What Does a Customer Experience Consultant Do?

Customer experience consultants are responsible for improving the customer experience of a company or organization. They commonly work with internal teams to identify ways they can improve their interactions with customers, from the way they answer phone calls to the quality of their online support documentation.

Customer Experience Consultant Job Duties

A customer experience consultant typically has a wide range of responsibilities, which can include:

• Identifying customer needs and determining how they can be met through product or service enhancements
• Establishing a relationship with clients based on trust so they feel comfortable sharing feedback on their experience with the company
• Conducting interviews with customers to gather feedback about their experience with the company’s products or services
• Helping companies improve their customer service and satisfaction ratings through surveys and focus groups
• Analyzing data and identifying opportunities for improvement of company policies, procedures, and customer service practices
• Recommending changes to improve customer satisfaction levels and ensure customer retention
• Designing and implementing training programs for employees on customer service techniques to improve interactions with customers
• Preparing reports detailing findings from research studies and proposals for how to improve customer satisfaction levels
• Creating plans for improving the customer experience by identifying opportunities for improvement and implementing changes

Customer Experience Consultant Salary & Outlook

Customer experience consultants’ salaries vary depending on their level of education, years of experience, and the company size and industry. They may also earn additional compensation in the form of commissions or bonuses.

• Median Annual Salary: $62,500 ($30.05/hour)
• Top 10% Annual Salary: $122,000 ($58.65/hour)

The employment of customer experience consultants is expected to decline over the next decade.

Employment growth will be limited by automation, which can handle some tasks currently performed by customer experience consultants. For example, chatbots can answer simple questions and recognize patterns in customer requests, allowing customer experience consultants to focus on more complex issues.

Related: Customer Experience Consultant Interview Questions and Answers

Customer Experience Consultant Job Requirements

A customer experience consultant typically needs the following:

Education: Customer experience consultants are typically required to have a high school diploma or GED. Some employers prefer candidates who have a bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as marketing, communications or business.

Training & Experience: Customer experience consultants typically receive on-the-job training to learn the specific processes and procedures of the company. Training may include shadowing current customer experience consultants or learning from a supervisor or senior employee. Training may last for a few days to a few months, depending on the company and the complexity of the role.

Certifications & Licenses: While certifications are not required for customer experience consultants, they can be beneficial as they can demonstrate your dedication to the profession and your desire to be the best.

Customer Experience Consultant Skills

Customer experience consultants need the following skills in order to be successful:

Communication skills: Customer experience consultants often communicate with customers, company employees and other stakeholders. Effective communication skills can help you convey your ideas, answer questions and resolve issues. You can use communication skills in many aspects of your job, including interviewing customers, analyzing data and reporting your findings.

Analytical skills: Analytical skills are the ability to break down information and identify patterns. Customer experience consultants use analytical skills to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a company’s customer service. They use analytical skills to identify customer needs and develop strategies to meet those needs.

Empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand another person’s perspective and feelings. Customer experience consultants use empathy to understand the needs of their clients’ customers. For example, if a customer is unhappy with a product, a customer experience consultant can use empathy to understand the customer’s feelings and perspective and find a solution that satisfies them.

Problem-solving skills: Problem-solving skills are essential for customer experience consultants, as they often work with companies to identify and solve customer issues. For example, if a customer is dissatisfied with a product or service, a customer experience consultant might work with the company to find a solution and make amends with the customer.

Business acumen: Business acumen is the ability to understand a company’s goals and how customer service can help achieve them. Customer experience consultants often work with business owners to develop strategies for improving customer service. This requires a thorough understanding of the company’s goals and how customer service can help them achieve them.

Customer Experience Consultant Work Environment

Customer experience consultants work in a variety of settings, including office environments, retail establishments, manufacturing and production facilities, call centers, and other places where customers and clients interact with businesses. They may also travel to different locations to observe customer interactions and to meet with clients. Consultants typically work full time and may occasionally work overtime to meet deadlines or to accommodate client schedules. Some customer experience consultants work independently, while others work for consulting firms that specialize in customer experience management.

