Last week, I did a webinar on Forrester’s Customer Experience Index, 2013. We didn’t have time to answer everyone’s questions, so I thought I’d post answers to those we didn't get to.  

"Can consumers respond to having an experience with multiple companies?"

In some cases, yes, and in some cases, no. In the bank, credit card provider, insurance, consumer electronics manufacturer, airline, hotel, and rental car categories, they can pick up to two brands they’ve done business with most in the past 90 days. For retailers, they can pick up to four. For the other six industries, they are limited to one.

"What is the threshold to determine if the person is a customer? Interactions one time, over time? A recent experience?"

We don’t strictly require the person to be a customer. The person could be a prospect or a former customer. All we ask is that this person has done business with the company in the past 90 days.

"Why don't you track high tech?"

We do, actually. Two years ago, we added the consumer electronics manufacturer industry, which covers most of the latest high-tech gadgetry. We don’t include software in part because there are just so many types of software and so many brands. It would be hard to narrow them down to something manageable.

"How does CXi map to NPS?"

Over the past few years, we’ve tested the correlation between Customer Experience Index (CXi) scores and Net Promoter Score (NPS) in several different industries and find that the two are very strongly correlated. This tells us that a customer’s experience with a firm is a major factor in his/her likelihood to recommend that firm. It isn’t the only factor affecting NPS (the correlation co-efficients weren’t 1), but it’s a big one. For those who want to dig deeper, here are the reports we’ve published on this particular topic:

"Have you had any research on correlating the CXi to any financials of these companies (e.g., looking at their stock prices or operating costs, etc., to see if there is significance)?"

We correlate CXi scores to loyalty and revenue benefit every year and plan to do so again this year (it’s in the works now). We also work with Jon Picoult from Watermark Consulting who has looked at the link between CXi rankings and stock performance for the past several years. John is working on the 2013 analysis now, but if you want to check out the striking results of last year’s analysis, you can read our post on the topic or visit his blog.

"For the companies improving their CXi on a year-to-year basis, have you published case studies on what they are doing in their industries such as investments in technology, process, etc.?"

You bet! One of our most popular reports every year is titled “How Companies Improved Their CXi Scores, 2012.” We interview as many of the “most improved” firms as we can and summarize what’s working for them in that report.

I’ve done three of this year’s interviews already and have several more on the calendar throughout this month. Our plan is to have the report to all of you by the beginning of Q2. In the meantime, you can check out the 2012 and 2011 versions here.

"Can you please clarify if the reports give the ability to filter the scores by various groups? Or only the ability to see the makeup of respondents?"

The reports themselves don’t let you slice and dice the data, but those of you who are Forrester clients and subscribe to our Consumer Technographics® data product can see data on the respondent base for any company in the Index and cut the data many different ways (subject to valid sample size, of course).

If you’re not sure whether or not you subscribe to Consumer Technographics, contact your Forrester account manager. He/she can let you know the options available.