Successful implementation of customer experience strategy: determinants and results

Purpose Customer Experience Management (CXM) has already outgrown its infancy and must now position itself for long-term strategic success. However, the best Customer Experience Strategy (CXS) is worth little if not implemented effectively. Therefore, the present study investigated the determinants of the successful implementation of CXS and its results. Design/methodology/approach Key success factors were identified based on intensive desk research complemented by an exploratory qualitative study. The relevance of these determinants and the impact of successful CXS implementation were examined in a quantitative study involving 264 Customer Experience (CX) managers from several countries. Findings The results demonstrate the significant positive effects of the four determinants of top management support, CX-related organizational involvement, CX measurement ability, and internal use of CX data on CXS implementation success. Additionally, cross-functional working acts as a moderator. Moreover, the findings show the positive effects of successful CXS implementation on organizational customer orientation and customer relationship performance. Finally, our findings lead to essential theoretical and managerial implications. Originality/value While previous studies focused on CX or CXM, this study contributes to the research field by empirically testing the central determinants of successful CXS implementation and demonstrating the firm-internal (organizational customer orientation) and firm-external (customer relationship performance) effects of successful CXS implementation.