet service providers

Base: 118,992 US online consumers (18+) who interacted with a speci�c brand within the past 12 months

Source: Forrester Data Customer Experience Index Online Survey, US Consumers 2017

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100




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figure 24 the Distribution of industry scores in Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017 (Cont.)






Direct banks



Full-service investment �rms

Direct/discount brokerages

Auto and home insuranceproviders

Auto manufacturers

OTT providers

Traditional retailers(stores and digital)

Hotels


PC manufacturers

Rental car providersParcel shipping/delivery

providersHealth insurance providers

Airlines

TV service providersUS federal government

agenciesInternet service providers

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

= 2017 industry average = 2016 industry average = Signi�cant change




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With torpor At the top, there Are no Real Cx leaders

not a single brand has managed to rise to the top of our rankings and continue to move upward — the mark of a true Cx leader. instead:

› Elite brands’ scores stayed flat — again. We refer to the top 5% of brands across all industries in the Cx index as the “elite brands” (see Figure 25). of these 18 elite brands, 16 showed no statistically significant score change. in fact, of the 10 that are repeats from 2016, only usAA’s direct banking business displayed any change — a slight improvement that doesn’t fully reverse a decline from 2015. seven of the eight new elite brands had no score change and achieved their status only because some of 2016’s elite dropped out of the pack, leaving room for new entrants. only omni Hotels & Resorts earned its slot by increasing its score slightly.

› New industry frontrunners had point drops and stagnation to thank. seven of 21 industries had new top brands this year (see Figure 26). none of these changes resulted from a major improvement by the new frontrunner. in fact, in four industries, the previous highest-scoring brand sank, while the new frontrunner remained flat.




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figure 25 the top 5% of Brands in Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017



BrandsIndustry rank

USAA (credit card providers)

USAA (direct banks)


USAA (auto and home insurance providers)

USAA (direct or discount brokerages)

Regions Bank

Edward Jones


Etsy

QVC

Cricket Wireless

Zappos.com


BB&T

Lexus

Omni Hotels & Resorts

The Hartford

The Vanguard Group

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

2

1

3

2

3

1

2

2

2




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figure 26 the Highest-scoring Brands By industry in Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017



Top-ranking brands 2016Industry

Airlines

Auto and home insurance providers

Auto manufacturers



Direct banks

Direct/discount brokerages

Full-service investment firms

Health insurance providers

Hotels

Internet service providers


OTT providers

Parcel shipping/delivery providers

PC manufacturers

Rental car providers


Traditional retailers (stores and digital)

TV service providers

US federal government agencies


JetBlue Airways

USAA

Lexus

USAA

QVC

USAA

USAA

Edward Jones

Kaiser Permanente

Residence Inn by Marriott


Amazon

Netflix, Hulu (tied)

UPS

Apple

National Car Rental


Barnes & Noble




Top-ranking brands 2017

JetBlue Airways

USAA

Lexus

USAA

Etsy

USAA

USAA

Edward Jones

Kaiser Permanente



Amazon

Netflix

UPS

Google

National Car Rental


PetSmart



Cricket Wireless




39


Without real Leaders, Only four Types Of Brands remain

in the absence of real leaders that rise to the top of the pack and continue to improve, there are only four types of brands (see Figure 27):

› Languishers: brands that rose high and then stalled. these relatively high-scoring brands have remained stuck, without a statistically significant score change, for at least two years. overall, 13% of brands in the entire us Cx index are languishers — as are 15 of the 18 Cx index elite brands and 13 of the 21 industry frontrunners. A full 45% of wireless service providers are languishers, giving that industry the highest percentage of brands in this category.

› Lapsers: brands that rose and then fell back. lapsers’ Cx index performance has declined for one or two years. Across the entire us Cx index, 17% of brands are lapsers — among them are two elite brands and two industry frontrunners. All three brands in the parcel shipping/delivery industry are lapsers. Among auto and home insurance providers, 47% of brands are lapsers, giving this industry the highest percentage of lapsers outside the parcel industry.

› Locksteppers: brands that move up and down with the pack. even when these brands improve, they fail to differentiate themselves because the quality of their Cx remains roughly on par with that of their competitors. A full 43% of Cx index brands are locksteppers, including one elite brand and five industry frontrunners. Five of the six over-the-top providers are locksteppers, making this the industry with the least differentiation among brands.

