Leveraging the Full Breadth of the CXPA Community to Guide Our Future

To help chart our future, the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) (CXPA) began an extensive research project in October 2023 to better understand the state of CX and the CX profession. Today, we are writing to share an update on the project and share how CXPA members and stakeholders are at its heart.

Association Laboratory Inc. serves as the external partner for this research. Its international staff have 25 years of experience researching association trends and advising professional bodies on value and growth strategies. Association Laboratory was selected by a global panel of CXPA members that included Thomina Voziki, CCXP (Greece); Dr. Anil V. Pillai (India); Dr. Ana Iorga (England); Ahmed Alfaddagi (Saudi Arabia); Vasu Rao - MBA, CCXP (USA); Francisco Zapata, CCXP (Brazil); Ian Stokol (Australia); Larry Leung (Canada); Catherine Gauthier, CCXP (Canada); Georges Essama (Cameroon); Pranav Kumar (India); Barbie Fink, CCXP (USA) and Nienke Bloem CCXP CSP (Netherlands). These evaluators rated the fairness of the Association Laboratory proposal very highly, noting that the Association Laboratory outlined an approach based on community discussion and collaborative decision-making that aligned well with CXPA’s culture.

A key element was to have the project guided by a Steering Committee to help ensure a fair, thoughtful research approach. We are thankful to the Steering Committee members that bring extensive experience, insight and international representation: Ankesh Agarwal, CCXP (UAE); Bryan Sander, CCXP, MBA (USA); Eytan Hattem, CCXP (France & Israel); Jayalakshmi Sudarshan, CCXP (India); Karyn Furstman, CCXP (USA); Lauren Feehrer, CCXP (USA); Megan Burns (USA); Olga Potaptseva, CCXP (Georgia); Rebekah Kabugo-Mugisha (Uganda);   Richard Mayne, CCXP (Singapore); and Steering Committee Chair Barbie Fink, CCXP (USA), supported by CXPA CEO Greg Melia, CAE and Associate Director Gabe Smith, CCXP . 

The project involves multiple stages of research, as depicted in the chart below:

During the Strategy Framing, unstructured interviews were conducted with twenty-five leaders including the Steering Committee as well as past and current CXPA leaders such as Mohamed Latib, Ph.D (USA), Marc Karschies (CCXP/CXPA RTP) (UAE), Tabitha Dunn (USA), Roxana (Roxie) Strohmenger, CCXP, LSSGB (USA), Sebastien Munar, CCXP, XMP (Peru), Anita Siassios-Huntsman JD Candidate IAPP CIPM (Australia), Benjamin Easaw, CCXP (USA), and Ian Golding (England). Additionally, 313 CXPA members and non-members completed a qualitative survey to help identify significant issues facing the CX field, CX professional challenges and aspirations, and thoughts on the role of CXPA.

Together, these datasets sparked plenty of conversation, insight, and curiosity amongst the research team. Some observations include:

About the CX Field and Ecosystem

• The customer experience field is still very much in its infancy, with different degrees of awareness and development across the globe.
• While young, the CX ecosystem has grown significantly since CXPA was founded in 2011, with many more organizations providing software solutions, consulting support, education, and community.
• Customer experience professionals turn to a number of sources including CXPA, vendors, peers, and the networking groups for support and assistance in achieving their CX goals.
• Creating CEO understanding, respect and buy-in for customer experience as a trusted business discipline remains a top need for CX professionals.  

About CXPA

• A core differentiating factor for CXPA is its independent, consensus-based content and standards, especially its Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) certification and publications.
• CXPA needs to focus on enhancing perceptions around its organizational transparency, independence, and global engagement – especially becoming more open and inclusive, with less focus on CX stardom.
• CX professionals want to see CXPA lead more collaboration across CX leadership organizations, associations, consultancies, and industry partners to evangelize a unified view of CX that raises awareness of the relevance of CX to positive business outcomes.

About CXPA’s Future Directions

The research also raises good questions about how CXPA should prioritize its time and resources. We must look at new technology, generative AI, changing consumer expectations, privacy regulations, and other emerging issues. We must also consider the way that CXPA provides value and opportunities for engagement to meet changing stakeholder expectations.

To quantify stakeholder opinion on these issues, a significant survey will be sent in February to CXPA community members. The survey is a comprehensive undertaking, delving into the respondent’s relationship with CXPA (including barriers to participation); individual, company and regional CX maturity; CX field environmental scanning topics; and potential strategic roles for CXPA.

To ease response burden, sampling methodology and questionnaire branching will be used within the survey – but it will still be a questionnaire that requires time and thoughtfulness to complete. Everyone who has engaged with CXPA over the past three years – be it through complimentary online registration, the CCXP program, event attendance or membership is invited to have a voice in determining CXPA’s future by completing the email survey. We hope that you will complete the survey if you receive it as it will be a critical guiding factor in informing CXPA’s future directions as outlined below.

How the Research Will Be Used in Decision-Making

The Steering Committee will meet with the project consultants in mid-March to discuss and draw insights from all research to date, including the Quantitative Survey data. This will help in the development of directional recommendations to be considered by the CXPA Board of Directors in early April.

The CXPA Board directions will form the agenda for a Global Leadership Summit on April 30 in Denver, Colorado to facilitate collaboration, conversation, and connections between CX leaders from around the globe. The Summit will help the CXPA community plan on how to achieve the new directional goals. Further timelines and operational plans will be developed in May and June, including action plans for July 2024 and beyond.

This is truly an exciting and pivotal time for the CXPA community. As CX grows and evolves, so must our association.

It has been invigorating and inspiring to see so many individuals involved in this work thus far– and a huge thank you in advance to all the quantitative survey respondents and volunteers who will help us complete this important work!

Together in Advancing CX,

Barbie Fink, CCXP , Global Research Project Steering Committee Chair

Greg Melia, CAE , CXPA CEO