2b. Multiple Choice for Operationalized Strategy

Question 1

Question #1: Customer experience strategy should start with:

1. Key drivers of NPS
2. The company’s SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
3. Enterprise objectives for the fiscal year
4. Capabilities that customers seek

Answer 1

Correct Answer:
Capabilities that customers seek

Explanation: The purpose of a company is to enable a capability that a customer is willing to pay for. Everything besides the customer’s sought-for capability is a byproduct, regardless of its importance stakeholders besides customers. Their interests have no bearing if customers’ interests are not served sufficiently.

Question 2

Question #2: Customer experience strategy requires:

1. All of these answers are true
2. Alignment between customer experience strategy and corporate strategy, goals, structure, processes, policies, incentives, decision-making, and communication
3. A well-thought-out plan for engaging everyone in the company to improve customers’ well-being
4. Customer experience definitions, goals and passion shared by all members of the C-suite

Answer 2

Correct Answer:
All of these answers are true

Explanation: Strategy means shared viewpoints and aligned elements. When something is lacking alignment or shared outlook we often proclaim there was no strategy.

Question 3

Question #3: Internal marketing of the customer experience strategy is vital to its success because:

1. Every employee needs to understand what they can do to make a difference for customers
2. Everyone in the company needs to be reminded of the strategy and its importance to the company’s success
3. Customers’ realities should be shared frequently and in many different ways with all employees
4. All of these answers reflect the importance of internal promotion of the CX strategy

Answer 3

Correct Answer:
All of these answers reflect the importance of internal promotion of the CX strategy

Explanation: Customer experience success is an ongoing moving target as various forces modify customers’ expectations over time, and as various changes occur in the company. A genuine CX strategy requires employees to ensure the company is aligned with what customers will reward. Constant education is vital to strategy success.

Question 4

Question #4: Employee engagement in customer experience is an absolute essential of a CX strategy because:

1. Happy employees cause loyal customers
2. Employees should be aware of the company’s efforts in CRM, VoC, etc.
3. Customer experience depends on customer-facing staff and partners
4. Employees are integral to aligning the company with what matters to customers

Answer 4

Correct Answer:
Employees are integral to aligning the company with what matters to customers

Explanation: Everyone has a ripple effect on customer experience. One bad apple can spoil the barrel. As a journey map shows, cross-organizational teamwork and seamless experience are critical to success.

Question 5

Question #5: Why is customer segmentation important in developing CX strategy?

1. Focus on a primary customer segment focuses resources rather than trying to be all things to all customers
2. Different customer groups have different expectations: loyalty comes from meeting or exceeding expectations
3. Some customer segments have higher lifetime value than others: knowing this helps prioritize resources strategically
4. All of the above

Answer 5

Correct Answer:
All of the above

Explanation: Without segmentation it’s harder to prioritize resources and efforts, and it’s harder to satisfy everyone.

Question 6

Question #6: To create a branded customer experience you must:

1. Register a trademark or patent for the experience the company has designed
2. Drive distinctive customer experience consistency across locations, products, channels, and interactions
3. Highlight the customer experience strategy in the company’s promotions and statements
4. Feature customer testimonials about the company’s superior customer experience

Answer 6

Correct Answer:
Drive distinctive customer experience consistency across locations, products, channels, and interactions

Explanation: Branded customer experience is standardization of a distinctive expectation you will meet regardless of where or how your customer interfaces with your company.

Question 7

Question #7: Effective ways to drive synergies and consistent CX strategy company-wide include:

1. Customer experience council: representatives from every business unit, function and geography determine company-wide standards and drive performance accordingly
2. Customer experience champions: influential representatives from each part of the company maintain their organization’s attention and performance on company-wide customer experience standards
3. Cascading objectives: successive organizational levels must align their goals with the corporate goals
4. All of these are effective ways to drive CX strategy

Answer 7

Correct Answer:
All of these are effective ways to drive CX strategy

Explanation: A combination of methods is best to maintain momentum amidst inevitable competing forces on the company.

