When was the last time a company made you feel happy?

As a Researcher on Forrester’s Customer Experience team (CxP), it’s a question I think of often.  Because while advertisements may make us giggle and great products and brands tickle our hearts, all that effort can be rendered meaningless with a customer experience fumble. 

We’ve asked executives how important they think improving customer experience is: 96% said it was “very important” to “critical.”  But there are indications customer experience is only improving at a laggard pace.  Principal Analyst Moira Dorsey’s recent report, “Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design, 2007,” evaluated the experiences at 16 companies.  The result? None of the 16 companies received even a passing grade.

Along with written research, Forrester has developed a set of methodologies for evaluating various levels of the customer experience: Web Site Review, Cross-Channel Review, Brand Review, Kiosk Review, and recently a Blog Review.  These methodologies build on the basis of Forrester’s report “Scenario Design,” which says: “No experience is inherently good or bad, it can only be judged by looking at how well it helps customers achieve their goals.”