Our fifth annual Customer Experience (CX) Industry Survey asked 3,900 professionals across a wide variety of industries how their organizations are managing customer experience and conducting CX research. The responses show that we're in the midst of a sea of change. Optimizing and integrating every customer touchpoint has transitioned from being a cutting-edge advantage to a necessary part of doing business. In this webinar, Michael Mace, UserTesting's VP of Product Insights, presents the key results from the 2018 Survey Report. Find out how companies around the world are approaching managing CX. You'll learn: The hottest trends in CX The importance of CX to your company's success Which departments typically drive customer experience How spending on CX and design is changing Are companies putting too much weight on analytics and A/B tests?

1. CX Goes
Customer Experience Industry Survey 2018
Five trends driving the future of CX
Mainstream

2. Michael
Mace
VP of Product Insights

3. Most Important Findings
● CX is going mainstream
● Research is “democratizing”
● Quick human insight spreading across departments
○ Marketing and Product teams in addition to UX and Research
● Growing pains
○ Are executives overconfident about CX?
○ Desktop is still the most-studied platform
○ Tech trends affecting CX

4. Background
● Quantitative survey of CX issues in all industries, job roles, and company
sizes
○ 40+ questions; the biggest study in the field
● Fifth annual survey
○ Formerly the UX Industry Study, but the world is changing
● 3,900 respondents, fielded end of 2017
● You can see the full results online

5. CX is Critical
Base: Senior executives

6. CX is Critical
Base: Senior executives

7. CX Research is Increasing
Base: All respondents

8. Who Owns the Customer Experience?
● “The culture owns it”
● Each team was
more likely to think
they owned it
○ Marketing: 21%
○ Executives: 23%
○ UX: 25%
○ Product: 36%
Base: All respondents

9. Most Important Findings
● CX goes mainstream
● Research is “democratizing”
● Quick human insight spreading across the organization
● Growing pains

10. Strong Support for “Democratizing” Research
Base: Senior executives

11. Strong Support for “Democratizing” Research
Base: Senior executives

12. Even Researchers Agree
● 71% agree: “I want to empower non-researchers in my organization to do
their own user research.”
Base: Market and user researchers

13. Most Important Findings
● CX goes mainstream
● Research is “democratizing”
● Quick human insight is spreading across the organization
● Growing pains

14. Uses of Human
Insight Studies
● Far beyond usability
● Two-thirds study customer
needs
● Half study journeys
● One-third study marketing
content
Base: All respondents

15. Usage by UX Designers
30.55%
45.66%
53.78%
58.51%
65.39%
65.50%
65.95%
71.70%
Ethnography (customer behavior)
Competitors
Apps
Customer journeys
Websites
Customer needs
Product usability
Prototypes
What does your organization currently do user research
on?
Base: UX designers

16. Design Focus is Growing
Base: UX designers

17. Issues of Designers
Base: UX designers

18. Issues of Designers
Base: UX designers

19. Issues of Designers
Base: UX designers

20. Usage by Product Teams
Base: Product managers
27.13%
45.75%
49.39%
53.04%
53.85%
54.25%
64.78%
67.21%
Messaging
Competitors
Websites
Apps
Prototypes
Customer journeys (online and offline)
Customer needs
Product usability
What does your organization currently do user research
on?

21. Adoption Limited by Available Time
Base: Listed roles

22. Adoption Limited by Available Time
Base: Listed roles

23. Usage by Marketing Teams
33.05%
35.98%
43.51%
43.93%
50.63%
51.88%
56.49%
64.85%
Social media content
Email
Competitors
Messaging
Customer needs
Customer journeys
Marketing content
Websites
What does your organization currently do user research
on?
Base: People in marketing roles

24. Marketing Issues
Base: People in marketing roles

25. Marketing Issues
Base: People in marketing roles

26. Marketing Issues
Base: People in marketing roles

27. Marketing Issues
Base: People in marketing roles

28. Marketing Issues
Base: People in marketing roles

29. The Limits
of Data
Base: People in marketing roles

30. The Limits
of Data
Base: People in marketing roles

31. More Than Half
of AB Tests Fail
● In retail, 69% say their
tests succeed 40% of
the time or less
● In consumer high tech,
80% say their tests
succeed 40% of the
time or less
Base: People in marketing roles

32. Usage by Researchers
57.45%
58.66%
63.22%
64.13%
68.69%
76.60%
78.12%
78.72%
Competitors
Ethnography (customer behavior)
Websites
Apps
Customer journeys (online and offline)
Product usability
Prototypes
Customer needs
What does your organization currently do user research
on?
Base: Market and UX researchers

33. Most Important Findings
● CX goes mainstream
● Research is “democratizing”
● Quick human insight spreading across the organization
● Growing pains

34. Are Executives Overconfident about CX?
Base: All participants

35. Desktop Still the Most Studied Platform
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Desktop Tablet Smartphone Real world General
What percent of your user research is focused on…?
Base: All participants% of research
%of
respondents

36. Desktop Still the Most Studied Platform
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Desktop Smartphone
What percent of your user research is focused on…?
% of research
%of
respondents
Base: All participants

37. Tech Trends Affecting CX
● AI, voice, and wearables are on
the rise
● Multi-device, IoT, VR, global UX,
and omnichannel are dropping
● “What do you think will be the
most important online trends
affecting user experience in the
next five years? (Select all that
apply.)”
Base: All participants 25.16%
41.96%
27.21%
27.92%
40.38%
43.45%
46.92%
50.55%
43.53%
51.18%
24.75%
26.23%
26.32%
31.23%
35.57%
40.44%
41.29%
45.80%
54.56%
64.03%
Gesture-based interaction
Omnichannel experiences
Touch interfaces
Wearable tech
Global UX design (emerging
markets/cultural relevance)
Virtual reality/augmented
reality
Internet of Things
Multi-device interaction
(smartwatch / phone / TV)
Voice interaction
Artificial intelligence
Most important trends affecting user
experience

38. Implications
● Mainstream CX is an opportunity for designers
● Fast human insight is spreading into all departments
○ Is your organization taking advantage of it?
● If you’re in Product, balance your reliance on ad hoc user feedback and
metrics
● If you’re an executive, question your CX assumptions
● Are you doing enough mobile testing?
● Quantitative data alone leaves too much to chance

39. For More Information
● https://bit.ly/2GwuSTB
● Thank you to all the participants!

40. Q&A
For more information or questions please email us at: webinars@usertesting.com