Question 8

Question #8: Customer experience management is strategic when:

1. Executive listening sessions and a customer leadership council provide the framework for tactics
2. Strong executive sponsorship of customer experience excellence is felt by employees at every all-hands meeting
3. Your company’s NPS outperforms your industry
4. Voice-of-the-customer, analytics, improvement, innovation, and engagement are closely tied together

Answer 8

Correct Answer:
Voice-of-the-customer, analytics, improvement, innovation, and engagement are closely tied together

Explanation: Strategic implies connectedness for synergy: CRM + VoC + Support + UX + Customer Success + all the other CX endeavors in a company. All other choices are positive, yet possibly short-lived.

Question 9

Question #9: Which of the following statements best describes a strategy?

1. An approach such as voice-of-the-customer
2. An approach such as “customers business results come first” or “leapfrogging our industry’s norms”
3. An approach such as technology integration
4. Ownership of an initiative by a specific organization

Answer 9

Correct Answer:
An approach such as “customers business results come first” or “leapfrogging our industry’s norms”

Explanation: A strategy is executives’ shared vision of how to create value. Technology integration, initiative assignment, and data collection are too narrow; they’re tactics. As the primary source of a company’s funding, c-team’s shared vision about creating value for customers is a strategy.

Question 10

Question #10: The main thing accomplished by showing every functional “what’s in it for me” in pursuing the customer experience strategy is:

1. Improvement in employee morale as measured by the employee survey
2. Setting the context for everyone to think and act for customers’ well-being first
3. Following best practices of the adage “happy employees leads to happy customers”
4. Establishing equality between customer-facing and non-customer-facing staff

Answer 10

Correct Answer:
Setting the context for everyone to think and act for customers’ well-being first

Explanation: Centering hearts and minds company-wide on your executives’ shared vision and aligned elements is what’s needed. Equality, job satisfaction, and morale are important, but may be insufficient in making a difference for customers, which in turn makes a difference for financials and stakeholders.

Question 11

Question #11: The ultimate purpose of customer engagement is to maximize:

1. Customer retention
2. Net Promoter Score
3. Customer acquisition
4. Customer lifetime value

Answer 11

Correct Answer:
Customer lifetime value

Explanation: Lifetime value is the ultimate aim of any CX effort. Anything that detracts from growing lifetime value should be re-evaluated for a more customer-centric method.

Question 12

Question #12: Which of the following is NOT a crucial part of CX strategy?

1. Organizational adoption and accountability for customer experience performance
2. Influencing senior leadership’s north star and internal policies, processes, reviews, and decisions
3. Connecting VoC, lifetime value, culture and corporate strategy, CX improvement and design, internal and external engagement, and metrics and ROI
4. Digitalization and CX technologies

Answer 12

Correct Answer:
Digitalization and CX technologies

Explanation: Think of every chapter in this course: the facets of CXM must be integrated and embedded into every group’s thinking and doing.

Question 13

Question #13: What does “operationalize” mean?

1. Streamline and digitalize customer experience activities
2. The customer experience team reports to the Chief Operating Officer
3. Routinize CX activities into the way the business is run
4. All of these answers are true

Answer 13

Correct Answer:
Routinize CX activities into the way the business is run

Explanation: Before CX activities are operationalized, they are standalone efforts that risk discontinuation after changes in budget or roles.

Question 14

Question #14: Why is SWOT useful in creating a strategy?

1. It answers each stakeholder’s question: so what?
2. All of these answers reflect usefulness of SWOT
3. It’s a brainstorming tool toward shared vision
4. It helps you evaluate and connect internal and external strengths and weaknesses

Answer 14

Correct Answer:
It helps you evaluate and connect internal and external strengths and weaknesses

Explanation: Instead of starting SWOT with YOUR ideas, start with customers’ comments about your external opportunities and threats, and then customers’ comments about your internal strengths and weaknesses. After that, add your own observations. By doing this, you may find a much higher degree of customer-centricity in your managers’ behaviors. You’re likely to discover important ways to differentiate your brand and drive higher growth by starting with your customers’ views.

