The CX Cast

Measuring the impact of design is critical so that design teams can prove their value internally, scale up, and elevate their strategic influence. But to lock in and sustain these benefits, you need to systematize your design measurement practice. In this episode, Principal Analyst, Gina Bhawalkar, joins us to answer the question: How do you approach building and establishing design measurement in...

Measuring the impact of design is critical so that design teams can prove their value internally, scale up, and elevate their strategic influence. In this episode, Principal Analyst, Gina Bhawalkar, joins us to answer the question: What steps can companies take to measure the business impact of experience design? The complexity of this topic and wealth of examples led to a long episode, so we&#821...

It is more crucial now than ever to stay in-tune with your customers, but how to manage a customer feedback program during a crisis can be difficult and confusing. The bottom line: You will have to adapt your approach. In this episode, Senior CX Analyst Faith Adams joins us to discuss customer feedback programs, including how critical they are, how to approach them the right way, and what processe...

What is the employee experience (EX) of a pandemic? Companies are making plans and governments are tracking the spread of the virus, but who is listening to the voice of the employees? What impact are they experiencing because of the coronavirus, even if they aren’t exposed to it? In this episode we discuss with VP Principal Analyst, James McQuivey about the data he has collected from the #p...

Companies faced over 2,200 lawsuits in 2019 for failing to make their digital properties accessible, so it’s no wonder firms are prioritizing accessibility. But it’s about more than legal risk — accessibility efforts have a long track record of yielding innovations that help all customers, a benefit commonly called the “curb cut effect.” In this episode we discuss with prin...

Brands who create value for customers get business value in return. However, many customer experience (CX) professionals fail to identify and deliver the right value to customers. In this episode we discuss with Forrester principal analysts, Maxie Schmidt and Shar VanBoskirk, about the definition of value and their framework on how to think and provide customer value. Click the titles below for mo...

CX Champions programs are growing in popularity, with surprising diversity in execution. Many are an increasingly valuable aspects of CX teams’ efforts and influence across the organization, whether they’re used for training, project management, or recognition. In this episode, we discuss with analyst Angelina Gennis about what are the goals of the program and what can a CX Champions p...

A lot of companies are focused on customer journeys and we all know why journeys matter. However many companies struggle to assess whether journeys are successful for the customer and the company. How well does each journey perform? Does it deliver value to customers? Does it meet short-term and long-term organizational goals? In this episode, we discuss with VP Principal Analyst Joana Quintanilha...

Employee experience is more important than ever right now as it has an impact on customer experience. However, most companies still rely on annual snapshots of employee engagement from traditional surveys. These insights are often stale by the time you’ve analyzed the data. In this episode, we discuss with VP Principal Analyst Joana Quintanilha, about what is it right now that makes employee...

Judy’s research focuses on prioritization, the return on investment of customer experience, and culture. In this episode, she talks about her past experiences as a Principal Advisor for Forrester’s Customer Experience Council, supporting CX leaders through the building, management, and ongoing improvement of their programs. We also discuss her time at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rh...

Brands who create value for customers get business value in return. However, many customer experience (CX) professionals fail to identify and deliver the right value to customers. In this episode we discuss with Forrester principal analysts, Maxie Schmidt and Shar VanBoskirk, about the definition of value and their framework on how to think and provide customer value. Click the titles below for mo...

Five years and 209 episodes later, we say goodbye to Sam Stern as he makes the move from The CX Cast co-host to a CX practitioner and listener. In Sam’s last episode, we discuss his time at Forrester, key lessons learned, and both what he looks forward to and what challenges he anticipates as a CX leader. We look forward to his return as a guest!

For our bicentennial, we’re reflecting on the biggest themes of the podcast. We discuss the evolution of customer and user experience practices; the greatest challenges that persist; and we lay out the strategic work that firms have yet to master.

A wave of so-called digitally native direct-to-consumer (DTC) startups, like Casper and Dollar Shave Club, have burst on the scene, gaining market share and media attention. Long-standing brands are scrambling to respond with their own direct strategies. But without understanding why consumers are trying these new brands and how their expectations are evolving, traditional organizations’ eff...

This year Forrester fielded a survey to hundreds of customer experience (CX) professionals across the globe. We received feedback on what CX professionals are responsible for, where they report in their organizations, the size of their budgets and much more. In this episode, Forrester analyst Angelina Gennis discusses the data and trends for the state of CX teams.

Companies strive to innovate but their attempts often fizzle. Two root causes of this failure are 1) lack of organizational buy-in for the innovation function and 2) a company culture that puts too much of the risk on the shoulders of individual employees. In this episode, we discuss the best practices for CX Pros and their colleagues to apply in order to ideate, incubate, and launch winning innov...

When it comes to customer experience (CX) predictions, there’s an elephant in the room that’s dominating our thinking this year: money. Why? Because proving that CX delivers business results has turned into a career-defining issue for people who work in this field. Unfortunately, many CX professionals who can’t tie experiences to dollars will find themselves in the unemployment l...

CX pros often feel trapped by their voice-of-the-customer (VoC) vendor — even when the vendor falls short on meeting basic expectations. That’s because the complexity associated with switching vendors makes customer experience (CX) pros struggle to accept that a change is essential to achieving their CX transformation goals. To help CX pros be more confident in identifying technology and ser...

Employee experience (EX) is becoming ever more important due to an increasingly educated workforce, incredibly low unemployment rate, pervasive AI/automation, and workplaces beset by multiple transformation initiatives. Contrary to common perception, the ROI of EX is quantifiable, and investments in EX will manifest in unexpectedly large returns. So Forrester built a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) m...

Many product management teams struggle to connect design and development. The siloed model doesn’t yield high-quality software or pleasurable customer experiences. In this episode, we discuss what Forrester means by product management, how companies can do this effectively, and where we see the future of the role. Click the titles below to learn more: * Adopt Product Management To Connect De...

Companies increasingly have to align their value with stakeholders for business success. The evidence is clear and strong: Data shows a company’s approach to moral, social, and political values matters to both its consumers and employees. Senior analyst, Anjali Lai, discusses this trend and how companies can live their values. Click the titles below to learn more: * Live Your Values To Grow...

Design thinking has historically enjoyed “blind support” among executive leaders based on its perceived value. However, many of these same leaders now find themselves under mounting pressure to show the return on their investments (ROI) in the practice. So Forrester built a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) model to help. It quantifies the value of design thinking and empowers practitioners to form a c...

Many customer experience (CX) pros believe customer success management (CSM) only applies to a subset of businesses (e.g., SaaS). This is not true. CSM’s mission — ensure the customer gets value — is important to all businesses. In this episode, Principal Analyst TJ Keitt explains the basic tenets of the discipline and how to apply them to any business. Click the title below to read more: *...

Prioritizing inclusive design helps companies win and retain more customers, break into new markets, and get employees more engaged. But what does inclusive design look like in practice? In this episode, Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar discusses best practices for infusing accessibility into research and design practices — a topic she’ll be covering in greater depth today at Forrester&#8217...

Perception, with all its nuances, is often misunderstood. And yet, it’s core to the very definition of “customer experience” — customers’ perceptions of their interactions with a company. In this episode, Forrester Analyst Kelly Price helps us understand the dynamics of customers’ perceptions and how to account for their complexity in structuring customer research — a glimp...