› Laggards: brands that have stayed at or near the bottom. Although some laggards have improved the quality of their Cx, their scores remain consistently at the low end of the rankings. overall, 27% of Cx index brands are laggards. this includes the frontrunner from the isP industry, which is the only industry with 100% laggards.




40


figure 27 the Four types of Brands in Forrester’s us Cx index, 2017



27%

These relatively high-scoring brands have remained stuck, without a statistically significant score change, for at least two years.

Languishers

These brands’ CX Index performance has declined for one or two years.

Lapsers

The quality of these brands’ CX remains roughly on par with that of their competitors.

Locksteppers

These brands’ CX Index scores remain consistently at the low end of the rankings.

Laggards

13%

17%

43%

Percent ofbrands:




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emotion Holds the Key to Achieving Cx leadership

Brands that want to break away from the pack should focus on emotion: How an experience makes customers feel has a bigger influence on their loyalty to a brand than effectiveness or ease in nearly every industry. Brand performance in the us Cx index, 2017 reflects this: elite brands provided an average of 17 emotionally positive experiences for each negative experience; the lowest-performing 5% of brands provided only two emotionally positive experiences for each negative experience.

We uncovered which emotions drive the most loyalty and which do the most harm to customer retention, willingness to increase their spending with a brand, and willingness to recommend a brand (see Figure 28).

› Six emotions most often drive loyalty across all industries. Contrary to conventional wisdom, making customers happy is not the single most important emotional driver of loyalty. in fact, happiness is only one of the six emotions that most often appear among the top three that are most important in any industry we studied. the other five are appreciated, confident, delighted, respected, and valued. the positive impact of these emotions on loyalty is clear and strong. For example, in the traditional retail industry, among customers who felt valued, 91% plan to stay with the brand, 89% plan to increase their spending with the brand, and 90% will advocate for the brand. this matters to the bottom line because a one-point improvement in its Cx index score can lead to an incremental $244 million in revenue for a big-box retailer.2

› Annoyance, disappointment, and frustration always drive customers away. Angering your customers isn’t as harmful to their loyalty as making them feel annoyed, disappointed, or frustrated. We found that the tV service provider industry had the largest percentage of customers who felt annoyed of any industry in our study. the result? Just 17% plan to stay with the brand, 12% plan to increase their spending with the brand, and 11% will advocate for the brand. these negative emotions hurt revenues: A large tV service provider leaves $104 million on the table for every one-point decline in its Cx index score.3

figure 28 Positive And negative emotions Drive A Customer’s experience

Positive emotions

Appreciated

Confident

Delighted

Happy

Respected

Valued

Negative emotions

Angered

Annoyed

Disappointed

Frustrated




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How Forrester Can Help

even a minor improvement to a brand’s customer experience quality can add tens of millions of dollars of revenue by reducing customer churn and increasing share of wallet.4 What’s more, happier customers are more willing to pay a premium price for the same products and services.5 When you add in other benefits of superior Cx — like reduced service costs and low-cost customer acquisition through word of mouth — the Roi of even large-scale Cx transformations can be jaw-dropping.6

Cx pros can earn these benefits for their brands via a disciplined approach to envisioning, designing, and delivering a consistently high-quality experience. Forrester can help you:

› Understand the drivers of great CX for your brand with CX Index. Forrester collects Cx index data from over 200,000 consumers on almost 700 brands in 21 industries across seven markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, india, the uK, and the us. underlying data behind the Cx index can help brands identify the key drivers of a great Cx for their customers. this allows you to focus on improving the aspects of experiences that matter most for driving revenue and avoid wasting time and money on those that don’t move the needle.

› Prove the rOI of CX transformation. to get the benefits of improved Cx, companies need to invest in areas like training, technology, and professional services. Do the benefits of Cx transformation outweigh the costs and result in positive Roi? And how can you determine that for your company? Forrester analysts working in concert with our total economic impact (tei™) group can calculate the benefits, cost, and Roi of an enterprisewide Cx transformation. You can use the resulting Roi model to fuel a winning business case for Cx transformation.

› Partner with us to develop break-away CX. Work with Forrester’s experts to create your customized roadmap to Cx that drives top line growth. We tailor our data, frameworks, and best practice research to accelerate your success.

to learn more about how Forrester can help, contact your account manager or email us at [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]




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supplemental material

Survey methodology

For the Forrester Data Customer experience index online survey, us Consumers 2017, Forrester conducted an online survey fielded in February through may 2017 of 118,922 us individuals ages 18 to 88. For results based on a randomly chosen sample of this size (n = 118,922), there is 95% confidence that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 0.01% of what they would be if the entire population of us adults who are online weekly or more often had been surveyed. the final data set was stacked by brand (314 us brands) and weighted by age, gender, region, income, and broadband adoption to represent 234,889 weighted respondents answering for all brands.