Question 15

Question #15: Which of the following is NOT a strategy?

1. Executives’ shared vision of how to maximize value
2. A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim
3. A plan for directing overall operations and movements
4. A program

Answer 15

Correct Answer:
A program

Explanation: Look up “strategy” in the dictionary and you’ll see: master plan, grand design, game plan. You’ll see strategy defined as a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim, or a plan for directing overall operations and movements.

Question 16

Question #16: Why is it useful to focus your customer experience strategy on high-growth customers?

1. It increases NPS faster than typical practices
2. It is not useful; equal treatment of all customers is best
3. Engaging high-growth customers influences all customers to engage
4. Exceling with high-growth customers proves CX ROI

Answer 16

Correct Answer:
Exceling with high-growth customers proves CX ROI

Explanation: Trying to please customers equally dilutes CX effectiveness. The most successful brands have mastered core-growth CX first. As bandwidth of managers and budgets allowed over time, they expanded to meet the needs of other groups.

Question 17

Question #17: Intentional customer experience is:

1. All customers intending to rebuy and recommend, as your CX team goal
2. Well-defined employee engagement in customer experience programs
3. All C-Suite decisions guided by core-growth customers’ intended outcomes
4. Well-defined customer engagement program

Answer 17

Correct Answer:
All C-Suite decisions guided by core-growth customers’ intended outcomes

Explanation: Intentional CX is executives’ basis for “steering the ship” = “north star” for running your firm.

Question 18

Question #18: CX Champions are useful because:

1. They reduce customer churn for each business unit
2. They convert Detractors to Promoters
3. They increase customer engagement
4. They bring the CX strategy to life in each business unit

Answer 18

Correct Answer:
They bring the CX strategy to life in each business unit

Explanation: CX champions, also known as CX ambassadors, or CX liaisons, are people in each line of business and geography who help facilitate internal understanding and action on voice of the customer. Usually, they have a separate full-time job, plus temporary assignment as a CX champion.

Question 19

Question #19: To lay the foundation for success of VoC, CX Design, CX Improvement, CX Engagement and CX ROI:

1. Executives self-assess what’s out-of-sync between core-growth customer needs versus culture and strategy
2. Technology budget must be approved, along with strong talent in CX digitalization
3. Quick wins will generate the required executive support
4. The CX team must report directly to the CEO

Answer 19

Correct Answer:
Executives self-assess what’s out-of-sync between core-growth customer needs versus culture and strategy

Explanation: When corporate strategy and culture are mis-aligned with what is important to core-growth customers, then all of your CX efforts will be handicapped toward achieving their potential ROI.

Question 20

Question #20: What is the difference between mobilizing CX and operationalizing CX?

1. Mobilize: digitalize CXM. Operationalize: automate internal workflows that serve customers..
2. Mobilize: conduct CX programs. Operationalize: systematize CX efforts.
3. Mobilize: extend CXM company-wide. Operationalize: apply CXM to external Operations activities..
4. All of these answers describe the differences.

Answer 20

Correct Answer:
Mobilize: conduct CX programs. Operationalize: systematize CX efforts.

Explanation: Operationalizing is systematizing, or making your efforts a way of life in how your business is run. This means CX efforts are hooked in to existing rituals (agendas, approvals, criteria) and cadences (planning, reviews, accolades/corrections).

Question 21

Question #21: What is the best role for the CX team?

1. Create experiences that encourage engagement and loyalty
2. Digitalize customer experience workflows and touchpoints
3. Facilitate company-wide ownership of CX performance
4. Champion year-long quick wins

Answer 21

Correct Answer:
Facilitate company-wide ownership of CX performance

Explanation: No matter how large your CX team or customer-facing staff, you can never guarantee excellent CX. Non-customer-facing groups are often the cause of poor CX, so it is best for the CX team to facilitate everyone’s ownership of CX performance.

