• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 26, 2024

Customer experience professionals must be getting better at what they do.  

They define their biggest challenge as cross-functional communication across business departments, up slightly from 2023. But understanding and acting on actual customer behaviors has fallen from 85% last year to 44% in 2024, according to The State of Customer Journey Success 2024-2025, a study by CX Network in association with Alterian.

That’s not the only improvement. The number complaining about difficulty in officially measuring and tracking the effectiveness of CX efforts has dropped from 75% to 64% YoY. 

Still, it is no small thing to understand customer behavior. Email marketing teams must have it easier because there is a definite response.

The respondents to this study do the following: 

• Conduct regular customer surveys and feedback analysis — 78%
• Implement customer journey mapping workshops — 43%
• Utilize customer journey analytics software to analyze customer interactions — 34%
• Use social listening tools to monitor online conversations and sentiments — 34%
• Employ customer tracking technologies, e.g. cookies, to monitor touchpoints — 33%

Notably, the number using analytics has declined from 50% last year and social listening from 45% in 2023.

Again, except for the conversion rate and customer lifetime value, the metrics being used to measure success may seem broad to an email marketer:

• Customer satisfaction score — 69%
• Net promoter score — 66%
• Conversion rates — 31% 
• Customer effort score — 26% 
• Customer lifetime value — 24% 
• Other — 10% 

Respondents were also asked whether their approach to customer journey measurement had changed over the past year, and 41% reported enhanced use of data analytics and AI tools. In addition, 28% increased their investments in customer journey technology. 

Their main goals? 

• Ensuring seamless and positive customer experiences across all touchpoints — 79%
• Fostering long-term relationships with customers and increasing their lifetime value — 66% 
• Monitoring customer satisfaction while reducing costs in my business — 57% 
• Consistently meeting or exceeding revenue and profit targets — 48%
• Expanding market share and gaining competitive advantage — 40% 

CX Network surveyed 107 members across the Americas, Europe, the U.K. and Ireland from July 15-August 26, 2024.