Designing and delivering successful customer experiences takes time, intent, and ruthless honesty. Our CX Report Card provides you and your teams a way to evaluate your current competence both onstage (what the customer sees) and offstage (what happens behind the scenes) and identify areas for improvement.

Score each business unit or service line on the ten elements of customer experience excellence. Rate each element on a five-point scale. We use 0 to 4 rather than 1 to 5.

“0” means “Not at all.”

A “4” means “We’re world class,” “Couldn’t be better”

By using 0 to 4, you still have a five-point scale (which statisticians like), but you can combine the results into a Grade Point Average. (For example, a 3.2 is the equivalent of a B+.)

To get a more objective result, complete the report card with a team whose members come from different parts of a business — the customer service desk is likely to have a different view than the sales director or the head of operations. You can also complete a report card for your competitors and compare your grade to theirs.

Your result is a starting point—your baseline. Use it to identify where you need to