Forrester have previously looked into the correlation between their Customer Experience Index (CxPi) rankings and stock market performance. They’ve since updated the source data, and reanalysed the findings…
It’s worth bearing in mind that this is a correlation, and any good statistician knows that correlation doesn’t infer causality. What the graph demonstrates so well the core belief that we try to tell our clients:
Organisations that treat their customers well, are more likely to be successful.
This may seem like common sense, but at times of economic hardship when organisations are frequently looking to cut costs, how many prioritise their customer experience?
Read the original Forrestor post here
Hi Colin
This seems to be a repeat or update of an earlier post of yours.
I saw the Forrester survey as well. It reminded me of an earlier study that showed a perfect corelation between the price of rum in Havana and Presbyterian minister’s salaries in the USA. Go figure.
As we both recognise, the correlation between what Forrester measured as the CEx and stockmarket performance means little if anything at all. As you say, correlation is not causation.
A superior CEx could have influenced the stockmarket performance. Superior stockmarket performance could have released funds to improve the CEx. They could both be related to a third factor, such as customer satisfaction (where there is some evidence for a causal reationship with business performance). Or bearing in mind the complete lack of robust data in Forrester’s survey, the relationship could be entirely due to chance.
It is time that CEx was investigated properly to identify what makes a good CEx, how that changes with customers’ experience of the CEx, what that means for customer behaviour and ultimately, what that means for business performance. Causation is what we are looking for, not correlation.
Graham Hill
Customer-centric Innovator
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