The Cx Cast

Every year, Forrester conducts a global survey of voice-of-the-customer (VoC) and customer experience (CX) measurement practices. Leaders of CX measurement programs are reporting improvements in 2024 compared to 2023. Forrester VP, Principal Analyst Maxie Schmidt explains why there are persistent gaps in what CX measurement programs can do compared to current maturity.

Culture work underpins every successful customer experience (CX) transformation. Martin and Angelina discuss Forrester’s collection of case studies that capture diverse efforts to build a customer-focused culture change to ultimately improve the customer experience.

Mental models operate throughout your organization. They determine what we believe will occur and create expectations, predictions, and decisions — for customers, executives, and employees. VP and Principal Analyst Joana de Quintanilha explains harnessing mental models and applies it to CX pros’ biggest business challenges.

CX event season may be over, but we're not done with it on the CX Cast yet! VP, Research Director Rick Parrish joins us this week to compare and contrast his experience hosting CX North America with Martin's experience hosting CX EMEA this year.

We come to you live this week from Forrester’s annual CX Summit EMEA conference in London, England. This year, sessions will focus on blending generative AI with human capabilities, plus how this will impact CX, marketing, and digital. We capture some familiar (and new!) voices discussing the research they’ll be sharing throughout the event. Featuring: Multiple speakers and attendees Show Notes: We come to you live this week from Forrester’s annual CX Summit EMEA conference in London, England. This year, sessions will focus on blending generative AI with human capabilities, plus how this will impact CX, marketing, and digital. We capture some familiar (and new!) voices discussing the research they’ll be sharing throughout the event. You’ll hear:  What Forrester analysts are most excited to share this year.  What's top-of-mind for CX practitioners.   Learn more about Forrester’s CX events here.  

We come to you live this week from Forrester’s annual CX Summit North America conference in Nashville, Tennessee. This year, sessions will focus on blending generative AI with human capabilities, plus how this will impact CX, marketing, and digital. We capture some familiar voices discussing the research they’ll be sharing throughout the event.

Julian Aldeco, VP, Head of Customer Voice and Obsession at Prudential Financial, gives a candid retelling of Prudential's CX transformation thus far. Aldeco offers details to guide other practitioners in varied topics, from CX strategy to measurement to culture.

Generative AI signaled a major shift in vendor strategy for conversational AI. What do CX pros and customer service leaders, as the customers of these vendors, need to know about the vendor landscape? Principal Analyst Max Ball gives an overview of vendor history and motivations to quickly adopt generative AI for customer service applications. But will this evolution finally enable self-service applications to drive consistently good experiences? We discuss.

Principles of systems thinking expand our view on how to transform experiences and support the employees that deliver those experiences. Forrester VP and Principal Analyst J. P. Gownder shares his research on productivity and collaboration and how his systems thinking approach reveals implications for the customer experience. 

Search can make or break your digital experience, but how much do you really know about search vendors, the choices you can make, and how search really impacts customer loyalty? Forrester Principal Analyst Emily Pfeiffer joins us to share some insights into what CX leaders should know about commerce search.

A journey atlas (also known as a catalog of journeys) helps companies establish and sustain a shared customer-centric language across silos. It creates a strategic, bird’s-eye view of what matters to customers to help companies prioritize, assign responsibility, collaborate, and find shared value across journeys.

Frontline workers have an obvious role in the customer experience, but frontline work has changed a lot in the last five years. VP, Principal Analyst J. P. Gownder discusses the headwinds frontline workers face and the role that leaders need to embrace to be forward-thinking in how they drive effectiveness.

