With more customers opting to go multi-channel, customer experience (CX) has become a top priority for businesses. And, while the debate continues as to where the responsibility for CX lies, many leaders are looking to marketing to make sure their business is operating under a customer experience model. This is according to the latest C-Suite Scorecard [download page] from the CMO Council, which found that CMOs are viewed as the customer authority.
The Role of the CMO
While a report from IBM found that CEOs didn’t believe marketing would play a major role in CX in the next few years, 6 in 10 (62% of) C-suite leaders surveyed for this recent report believe that being a customer experience advocate and champion is an essential role of a CMO. Furthermore, 4 in 10 say that CMOs play a critical role as a customer insights authority, providing a 360-degree view of the customer.
Beyond customer experience, respondents cited other areas where CMOs play an essential role as part of the executive team. These include being a leader in digital transformation and marketing automation (54%), the brand reputation custodian and value creator (51%) and the maestro of communications and demand generation (51%).
Interim or Fractional CMOs
Modernization is one of the biggest challenges faced by some 4 in 10 (42% of) marketing teams, and many are solving it by transforming their teams. The report suggests that one way to do this is to bring in an interim or fractional CMO.
Indeed, some 3 in 5 (62% of) respondents say reorganization of the marketing team is one event that might trigger the need for a fractional CMO. But reorganization is not the only reason for bringing in an interim CMO — termination of the CMO or leadership failure (50%) and global expansion or new market entry (48%) are other top reasons.
And, what do these interim CMOs bring to the table? Leaders say an interim CMOs are able to inject new thinking, ideas and innovations (52%) and offer objective perspectives and assessments (48%), as well as strengthen leadership and depth in senior roles (41%), introduce new proven methodologies and practices (41%) and increase marketing performance and effectiveness (38%).
Read the full report here.
About the Data: All findings are based on a survey of 120 senior management executives across companies of all sizes and industry sectors.