Bases: For each industry in 2017, the number of us online adults (18+) who interacted with a specific brand within the past 12 months is as follows: airlines: 9,123; auto and home insurance providers: 14, 097; auto manufacturers: 16,118; credit card providers: 11,137; digital-only retailers:

https://go.forrester.com/apps/

http://forr.com/1einFan

http://www.forrester.com/Analyst-Advisory/-/E-MPL172

https://www.forrester.com/events?N=10006+5025




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10,275; direct banks: 7,367; direct or discount brokerages: 8,786; full-service investment firms: 7,915; health insurance providers: 12,598; hotels: 25,860; internet service providers: 10,439; mobile device manufacturers: 9,167; ott providers: 4,529; parcel shipping/delivery providers: 2,394; PC manufacturers: 7,757; rental car providers: 7,396; traditional retail banks: 13,345; traditional retailers (stores and digital): 27,236; tV service providers: 9,014; us federal government agencies: 11,665; wireless service providers: 8,673.

For the Forrester Data Customer experience index online survey, us Consumers 2016, Forrester conducted an online survey fielded in February through may 2016 of 122,500 us individuals ages 18 to 88. For results based on a randomly chosen sample of this size (n = 122,500), there is 95% confidence that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 0.01% of what they would be if the entire population of us adults who are online weekly or more often had been surveyed. the final data set was stacked by brand (319 us brands) and weighted by age, gender, region, income, and broadband adoption to represent 242,494 weighted respondents answering for all brands.

Bases: For each industry in 2016, the number of us online adults (18+) who interacted with a specific brand within the previous 12 months is as follows: airlines: 9,389; auto and home insurance providers: 14,331; auto manufacturers: 16,455; credit card providers: 11,166; digital-only retailers: 10,519; direct banks: 7,558; direct or discount brokerages: 9,012; full-service investment firms: 8,219; health insurance providers: 12,756; hotels: 27,496; internet service providers: 10,466; mobile device manufacturers: 9,176; ott providers: 4,666; parcel shipping/delivery providers: 3,063; PC manufacturers: 7,788; rental car providers: 8,399; traditional retail banks: 13,326; traditional retailers (stores and digital): 28,704; tV service providers: 9,046; us federal government agencies: 12,412; wireless service providers: 8,547.

(note: Weighted sample sizes can be different from the actual number of respondents to account for individuals generally underrepresented in online panels.) Please note that respondents who participate in online surveys generally have more experience with the internet and feel more comfortable transacting online.

How To Get Access To forrester’s CX Index Data Analysis And Insights

Forrester’s Cx index helps companies do three things. it: 1) arms you with a deep and actionable understanding of the quality of your customer experience; 2) provides competitive benchmark data so you know how you stack up against your peers; and 3) enables the ability to model which improvements will have the biggest impact on revenue and other key business metrics.

Forrester collects Cx index data on almost 700 brands in 21 industries across seven key markets (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, india, the uK, and the us). if you wish to find out more regarding Forrester’s Cx index data and services or how you can leverage the methodology, please contact your account manager or email [email protected].

external citations, unauthorized reproduction, and distribution of any parts of this report are prohibited without prior written consent from Forrester.




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endnotes1 Brands in 19 of 21 industries saw losses; only the wireless service provider and car rental industries were spared.

Gains occurred in just 14 industries.

2 Forrester used data from its Cx index methodology to model how changes in customer experience affect revenue potential for 13 industries. the models take into account industry-specific dynamics like barriers to switching and recommendation effectiveness. see the Forrester report “Drive Revenue With Great Customer experience, 2017.”

3 see the Forrester report “Drive Revenue With Great Customer experience, 2017.”

4 see the Forrester report “Drive Revenue With Great Customer experience, 2017.”

5 our models showed that improving Cx drives willingness to pay indirectly by increasing brand preference and trust. other factors like elements of the price experience, exceeding customers’ expectations, membership in a loyalty program, and willingness to forgive also influence willingness to pay a premium. see the Forrester report “the Price Premium of Customer experience.”

6 see the Forrester report “the Roi of Cx transformation.”







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