Obtaining customer loyalty through quality experience is high on the corporate agenda, yet companies still fail to understand customer expectations, according to new research.

The 379 executive participants in US based Strativity Group’s new Global Benchmark study examined organisations’ complete customer experience cycle from customer experience definition to customer-centric organisational alignment, as well as their mechanism to respond to customer feedback.

Although the study indicates that 80 per cent of the executives strongly agree that customer strategies are more important to companies’ success than ever before, firms fail to design and deliver those strategies and, as such, lose customer commitment and loyalty.

Study results include:

• Only 43.9 per cent (up from 40.0% in 2006) believed that their companies deserve their customers’ loyalty.

• 34.8 per cent indicated that their company has a dedicated customer experience management role.

• Just 27.2 per cent of the respondents said that the definition of the customer experience is well-defined and communicated in their companies.

“The Customer Experience Management global benchmark study provides us with a sobering reality. Companies still fail to get what it takes to meet customer needs, let alone delight them,” said Lior Arussy, president of Strativity Group.

“Especially in this economic environment, companies must get serious about understanding and delivering the complete customer experience.”

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