Chief Customer Officer Executive Search
Recruiting a Chief Customer Officer
When talking to many Customer Service Directors and Customer Experience Directors, many will cite aspirations of a Chief Customer Officer role, however, the role of a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is still a rare occurrence in UK business. Whilst the role of CCO has been relatively well developed in the US, with over 25% of Fortune 100 companies having a CCO, in the UK, the amount of existing CCO positions is still relatively low, although this number is rising quickly. In 2020 we tracked less than 200 registered on LinkedIn and across our own database, yet this year (2023) this number has risen to over 1,000 to include Chief Client Officers.
Broadly, we find that a Chief Customer Officer role will more likely be a board level position reporting into a CEO, which can differ from that of a CSD or CXD appointment. The Chief Customer Officer role has responsibility and accountability for driving the strategy and delivery of the Customer agenda across all business units and functions within an organisation. The digitally native, data and technology led brands are leading the way with the appointments of both CCOs and CXOs. This role is by and large a role of significant influence managing a variety of stakeholder relationships cross functionally. The role is most commonly very data driven, and is responsible for creating actionable insight for use to improve Customer Experience, Customer Success, sales and commercial profitability.The role of the Chief Experience Officer is also on the rise. At the moment the majority of these roles also sit within the Technology sectors (20%) and the Marketing/Research community (15%), Financial Services comes in fourth but with a heavy focus on fintech organisations. The majority of Experience Officer roles are in a B2B environment, with a few more focussed on employee experience over client or customer. 56% of the CXO are Male, interestingly the same gender split percentage as the CCO community.
"One person cannot pivot an entire ship without power, influence and resources. It is very hard if that CXO doesn’t have the full support of the CEO and the board. When the CEO is involved in customer experience, results are much better. The CEO must tie performance metrics to customer experience — across the entire business. And the CEO’s performance should be tied to customer experience as well"
Looking for a Chief Customer Officer Job Description
How to Hire a Chief Customer Officer
Chief Customer Officer backgrounds
In our 2021 Customer Director report, data on the role of the Chief Customer Officer suggests that 58% of individuals came from either a Sales (18%) or Marketing (40%) background, vs 15% from Customer Service or Contact Centre. In contrast, in our 2022 report, 31% came from a marketing background, with 22% from operations and 20% from Customer Service, Customer Success 12% and Sales 15%. The majority of Chief Customer Officers live in the South East (56%) The Technology sector has appointed the highest number of Chief Customer Officers at 46.5%, followed by Financial Services 18.5% and Retail at 8.9% 44% of CCOs are female, as are 47% of Customer Experience Directors All data is taken from the Douglas Jackson Customer Director Report 2022.The background that is right for your next Chief Customer Officer really is unique to your organisation and set of objectives. This is where we believe many appointments might go wrong.
It is important to consider the mandate of yoyr CCO, how they will work with the rest of your ExCo, Board and Directors. The responsibilities they will have and the future goals you want them to achieve before going to market
Chief Customer Officer Salaries
Learn more about what a Chief Customer Officer does and how it can serve you and your company?
What is a Chief Customer Officer?
The Chief Customer Officer role has responsibility and accountability for driving the strategy and delivery of the Customer agenda across all business units and functions within an organisation.
This role is by and large a role of significant influence managing a variety of stakeholder relationships cross functionally.
The role is most commonly very data driven, and is responsible for creating actionable insight for use to improve Customer Experience and commercial profitability.
Learn more in this brief overview of the role of a Chief Customer Officer and or Chief Experience Officer; Duties and responsibilities Stakeholders Salary Gender diversity across the role
Chief Customer Officer Salaries
Chief Customer Officers in the Financial Services industry seem to have the highest salaries, followed by the Technology sector.
Chief Customer Officers who come from a Marketing background tend to be paid 20-25% more than those who come from a Customer Service background, although again this data is shifting to a more equal footing as companies realign their values and redefine the role of the Chief Customer Officer for their business.Why chief customer officers are next in line for the CEO job: A cohort of tech-savvy executives trained to hit revenue targets and keep customers happy are emerging as the top candidates to fill CEO vacancies. The chief customer officer role is proving to be a critical training ground for executives who have their eye on the top job, recruitment experts say.
The Average Salary For A Chief Customer Officer is £169,400
Hear from a former Chief Customer Officer
Hear directly from a previous Chief Customer Officer. Our Managing Partner Michelle Ansell joined Karen Hogg in The Impact Room. Karen has experience working at a C-suite executive level with brands such as Axa, Sainsburys Bank and more latterly Atlanta Group as Chief Operating Officer, before taking on the newly created role of a Chief Customer Officer.
- Hear from Karen on how the business landscape has changed over the last 10 years and the key ingredients for business and individual to thrive.
- What Karen learnt from the creation of and her appointment to the role of a Chief Customer Officer and how the position can best serve a business
- How the challenges and demands have changed for women in the workplace and what the insurance industry can do to help drive change and boost the attractiveness of the sector to individuals from more diverse backgrounds.
- How business can get the best for both their people and their customers and advice for those who have aspirations of achieving a Chief Customer Officer role.