Question 22

Question #22: Tying CX to corporate strategy means:

1. Ensuring consistency between brand values/promise and CXM tactics
2. Highlighting the CX reasons for each of your CEO’s strategic pillar/objective
3. All of these answers are true
4. Influencing corporate strategy through VoC and your CXM strategy

Answer 22

Correct Answer:
All of these answers are true

Explanation: Business success is a 1-to-1 ratio between customers’ realities versus expectations. Everything your business does affects the numerator or denominator of this ratio.

Question 23

Question #23: To operationalize CX strategy, you must describe how you will systematically bring this course’s topics to life. “Systematic” means:

1. Set up a cadence and established method
2. Establish roles and responsibilities
3. Set up governance for accountability
4. Automate and/or digitalize

Answer 23

Correct Answer:
Set up a cadence and established method

Explanation: Operationalize is routinizing CX as a way of life in your company. Likewise, your operationalized CX strategy makes all the topics in this course systematic by setting up a cadence and established method within the ways that your business is run.

Question 24

Question #24: What is a customer experience roadmap?

1. The service blueprint for deploying an ideal customer experience
2. All of these answers reflect the definition of CX roadmap
3. A timeline for CXM maturity milestones
4. The overall customer journey map for all customer personas

Answer 24

Correct Answer:
A timeline for CXM maturity milestones

Explanation: A roadmap is a single page timeline that highlights significant developments. Journey maps and blueprints are tactical plans; they are subcomponents in a much larger strategy.

Question 25

Question #25: What is the best way to demonstrate ROI of customer experience efforts?

1. Benchmark NPS and other metrics to industry performance
2. Contribution to financial ratios via saving time/resources both for customers and in serving customers, along with strategic use of resources, and increased customer spending
3. Show significant year-over-year gains in NPS and other CX metrics
4. Win awards for CXM achievements, and present case studies in conferences and webinars

Answer 25

Correct Answer:
Contribution to financial ratios via saving time/resources both for customers and in serving customers, along with strategic use of resources, and increased customer spending

Explanation: When you save time and money for customers, that is marketing/sales gold. It expands customer lifetime value. When CXM contributes to earnings per share, return on assets, and cumulative average growth rate, evaluation of your executives is positive and you’re achieving the best gains possible.

Question 26

Question #26: If you are starting formal customer experience management in a firm, you should [XXXXXXX] in the first year?

1. Emphasize Service digitalization
2. Deploy the basics for all 10 CXM ROI building blocks
3. Engage customers through human-centered design
4. Setup VoC technology to identify priorities

Answer 26

Correct Answer:
Deploy the basics for all 10 CXM ROI building blocks

Explanation: Like every business initiative, it’s advisable to get the basics of people and processes in-play before investing in technologies. By planning the 10 CX ROI building blocks first, you’ll have the advantage of seeing the full picture of what’s needed before zeroing-in on any particular technology to determine a good fit with your specific situation.

Question 27

Question #27: What is the role of a CX Council or Steering Committee?

1. Strategy: assessing strengths versus weaknesses and envisioning the future for CXM
2. Governance: influencing adoption and accountability of CX efforts
3. All of these answers are appropriate roles
4. Silo-smoothing: maximizing collaboration and minimizing disconnects

Answer 27

Correct Answer:
All of these answers are appropriate roles

Explanation: These 3 recommendations for CX Council role will remove roadblocks to CX success, toward the company’s alignment to customer expectations and achievement of almost-automatic CX excellence.

Question 28

Question #28: Seeing your business as customers do, who are your competitors?

1. All firms in your industry
2. All solutions for a customer’s job-to-be-done
3. Trend-setters such as Apple, Amazon, etc.
4. Well-known brands within a customer’s geographic and economic reach

Answer 28

Correct Answer:
All solutions for a customer’s job-to-be-done

Explanation: Customers do not really care about your competitors. They care about their job-to-be-done. What is the ultimate outcome in their life or business that they are pursuing through your brand? What/who else may contribute to that outcome?

