As your company scales from a flat organisation to one with a larger executive, then you might want to consider creating roles that are beyond the standard titles of CMO, COO, CTO or CIO. And consider the role of Chief Customer Officer CCO.
I know, too many Cs. It can seem little bit more tied to an enterprise level company, and not your SME that is scaling.
Still, it’s good to look at the CCO role a little bit more deeply before you dismiss the idea.
Customer centricity is the CCO’s primary purpose
The primary purpose of the CCO is to create a customer centric approach across the company. So that it permeates throughout the culture, operations, and strategies. Having a person on the executive dedicated to customer related activities demonstrates a commitment by the company to prioritize customer satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term business success.
The CCO’s focus is on the customer and ensuring a positive customer experience across all touchpoints. They are responsible for understanding customer needs, gathering insights, and aligning the organization’s strategies and operations to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
While this may sound like a CMO role, the CCO role extends beyond marketing and looks at the entire customer journey.
Various kinds of companies benefit from a CCO
Because CCOs drive loyalty and retention, the role is well suited for companies that grow through recurring business models. Subscription based business, including SaaS and membership services. Retail and e-commerce businesses. Service orientated business, including healthcare, hospitality, and professional services. B2B companies with repeat customers that require a high level of service and attention. Technology startups that want to embed a customer centric approach right from the beginning.
Having a CCO can be a core differentiator for your company.
What does the CCO do? How do they fit into the company?
The CCO will lead programs that aim at retaining customers and reducing churn. As well as programs that promote loyalty and advocacy.
The CCO has both the ear of the customer and is the voice of the customer within the company. They drive initiatives to gather and analyze customer feedback, identify pain points, and improve the overall customer experience. Feeding this information back into both customer and product teams, to improve the overall product and services of the company.
Because CCOs are focused on the full customer journey, they work collaboratively across different customer functions such as marketing, sales, operations, and customer support. With the impact that they can break down or prevent a siloed organization. Their aim is to get everyone on board to focusing on the customer. Promoting process and data flows easily across customer facing functions
The CCO leverages digital technologies while maintaining the primary focus on customer centricity. They make use of technologies for CRM, Data Analytics, Cloud platforms. As well as tools that automate customer touchpoints. They work closely with technology teams to make certain these are implemented successfully.
The CCO will use specific KPIs to measure the success of its programs. These may include KPIs such as Customer Lifetime Value, Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction, and Retention Rates. As well as keeping track of the impact customer satisfaction has on company revenue goals.
The decision depends on a lot of factors
I know, a lot in it. Like many C-suite roles, it is multi-faceted and takes a person with a wide range of business skills and experience. And like many C-suite roles, the individual chosen shapes the role. These are general guidelines to consider.
Ultimately, deciding to create the CCO role in your company may depend on a lot of different factors. The business strategy. Your industry and chosen business models. The company culture. You may decide it’s not a necessary. Or consider performing similar functions under a different portfolio. Or give it a different title.
Regardless, making customer centricity a key value in the company has a positive impact on business outcomes. It would be a benefit to any company to have a customer champion on board.
