Customer Experience 
Is a customer experience team necessary? Well, nearly 50% of customers leave a brand because of a poor customer experience (CX), according to our State of Customer Experience report.
But no surprise there, right? You’ve always known how important CX is to your business. And if you’re building your own customer experience team, chances are your C-suite finally sees it, too.
In this guide, you’ll read about seven essential roles in a team solely focused on customer experience, three ways to structure it, qualities to consider when hiring, and how to make sure your team succeeds.
Ready to join the 44% of companies with a dedicated CX team? Keep reading!
7 Common Roles and Functions of a CX Team
While every CX team is unique, here are several common roles that most teams find essential:
Customer experience manager
The CX manager is the team’s leader. They oversee the entire CX strategy, set goals, and measure performance. They ensure all team members are aligned and working toward common objectives, creating a unified customer experience.
They also support agents who need assistance and keep everyone’s heads up. According to Smitha Baliga, CEO/CFO of TeleDirect Communications, “The unspoken role of our team leads is to maintain morale in what can be a high-stress environment.”
Without a CX manager, teams can lack direction and focus. Inconsistencies creep in, and opportunities for improvement slip through the cracks. This can lead to wasted resources, siloed work, and a poor user experience.
For example, when customers complain about shipping delays in a specific region, the CX manager takes charge. They coordinate with logistics to address the delivery partner issue, work with the tech team to improve tracking transparency, and ensure customer support has updated information. They also set KPIs to measure the success of these initiatives, aiming to reduce complaints and improve delivery times.
💡 Did you know: According to a joint study by Oxford Economics and Adobe, only 44% of organizations have a designated CX officer. Having a capable CX manager on your team sets you apart from most companies and shows you’re serious about delivering exceptional experiences.
Customer journey analyst
The journey analyst is responsible for mapping out customer interactions across all touchpoints, identifying pain points, and recommending improvements.
They use data and customer insights to optimize journeys and remove friction.
For example, using CX analytics, they might discover that customers who choose express shipping have a higher cart abandonment rate compared with those selecting standard shipping.
By digging deeper into the data, they might find that the express shipping cost is displayed later in the checkout process than it is with other options. The analyst could recommend presenting this information earlier in the journey, potentially reducing cart abandonment and improving the overall purchasing experience.
Customer feedback analyst
The feedback analyst collects, analyzes, and interprets customer feedback from surveys, reviews, and social media sources. Then they transform this data into actionable insights that inform CX initiatives.
This helps your company understand what your current customers like, what they don’t like, and how to improve their experience.
Let’s say a customer feedback analyst is informed about an uptick in negative reviews about delivery times. They dig in and find that most complaints come from a specific region. Then they discover that a recent change in the delivery partner for that region has caused delays.
Knowing this, your team can quickly address the root cause with the new delivery partner and implement targeted solutions to boost customer satisfaction.
CX researcher
The CX researcher conducts market research and customer surveys to gain insight into potential customer needs, preferences, and behaviors.
Their work helps your company understand the broader context of customer expectations and market trends, enabling you to prioritize improvements and new initiatives based on their impact on the overall CX.
For example, the researcher might aim to answer questions like:
- How important is delivery speed to customers in this market?
- What are the industry benchmarks for delivery times?
- What delivery options do customers value most?
Let’s say they find that, in your market, customers prioritize having a choice of delivery options over pure speed, and they expect to receive real-time tracking and updates. Now you can focus on offering flexible delivery options and real-time tracking instead of just speeding up delivery.
CX designer
The CX designer creates positive interactions between your company and your audience across all customer touchpoints. The core of their job is to understand the customer’s journey from start to finish.
They use design thinking and research methods, such as interviews, to identify customer needs, pain points, and preferences, finding opportunities to delight their audience along the way.
In the shipping scenario, a customer experience designer might analyze the entire delivery process, from order placement to package arrival, looking at order tracking data and customer feedback to identify pain points.
Then they might propose improvements like optimizing delivery routes and timeframes or redesigning the tracking page to provide clearer updates.
CX technologist
CX technologists, sometimes referred to as operations specialists, establish the technical infrastructure (like CX software or analytics apps) every CX team needs to track, analyze, and improve customer interactions.
They also ensure everyone in the company can easily access and use employee and customer data.