Emirati holding company Majid al Futtaim won Forrester’s first-ever Customer Obsession Enterprise Award in 2023. Grégoire Charpe-Civatte, VP of CX and Innovation, joins the CX Cast this week to discuss how the CX team embeds CX into the firm's strategy and drives action across the organization.  Featuring: Grégoire Charpe-Civatte, VP of CX and Innovation at Majid al Futtaim Show notes: Emirati holding company Majid al Futtaim won Forrester’s first-ever Customer Obsession Enterprise Award in 2023. CX At Majid Al Futtaim  We discuss:  How do you make CX resonate in very different businesses?  What’s happened since Majid al Futtaim won our CX award last year, and what’s top of mind now?  How are you scaling for innovation?  What’s next? How are you using AI? 

How can you get stakeholders engaged in your CX research program? Forrester analyst Senem Biyikli combines her research expertise with practitioner interviews to offer best practices.

Customer experience for IT (CX4IT) is a concept that transforms how IT operates, placing customers at its center. Forrester Principal Analyst Gordon Barnett explains how to build experience-driven IT organizations and why it matters. We discuss how CX pros can inspire, inform, and collaborate with IT leaders to achieve great CX for IT.   Featuring: Gordon Barnett, Principal Analyst Show Notes: Customer experience for IT (CX4IT) is a concept that transforms how IT operates, placing customers at its center. Forrester Principal Analyst Gordon Barnett explains how to build experience-driven IT organizations and why it matters. We discuss how CX pros can inspire, inform, and collaborate with IT leaders to achieve great CX for IT.   We discuss:  Who are the “customers” in CX4IT?  Is there a specific definition of CX when it comes to IT offerings?  What are the benefits of CX4IT?  Do CX pros partner with IT to make CX4IT happen, or is this an opportunity space?  Does best-in-class CX4IT look the same in

Sam Stern, Senior Manager of CX at LinkedIn, returns for a discussion on customer-centric culture. Along with a candid assessment of the current state of customer-centric culture at LinkedIn, he offers his perspective as a former Forrester analyst-turned-practitioner.

Sam Stern, founding CX Cast host, returns to the podcast to share his experiences as Senior Manager of CX at LinkedIn. Sam and Angelina talk about the importance of maintaining trust and confidence by improving customer experiences.

It’s time B2B organizations get our full attention! VP, Research Director Dave Frankland gives a survey of the research that will be showcased at Forrester’s B2B Summit, diving into insights shared on orchestrating comprehensive buyer and customer experiences. 

CX teams can take many paths to grow their capabilities and influence. Figuring out where to start and what’s most important can be paralyzing. Senior Analysts Su Doyle and AJ Joplin developed tools to help clients reconnect with their purpose as CX teams and plan a path forward. Featuring: Su Doyle, Sr Analyst AJ Joplin, Sr Analyst Show Notes: CX teams can take many paths to grow their capabilities and influence. Figuring out where to start and what’s most important can be paralyzing. Senior Analysts Su Doyle and AJ Joplin developed tools to help clients reconnect with their purpose as CX teams and plan a path forward. We discuss:  How can we identify the capabilities a CX team needs to achieve its unique goals?  What is the impact of using a standard tool, built on market research, to support decision-making?  CX doesn't own everything — and sometimes owns nothing. How can CX teams be orchestrators of CX activities?  For more, see The Forrester CX Capability Inventory and CX Activity Maps. 

Demonstrating empathy in digital experiences helps brands build trust and loyalty, yet many brands struggle to reflect customer understanding in the experiences they create and miss out on opportunities to make customers feel heard and understood. Forrester Analyst Senem Biyikli and Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar offer best practices to design for empathy. Featuring: Gina Bhawalkar, Principal Analyst Senem Guler Biyikli, UX Analyst Show Notes: Demonstrating empathy in digital experiences helps brands build trust and loyalty, yet many brands struggle to reflect customer understanding in the experiences they create and miss out on opportunities to make customers feel heard and understood. Forrester Analyst Senem Biyikli and Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar offer best practices to design for empathy.  We discuss:  What’s “design for empathy”? Why does it matter?  What are the challenges brands face when it comes to empathy?  You discuss five best practices in your report. Can you tell us about those?