Gartner Says Growth Companies Are More Actively Collecting Customer Experience Data Than Nongrowth Companies

Companies that have seen a positive revenue growth collect more customer experience (CX) data than nongrowth companies, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey found that nearly 80% of growth organizations use customer surveys to collect CX data, compared with just 58% of nongrowth organizations.

“There is a clear trend among growing companies to actively collect CX data using a wide variety of tools such as surveys, usability testing, focus groups and real-time analytics,” said Jessica Ekholm, research vice president at Gartner. “This is what we call the outside-in approach — the idea that customer value creation, customer orientation and CX will drive long-term business success.”

A growth organization is defined as one that had positive revenue growth from 2018 to 2019 and is expected to have positive revenue growth from 2019 to 2020. A nongrowth organization had reportedly unchanged or declining revenue from 2018 to 2019, with the same expected for 2019 to 2020.

Customer Surveys Used by Majority of Growth Organizations
Customer surveys remain the most popular medium among both growth and nongrowth organizations for collecting CX data, according to the Gartner survey. While surveys can provide product managers with a baseline understanding of customer experiences and sentiment, they do have some limitations.

Consumers are increasingly experiencing “survey fatigue,” with research showing declining response rates for each subsequent survey that a customer receives. Further, survey responses are often written in haste or provide ambiguous information, lowering the quality of the data collected. Surveys are also unable to surface real-time information.

“Despite their widespread use, customer surveys have some flaws that limit their ability to collect quality CX data,” said Ms. Ekholm. “Recognizing this, growth companies are beginning to use near- or real-time analytics, to complement or build upon the data collected from surveys.”

Real-Time Analytics Accelerate and Deepen CX Insights
The use of near- and real-time analytics to collect CX data is a rising trend among growth companies, with 43% of product managers at growth companies using analytics to collect and analyze customer perception and sentiment data. This is compared with just 22% of product managers at nongrowth companies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can help organizations gather real-time data about customers’ current issues and experiences. This data can then be used to predict the customer’s next move, proactively recommending features, solutions or actions that improve the customer journey.

“Companies that leverage AI and near- and real-time analytics applications to collect customer data will stand out as CX leaders in the next five to 10 years,” said Ms. Ekholm.

The Gartner Changing Approaches to Product Development survey was conducted online between July and September 2019, among participants with the title of manager or equivalent and above at organizations in high-tech industries with anticipated 2019 revenue of more than $100 million. In total, 214 respondents were interviewed across the U.S., China, India, Canada, the U.K., France and Germany.