Let’s say you’ve decided you need a better way to inform customers about their shipments. A CX technologist can help you set up an automated text message system. They can also create dashboards so teams across the company can see shipping performance and customer feedback in real time.
Customer support representative
Customer support representatives interact directly with customers to answer questions and resolve issues.
They gather valuable insights from their daily interactions and relay them to the rest of the CX team, highlighting common concerns, feedback, and areas for improvement.
Their frontline experiences also inform and complement Voice of Customer (VoC) initiatives, helping you identify trends and areas for improvement across the customer journey.
Your reps are the ones customers go to when they experience shipping delays or issues with tracking their orders.
3 Ways to Structure Your Customer Experience Team
There’s no perfect way to structure a CX team. For example, Chris Sorensen, CEO of PhoneBurner, organizes his teams into cross-functional pods, which allows his people to take a more holistic approach to customer success (CS):
“Each pod is composed of a Customer Success Manager, a Data Analyst, a Product Specialist, and a Customer Insights Specialist. So each unit has the expertise to address a customer’s needs from multiple angles.”
— Chris Sorensen
Jess Munday, Co-Founder and People & Culture Manager at Custom Neon takes a different approach:
“We have core functions, like data analysis and strategy, centralized at our HQ. But as a global business that requires around-the-clock coverage, some customer support is decentralized. This allows our teams in different locations to tailor their approaches to suit local customer needs.”
— Jess Munday
To inspire you, here are three general approaches to structuring a CX team:
Centralized CX team
A centralized CX team structure consolidates all customer experience functions under a single department. This allows you to be laser-focused on customer experience initiatives, create a unified knowledge base, and allocate resources efficiently.
But if you don’t actively foster cross-functional collaboration, your customer experience department could struggle with departmental siloing. This means your team might lose touch with the rest of the organization — like the sales or marketing teams — which can make it harder to drive organization-wide change and ensure buy-in for CX initiatives.
This model is best for large organizations with complex customer journeys.
Decentralized CX team
In a decentralized model, CX responsibilities are spread across different departments. This setup embeds customer experience knowledge throughout your organization.
With a decentralized team, you can implement improvements much faster. When your sales team spots a trend, they can quickly adjust their approach without waiting for approval from a central CX department.
But without solid communication, you might end up with inconsistent CX standards. For example, what your support team considers great service might differ from your sales team’s view.
This structure shines in smaller companies or those with a customer-centric culture.
Hybrid CX team
A hybrid CX model blends centralized and decentralized approaches.
You maintain a core CX team that sets overall strategy and standards and integrates CX specialists within various departments. This allows for consistent brand experience and efficient resource allocation while still enabling agility and responsiveness.
Phil Alves, Founder and CEO at DevSquad, has built a hybrid team based on a hub-and-spoke model:
“At the center of the hub is the core customer experience team, which includes roles like CX Data Scientist, CS Manager, and a Product Experience Lead. They drive the overall strategy, set KPIs, and ensure consistency across all customer interactions. The spokes represent cross-functional squads — each focused on specific customer segments or products. They’re more autonomous and can quickly adapt to the needs of their assigned areas.”
— Phil Alves
This structure needs careful coordination and management. It’s important to define clear roles and responsibilities and to establish clear communication channels between your central team and embedded specialists.
The hybrid structure is best for organizations that need a balance between centralized oversight and individual ownership.
Qualities to Look for When Building Your CX Team
To really set your CX team apart, here are some qualities to look for in a new team member:
Adaptability
An adaptable team member can shift gears as quickly as customer needs change.
They’re flexible in the face of new challenges and can easily navigate unexpected situations, whether it’s a sudden influx of customer inquiries or a major change in company policy. They’re also quick to learn new tools and processes and can adjust their communication style to suit different types of customers.
This quality lets you maintain a high standard of service even as business conditions change.
Empathy
An empathetic team member can imagine themselves in the customer’s shoes and see things from their perspective. They can sense a customer’s emotions and respond with understanding and a genuine desire to solve their problem.
Whether your employees are on the front lines handling customer calls, managing social media responses, or developing new service strategies, empathy helps them connect with customers on a human level. It lets them anticipate needs, defuse tense situations, and create positive experiences.
When customers feel understood and valued, they’re more likely to stay loyal and recommend your business to others.
Problem-solving skills
A team member with strong problem-solving skills can analyze complex situations, think critically, and devise practical solutions that benefit both the customer and the company.