Question 29

Question #29: Which of the following is NOT a success factor for CX business results:

1. Real-time VoC dashboards for every manager of a Moment of Truth
2. CX insights are a determinant of corporate strategy
3. Funding cross-organizational collaboration of CX efforts
4. Using lifetime value to prioritize and motivate CX efforts

Answer 29

Correct Answer:
Real-time VoC dashboards for every manager of a Moment of Truth

Explanation: Real-time VoC tends to generate short-term tactics and benefits. These practices correlated to growth in a study: LTV, cross-org collaboration, and CX influencing corporate strategy.

Question 30

Question #30: What happens when CX strategy is mis-aligned to organizational strategy, goals and brand values/attributes:

1. The gap between customers’ realities and expectations will widen
2. Behaviors internally will not match behaviors externally
3. Customers reject inconsistencies from their view of your brand essence, values, attributes (i.e. what your brand stands for in their minds)
4. All of these are consequences of a mis-match

Answer 30

Correct Answer:
All of these are consequences of a mis-match

Explanation: Consistency is the basis of trust. Trust is the basis of relationship strength, which is the basis for lifetime value. Whenever your company behaves out-of-sync with customers’ expectations, it is costly to you.

Question 31

Question #31: A full CX strategy includes a description of:

1. Goals and projected expenses for Journey Mapping, Human-Centered Design, Service Recovery, CRM, and Customer Engagement programs/departments
2. Tie-in to your CEO’s and customers’ goals, money at-risk or at-opportunity, who will do what when, how much it will cost, and targeted gain – for VoC/Intelligence, Improvement/Design, and Internal/External Engagement.
3. Revenue growth plan from CRM, Service, UX, DX, VoC, HCD, and Loyalty
4. Programs, costs, and targeted performance for the Net Promoter System (shifting Detractors to Passives to Promoters)

Answer 31

Correct Answer:
Tie-in to your CEO’s and customers’ goals, money at-risk or at-opportunity, who will do what when, how much it will cost, and targeted gain – for VoC/Intelligence, Improvement/Design, and Internal/External Engagement.

Explanation: All CX efforts can fit into VoC/Intelligence, Improvement/Design, and Internal/External Engagement. Showing tie-ins to goals of CEO and customers demonstrates strategic impact.

Question 32

Question #32: When is the best time to launch a customer experience strategy?

1. Anytime: the sooner, the better
2. At the start of a new fiscal year
3. The quarter prior to the strategic planning cycle
4. All of these answers are excellent timing

Answer 32

Correct Answer:
All of these answers are excellent timing

Explanation: Daily movements in revenue and cost to serve customers indicates urgency to better manage these dynamics. The start of a new year, is a new mindset for managers, so this is a good time to introduce new habits. The planning cycle is your most strategic opportunity to shape managers’ thinking and doing, and how well your business is run in accordance with customer expectations.

Question 33

Question #33: Why should cross-organizational efforts be planned in your CX strategy?

1. Most customer issues are not caused by one organization alone
2. All of these answers are true
3. Creating customer value relies on multiple groups working together
4. Seamless customer experience means journey phases are managed consistently across all organizations

Answer 33

Correct Answer:
All of these answers are true

Explanation: Like a body, it hurts when any part or subsystem out of sync with the rest.

Question 34

Question #34: Your CX strategy should strive to balance efforts across:

1. Resolving the instance of customer issues, preventing recurrence of customer issues, and preventing occurrence of customer issues
2. Customer touchpoints and non-customer-facing groups (including partners and suppliers)
3. Value-rescuing and value-creating, from both customers’ and investors’ viewpoints
4. All of these answers are necessary balancing endeavors

Answer 34

Correct Answer:
All of these answers are necessary balancing endeavors

Explanation: Ultimately, your aim is almost-automatic CX excellence. This means everyone in your firm is in-tune, preventing issues and adding new mutual value.

Question 35

Question #35: Which of the following is false?

