New CX Research from Primary Intelligence Finds B2B Firms Are Getting Serious About Customer Feedback

In Primary Intelligence’s recently published 2016 State of Customer Experience research findings, we found some interesting data points to suggest that B2B firms are increasingly serious about collecting, analyzing, and responding to feedback from their customers. In this blog, we share three of the more interesting findings from our latest annual research on the Customer Experience (CX) market.

State of Customer Experience 2016 Research Findings

Finding #1: The pace of customer data collection among B2B organizations has accelerated:

• In 2016, nearly 90% of organizations are collecting information about their customers on an ongoing basis, an increase from approximately 80% in 2015.
• Just 10% of B2B firms collect customer information on a quarterly basis and none of the firms surveyed say they’re gathering customer feedback on an annual basis.

Customer Experience Data Collection Frequency

Performance Metrics: When company performance data is overlaid on top of CX collection frequency, the results show that gathering customer input on an ongoing basis yields better outcomes in all areas of performance when compared with firms that only collect feedback on a quarterly basis.

Especially noteworthy metrics comparing ongoing data collection to quarterly customer feedback include:

• Revenue growth is double
• Customer support performance is 91% higher
• Profitability is 60% greater
• Employee attrition is 63% lower

Finding #2: The largest percentage of organizations—approximately one-third—are spending between $100K and $500K annually on their Customer Experience initiatives. This is expected to shift in the coming year:

• Nearly 60% of B2B organizations plan to increase spending on CX programs over the next 12 months. Of these:
  • 1 in 5 will increase spending by 1-10%
  • 1 in 4 will increase spending by 11-20%

Anticipated Increase in Customer Experience Program Investment

Performance Metrics: An overlay of annual CX investment levels with performance data shows that all areas of performance are higher when organizations spend between $500K and $1 million on Customer Experience programs annually.

Especially noteworthy metrics comparing $100K–$500K in annual spending to $500K–$1 million in annual spending include:

• Customer support performance is 2X higher
• Employee attrition is 111% lower
• Customer retention is 98% higher
• Revenue growth is 81% greater

Finding #3: One in five firms started a new Customer Experience program within the past year. Close to 40% of organizations have had Customer Experience programs in place for two years or less.

Customer Experience Program Tenure

Performance Metrics: Many performance measures are most favorable for organizations that have had Customer Experience programs in place between eight and 10 years compared with CX programs in place for just one-to-two years.

Especially noteworthy metrics comparing CX programs in place for one-to-two years with CX programs in place for eight-to-10 years include:

• 33% higher revenue growth
• 23% greater product competitiveness
• 17% lower employee attrition
• 16% higher profitability