You can’t decide where you’re going if you don’t take stock of where you are. An amazing customer experience won’t just happen by accident. To assess your readiness for CX improvement, look to the CX Maturity Model.

In thousands of interviews across industries, with companies of every possible size, we started to notice certain CX patterns emerging. Here’s how to find those patterns in your own organization, so you can assess your CX readiness and take action.

The Six Competencies
In a study done by Forrester, they concluded that a firm must master six specific CX competencies before they can achieve exceptional CX. Those competencies are:

Research – understand customers in-depth by using both qualitative methods, like interviews, and quantitative methods, like web analytics
Prioritization – identify and rank most important customer journeys and interactions, and allocate company resources based on those priorities
Design – use research to guide CX design through the ideation, prototyping, testing, and refining processes
Enablement – provide employees and partners with the right resources to deliver CX, through training, information, tools, and ongoing support across all touchpoints
Measurement – quantify the quality of customer experiences through well-defined metrics that portray actionable insights
Culture – create a system of shared values and behaviors that focus employees on delivering great CX through reinforcement and incentivization