Creating your Customer Experience (CX) team

Building a Successful Customer Experience (CX) Team

To have a successful CX team, it's essential to bring onboard and engage the right people in the right roles. Who those right people are depends on the organisation, where the team fits within the organisational structure, and how broadly the functions and responsibilities of the CX team are scoped. For instance, the CX team for a large bank will likely differ significantly from that of a niche eCommerce provider.

What Do CX Teams Do?

In a customer-centric organisation, theoretically, everyone could be part of the CX team, especially those in customer-facing roles like sales, marketing, or service. Laura Frazer, Managing Director of Frazer Tremble Executive, notes, “As a function within a business, customer experience is still relatively new and evolving. Everyone has their own flavour of it, which makes it an exciting area to be in. However, it also presents challenges in hiring and managing the right team.”

At the core of most CX teams is a group of specialists responsible for analysing customer feedback and data, sharing findings with the rest of the organisation, running Voice of Customer (VoC) programmes, and conducting regular consumer research.

In some organisations, the CX team plays an active role in designing new experiences and the cultural transformation required to become customer-centric. In others, the insights from the dedicated CX team inform the work and changes made by various departments. Research from Forrester identifies the primary responsibilities of a CX team as:

• Developing the CX strategy and vision for the organisation
• Managing VoC and customer feedback programmes
• Running measurement programmes and monitoring customer-related metrics
• Leading experience design and customer-centric culture transformation
• Conducting consumer research

Teams can vary in size; some may be small, requiring members to handle multiple roles, while others may consist of dozens of specialists. How you build your CX dream team will depend on the priorities and objectives established for the team.

What Roles Does Your Team Require?

Stonington City Council embarked on its CX transformation journey about six months ago, building its team around three initial priorities. Greg Curcio, Director of Engagement and Innovation at Stonington City Council, explains, “We started with some priorities around understanding the customer, designing for the experience, and raising the profile of the customer across the organisation.”

After establishing these priorities and a three-year CX strategy, Stonington created an operating model to help achieve its objectives. Curcio says, “I’m a massive fan of having an operating model. Without it, articulating roles, accountabilities, and process hand-off points is challenging. Our model includes technology, digital, customer experience leadership, and analytics—all focused on understanding the customer.”

Most teams typically require people to fill the following positions:

• The Analyst: Responsible for designing customer satisfaction and feedback surveys, and extracting insights from the data generated.
• The Design Thinker: Uses insights from the analyst to design improved customer experiences, thinking strategically and creatively to solve business challenges.
• The Customer Ambassador: Listens to and understands the needs of stakeholders, developing strong relationships while promoting the customer perspective throughout the organisation.

These roles represent core capabilities often found in a CX team rather than specific job titles.

Hiring Your CX Team

Once the necessary roles are identified, finding the right people can be challenging, especially when job descriptions involve skills that may not have existed in your organisation before. When hiring for your 'CX dream team,' Frazer advises looking for individuals who bring new qualities and diversity: “A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, actions, and outcomes.”

“My advice to clients hiring CX teams is to focus on culture add rather than culture fit. Seek individuals who can contribute new qualities that positively impact your team and help your business move forward,” she says.

Frazer also emphasises the importance of developing team personas, similar to customer personas: “Think about diversity in knowledge, experience, and backgrounds to improve your chances of success, especially in the CX world.”

Greg Curcio believes understanding a candidate's motivation is crucial: “I always ask why they want to join the CX team and specifically why local council. If they are emotionally invested in what we provide to the community, that carries a lot of weight during challenging times.”

In the CX realm, traits like empathy, motivation, enthusiasm, eagerness to learn, and adaptability often outweigh specific skills or educational backgrounds, as skills can become outdated quickly.

Written by: Mark Atterby (CX Focus Magazine)

Mark Atterby has 18 years of media, publishing, and content marketing experience.

Where to Get Help

Frazer Tremble Executive is a full-service talent and customer consultancy, enabling businesses to transform and grow. Whether it’s Customer, People, Process, or Technology change, you can count on our expertise to attract the right talent.

We have an established talent community available across Permanent, Contract, Statement of Work (SOW), and Fixed-Term assignments within Project Services, Process Improvement, Customer Experience (CX), Business Transformation, Digital Transformation, and Executive Search.

If you need help redefining your hiring practices, sourcing quality candidates, or transforming your business—let’s connect!

Laura Frazer

Phone: 0432 605 199

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: Laura Frazer