Customer Experience Consultant Trends

Here are three trends influencing how customer experience consultants work. Customer experience consultants will need to stay up-to-date on these developments to keep their skills relevant and maintain a competitive advantage in the workplace.

The Need for a More Personalized Experience

The trend of personalized experiences is growing rapidly as customers become more and more accustomed to having things done exactly the way they want them done. This is especially true in the world of business, where customer experience consultants can make or break a company’s reputation.

To be successful in this environment, customer experience consultants will need to be able to create personalized experiences that meet the needs of individual customers. This requires an understanding of what makes each customer unique and the ability to adapt to those differences.

More Focus on the Customer Journey

The customer journey is becoming increasingly important in the world of business. Companies are now focusing on how to better understand the customer journey and how to improve the customer experience throughout it.

This shift is leading to an increased demand for customer experience consultants who can help businesses develop strategies for improving the customer journey. These professionals will need to have deep knowledge of customer behavior and be able to think creatively about how to improve the customer experience.

A Greater Emphasis on Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is becoming an increasingly important factor in the workplace. As companies strive to improve their bottom lines, they are realizing that employee engagement is key to achieving that goal.

Customer experience consultants can play a critical role in helping companies achieve employee engagement by developing programs and initiatives that encourage employees to feel valued and appreciated. In addition, customer experience consultants can also help companies to understand the importance of customer satisfaction and how to measure it effectively.

How to Become a Customer Experience Consultant

A career as a customer experience consultant can be incredibly rewarding. It offers the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives, and to help businesses grow by improving their customer experience.

To become a successful customer experience consultant, you need to have a deep understanding of your customers’ needs and wants, and how they interact with your business. You also need to be able to translate this knowledge into actionable recommendations that will improve the customer experience.

One of the best ways to develop these skills is by working in customer service yourself. This will give you firsthand experience of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of customer service, and will allow you to see which areas need improvement. You can then use this insight to create effective solutions for other businesses.

Advancement Prospects

Customer experience consultants can advance their careers by taking on more responsibility within their organization, such as leading projects or teams, or by starting their own consulting business. As they gain more experience, they can also charge higher rates for their services. In addition, customer experience consultants who are also certified public accountants (CPAs) or certified management consultants (CMCs) may have an advantage in the marketplace.

Customer Experience Consultant Job Description Example

At [CompanyX], we’re always looking for ways to improve the customer experience. As a customer experience consultant, you will be responsible for conducting customer research, analyzing customer feedback, and making recommendations to improve the customer experience. You will work closely with the customer experience team and other stakeholders to ensure that customer feedback is integrated into the design and development of new products and features. The ideal candidate will have experience with customer research methods, data analysis, and stakeholder management.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for customers, providing them with an exceptional level of service throughout the customer lifecycle
• Understand customer needs and pain points, documenting feedback and relaying it to the appropriate internal teams
• Proactively reach out to customers to address concerns and prevent churn
• Assist customers with product questions and troubleshooting
• Train customers on new features and updates
• Upsell and cross-sell products and services
• Retain at-risk customers and reactivate inactive ones
• Handle customer escalations in a professional and efficient manner
• Generate reports on customer satisfaction levels and customer feedback
• Identify process improvements to enhance the customer experience
• Serve as a liaison between customers and other departments
• Participate in customer focus groups and user testing sessions

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, psychology, sociology, or related field
• 3-5 years professional experience in customer service, marketing, sales, or a related field
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills
• Ability to think strategically and analytically to identify problems and recommend solutions
• Proven project management experience
• Flexibility and adaptability to change

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business, psychology, sociology, or related field
• Professional certification in customer experience or a related field
• 7+ years professional experience in customer service, marketing, sales, or a related field
• Experience leading and managing a team of customer experience professionals
• In-depth knowledge of customer experience best practices and trends