Rachael Powell’s job title tells us all we need to know about marketing right now. As chief customer, people and marketing officer at Xero, she is the embodiment of the evolution of marketing and how, in order to achieve true connection with the customer, trust must occur from the inside before it can go out to the customers.

​Customer experience is crucial for brands moving into the future, as consumers become less interested in products and more interested in experiences.

Harnessing digital platforms and AI for customer experience, breaking down situational thinking and embracing journey-based thinking, and finding a north star for engagement are just some of the ways Mercer and Gartner see organisations building better customer experiences.

Doing good is just part of doing business today for Unilever and Marriott, which featured in the Dreamforce keynote as examples of putting customers at the centre of business.

NAB is appointing its first chief customer experience officer, waving goodbye to its retail and wealth chief, rebranding its customer products and services division, in an executive leadership restructure it says will help put customers first.

Few airlines are lauded for their levels of customer service. Fewer still have customers who tattoo the airline’s logo onto their bodies.

It’s the combination of great technology and people that will give organisations the means to deliver personalised experiences that actually meet customer expectations, AGL’s chief customer officer, Melissa Reynolds, claims.

Medibank’s fortunes are rising thanks to a “substantial turnaround” in customer advocacy and retention, driven by consistently delivering a better customer experience, more value and recognising customer loyalty, according to CEO Craig Drummond.

Freshworks CEO and founder, Girish Mathrubootham, is on a mission: To build the ultimate, all-encompassing customer engagement management platform.

Increased sales conversion, more efficient customer service support and better business decision making are just some of the benefits Progressive Direct claims it’s experiencing after overhauling customer management systems internally.

Experience-led businesses are putting long-term engagement over short-term wins, investing in a combination of people, process and technology, have more comprehensive leadership buy-in and are seeing stronger revenue and customer wins as a result.

Marketing and customer experience professionals looking to artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their organisation’s customer game are going to have to find a way to work with IT or risk missing out on the real benefits of the emerging technology.

Bankwest has stepped up its use of digital technologies for customer support, launching a new in-app messaging service via its banking app that syncs conversations across devices.

Scoot Airlines has made a significant investment into a voice-of-customer platform and overhauled its customer service and experience team structure in order to make CX its key competitive advantage in the low-cost carrier market.

Becoming a more customer-focused organisation has been one of the best things to ever happen to The Iconic, said COO of the online fashion retailer, Anna Lee.

Customer service is going through one of the most transformative times in history and being turned on its head as organisations look to drive integrated engagement across the customer lifecycle.

​Measuring CX is vital, but difficult, to do, according to Gartner, as there are hundreds of metrics to choose from and various levels within an organisation to which they should be applied.

CMOs looking to implement a customer experience program need to engage with shareholders with the same amount of tangibility as CFOs if they want to ensure CX as a market share growth driver and competitive advantage.

​The broader remit of CMOs to include customer experience (CX) and technology may be hampering their ability to achieve basic marketing requirements, such as brand consistency, according to a recent report.

Telstra is cutting 8000 staff and contractors, slashing customer plans and pricing and creating a new infrastructure business unit in a strategy shake-up it claims will simplify structure and cut costs while improving customer experience.

Companies looking to automate all their customer experience using artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning are likely to fail at delivering the seamless, post-channel CX experiences customers want.