Customer Experience Management
Benchmarking Study

The second annual worldwide comprehensive Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Benchmarking Study was launched May 11, 2011.

Q: How are survey participants invited?
A: The survey link is sent by ClearAction directly to B2B CEM practitioners to protect data integrity of the study and copyright of the questionnaire. Suvey link: http://tinyurl.com/cem-b2b ... Questions: ask benchmark@clearaction.biz

Q: Who qualifies to participate in the survey?
A: The survey is intended for practitioners of B2B customer experience management, such as VoC, market research, data-mining, intelligence, CRM, customer references, experiential marketing, loyalty, CLV, community, word-of-mouth, co-innovation, branding, internal customer satisfaction, service excellence, call center, UX, complaint management, etc. Note: providers of CEM tools and consulting are not qualified to participate in the survey.

Q: What do participants receive?
A: In appreciation for completing the benchmarking questionnaire, qualified participants will receive a complimentary study report ($395 price). Additionally, they will receive a complimentary copy of the ebook Customer Experience Improvement Momentum. An independent benchmarking effort saves tremendous resources (typically $20,000+) for your company to rapidly learn which approaches are most common and which ones are indeed best practices.

Q: What motivated this study?
A: To-date B2B case studies in loyalty, satisfaction, and experience management books and articles are sparse! There are no lists of best-in-class companies for B2B CEM, as opposed to abundant data on B2C CEM by Business Week Top 25, JD Power, Forrester, etc. B2B CEM studies to-date have been limited to certain geographies and industry segments. See the press release announcing the initial B2B Customer Experience Management Study.

Q: What is unique about this survey?
A: This comprehensive survey answers these questions: Who in the organization has overall responsibility for driving customer experience improvement? What are the primary goals, motivations, and obstacles for customer experience excellence? And to what extent does the company strive to understand customer perspectives, build customer-centricity, and create customer value? The second annual survey differs from the 2010 baseline study which explored the functional owners of various customer experience programs, and the degree of organizational deployment. About two-thirds of the questions in the 2nd Annual Study were not included in the 1st Annual Study. And two-thirds of the questions from the baseline study are not included in this 2nd Annual Study. The 2011 questionnaire consists of about 40 questions to gauge comprehensive aspects of customer experience management.

Q: How many participants will there be?
A: We are seeking to include representative samples among a wide array of business-to-business sectors, including (but not limited to) agriculture, energy, financial, materials, manufacturing, technology, and transportation. A variety of industries within each sector are invited to participate. It may be possible for us to offer you a survey report for your specific industry, e.g. insurance; we will advise you of such opportunities following the data collection phase of this study.

Q: What is the survey deadline?
A: The deadline for survey completion is Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at noon (Pacific time zone). We intend to announce findings from the study by mid-August 2011.

Q: How is confidentiality protected?
A: All participants in the ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Benchmarking Study will be protected through anonymity of their company name and respondent name in all survey reports and communications, with the exception of the complimentary customized report that will be sent only to the corresponding participant, displaying their answers compared to the consolidated respondents' answers. It is optional to include your name as a participant, but we need your email address to send your complimentary copy of the report. Company name is required in order to classify responses by industry, company size, and other demographics. Participants' contact information will not be shared outside of ClearAction.

Q: How will the data be used?
A: Inputs to this benchmarking study will be used only to identify best practices, drivers and inhibitors of success, and key areas for improvement. Participants may be subsequently asked for permission to use their company name in a list of "Top 5" practitioners of certain best practices; if the participant company declines such a request, their wishes will be honored. Additionally, some participants may be invited to participate in an in-depth interview, at which time the parameters of information usage will be jointly agreed upon.

Q: How can this information be shared with B2B contacts?
A: Please send your contacts a link to this web page (clearction.biz/benchmark), or ask admin@clearaction.biz to send the survey link directly to your contacts. (This survey is invitation-only from ClearAction to protect data integrity and questionnaire copyright.)

Q: How is ClearAction uniquely qualified to conduct this study?
A: Lynn Hunsaker, head of ClearAction, has managed B2B CEM since 1989 as Strategic Information Manager, Voice of the Customer Manager, Market Research Consultant, Customer Satisfaction Improvement Manager, Head of Global Quality, and Director of Marketing. ClearAction is partnering with The Insight Advantage, a full-service market research firm that specializes in providing clients with ongoing insight into their customers' evolving needs and expectations. Ms. Hunsaker's passion and insights for the intricacies of B2B sales and customer management were honed at Sonoco Products Company and Applied Materials. Ms. Hunsaker has also taught marketing courses at UC Berkeley Extension, and she is past President of the award-winning Silicon Valley American Marketing Association. Ms. Hunsaker is author of three customer experience books for Amazon Kindle, and is on the Advisory Board of CustomerThink, The Customer Care Network, CustomerExperienceOne, and Marketing Operations Partners.

Q: What will the benchmarking study report look like?
A: Please see the 2010 ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Benchmarking Study. The 2nd Annual Study will profile best-in-class versus most-common practices. High participation across geographies and industries will reveal interesting patterns to help Customer Experience Management leaders boost CEM return on investment.