1. Mobilizing CX must be firmly in place before operationalizing, aligning, and embedding CX in your firm
2. Aligning CX insights to each group in your ecosystem encourages them to align their thinking and doing toward closing CX gaps and generating CX value
3. Embedding CXM into your company’s DNA (via rituals) is the highest CX achievement toward almost-automatic CX excellence
4. Since very few firms operationalize, align, and embed CX strategy, your differentiation and growth can be significant by adopting these practices

Answer 35

Correct Answer:
Mobilizing CX must be firmly in place before operationalizing, aligning, and embedding CX in your firm

Explanation: It is possible to incorporate these in your first year of formal CXM: Operationalize, Align, Embed. It is wiser not to wait.

Question 36

Question #36: What is the best interpretation of CXM as an ongoing flow, from VoC to Intelligence and LTV, to Culture and Corporate Strategy, to Design and Improvement, to Internal and External Engagement, to Retention, Loyalty, and Business Results?

1. It maximizes value in each phase of the flow, and integrates the phases for synergies
2. It is a useful concept, but it is missing CJM, AI, DX, and many other essential CXM components
3. It is an organization design framework
4. All of these answers are accurate interpretations of the CXM ROI model

Answer 36

Correct Answer:
It maximizes value in each phase of the flow, and integrates the phases for synergies

Explanation: CXM is not different from other fields, living organisms, constructed things, and laws of nature. Everywhere you look, there are concentric circles of something leading to something. We benefit greatly by recognizing this in CXM.

Question 37

Question #37: What is a customer experience business case?

1. Instilling a personal conviction among managers that the CX status quo cannot be tolerated
2. Showing managers what they will gain by engaging in CXM and what they will lose by ignoring CX
3. All of these are essential aspects of an effective CX business case
4. Making the connection between customer outcomes and business outcomes crystal clear

Answer 37

Correct Answer:
All of these are essential aspects of an effective CX business case

Explanation: A business case is a data set and story that convinces managers to buy-in to a plan.

Question 38

Question #38: What is the best description of the difference between a strategy and a program?

1. A strategy addresses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; a program is execution of the strategy
2. A strategy engages all components of a field of practice, along with all players and resources needed to deploy it; a program is deployment of one component
3. A strategy is an annual plan with budget, headcount, milestones, and quantified goals; a program is a milestone success factor
4. A strategy is a vision for higher performance; a program is synonymous with strategy

Answer 38

Correct Answer:
A strategy engages all components of a field of practice, along with all players and resources needed to deploy it; a program is deployment of one component

Explanation: A strategy is holistic, and it commits hearts, minds, and resources toward its fulfilment. After that is established, it spells out how this will be done (budget, milestones, programs, etc.).

Question 39

Question #39: Which statement is false?

1. CXM strategy should select convenient aspects of this course’s other 4 topics: Metrics, VoC, Design, Culture
2. CXM strategy should integrate all keys from this course: leading indicators, issue prevention, company-wide engagement, led by transformational VoC, all aimed at jobs-to-be-done and annuities
3. Your CXM effort is not really strategy if it does not combine VoC, improvement, design, company-wide culture, and leading and lagging indicators
4. The ultimate aim of CXM strategy is efficient fulfilment of customer jobs-to-be-done better than anyone/anything else

Answer 39

Correct Answer:
CXM strategy should select convenient aspects of this course’s other 4 topics: Metrics, VoC, Design, Culture

Explanation: Raise the stature of CX by educating your executives about its full scope and power.

Question 40

Question #40: The best way to fast-track CX strategy success is to:

1. Invest in customer engagement: personalization, apps, design of exciting experiences, agile feedback, etc.
2. Keep the strategy focused on 1-2 things until quick wins prove value
3. Point out how existing things help/hurt customers’ experience, and embed CX strategy deployment into existing things
4. Invest in technologies that automate most customer touchpoints

Answer 40

Correct Answer:
Point out how existing things help/hurt customers’ experience, and embed CX strategy deployment into existing things

Explanation: Nuances in existing things are easier for people to absorb and adopt, in comparison to what they perceive as “yet another thing on their plate”. Traction increases radically when CXM becomes part of every process, policy, review, development, approval, handoff, and so on.