For this installment of Stat of the week, we’re taking a look at responsibility.

photo by Sarah G

We asked 644 leaders:  In your organization, who has the primary responsibility for defining customer experience objectives and strategies?

43% said CEO or Senior Management is responsible for customer experience strategy.

25% said everyone is responsible for customer experience strategy.

These two were the top vote getters.  Other participants threw sales, marketing or customer service into the ring, but none of the other responses garnered anything more than 8%. I think it’s appropriate that people tagged senior management with the responsibility for overall strategy (customer experience strategies or otherwise). This post over on Retail Customer Experience is a one of many I’ve read pinning responsibility at the top. That’s the uncontroversial, almost expected news behind this stat.

The thing to ponder here is that 25% said everyone is responsible. I worry when I hear everyone is responsible for something. That usually means nobody is accountable. Shared responsibility is good. No accountability is a leading indicator of a missed goal. I wonder if those organizations could be more effective if there was a clear understanding about who is setting direction.

Do you agree with the research? Who within an organization is ultimately responsible for the customer experience strategy?