They’re resourceful, analytical, and strive to find creative workarounds when standard solutions don’t fit.
You’ll notice problem-solvers asking insightful questions to get to the root of an issue rather than just treating symptoms. They’re comfortable making decisions, even with incomplete information, and they’re not afraid to seek help or escalate an issue when needed.
Communication skills
Says Stefan Chekanov, CEO of Brosix:
“Effective communication might seem like a basic skill, but it is essential for any good customer service team member. A person with strong communication abilities can not only resolve customer issues more effectively but is also more likely to support their colleagues.”
— Stefan Chekanov
For example, an effective communicator can turn a tough call with an upset customer into a win by actively listening and presenting the solution clearly, step by step. Then they can share what they’ve learned so other team members can handle similar situations more effectively in the future.
A strong communicator not only solves immediate issues but makes long-term improvements to your customer experience strategy.
Curiosity
Curious team members are invaluable in CX because they’re always looking for ways to improve.
They’re not content with the status quo. They ask “why” and “what if” to uncover root causes and find out-of-the-box solutions.
“Curiosity drives people to explore customer issues thoroughly rather than making quick assumptions. Such people tend to ask insightful questions and discover more effective solutions… This quality is priceless because it fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement.”
— Stefan Chekanov
Customer focus
Having customer-focused team members is crucial because it ensures that every decision and initiative is centered on the customer’s needs and expectations.
An employee with a strong customer focus is deeply empathetic, understanding the customer’s perspective and anticipating their needs.
They prioritize creating positive experiences and genuinely want to understand and meet customer needs.
Data-driven mindset
Having team members with a data-driven mindset is essential because it ensures that decision-making is based on facts, not gut feelings.
An employee with a strong data-driven approach can analyze customer feedback, interaction metrics, and service trends to uncover actionable insights.
They use this information to make informed decisions, spot areas for improvement, and measure the impact of changes.
Cultural fit
This quality ensures new hires understand and embody the company’s values and mission — every day.
With your employees approaching customer interactions with the same passion that your brand promises, buyers are more likely to have a positive customer experience.
Plus, having a team that shares similar values can improve the employee experience and create a more positive work environment — one where staff are more engaged and collaborate seamlessly. This can boost job satisfaction and retention rates.
Conversational intelligence
Unlike emotional intelligence, which involves understanding and managing your own emotions, conversational intelligence (C-IQ) centers around how we interact with others.
It’s about the ability to communicate effectively, build trust, and foster deeper connections through dialogue.
“It’s essentially ‘other-facing,’” says Margaret Ricci, Founder and CEO of Cultural Strategies. It includes “the ability to open up conversations, to explore more, and to overcome conflicts — to be curious about each other and to find the best solutions that always lie between us.”
A team with high C-IQ can navigate challenging conversations, build stronger relationships with customers and with each other, and resolve conflicts in a way that leaves everyone feeling heard and valued.
“[By fostering] C-IQ, we can co-create all the successes we need. This is where all the ‘I’s’ in a team become the ‘We.’ Without these critical mindset changes, we cannot gain ground on CX or CS issues.”
— Margaret Ricci
How to Make Sure Your Customer Experience Team Succeeds
So you’ve built your dream team. Now it’s time to set them up for success and drive those business outcomes:
Set clear goals and KPIs
Start by identifying the most important customer experience metrics for your business.
For example:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Gauges overall satisfaction with a specific interaction or product
- First Contact Resolution (FCR): Tracks issues resolved on the first customer contact
- Average Handle Time (AHT): Measures the average duration of customer interactions
Next, transform these metrics into specific, measurable goals for your team. For example, “Increase NPS from X to Y within the next two quarters,” or “Improve FCR by Z% this quarter.”
Measure progress against these goals regularly and use the data to guide decision-making. Be prepared to adjust your KPIs as business priorities and customer expectations change.
Implement ongoing training and development
In the CX/CS world, things move fast. New channels pop up, customer expectations shift, and yesterday’s solutions can quickly become outdated. Without regular learning opportunities, your team risks falling behind.
At PhoneBurner, Chris’s solution is to implement reverse mentoring. “Traditional mentoring typically has senior team members guiding juniors, but reverse mentoring flips that dynamic,” he says.
“In our team, junior members mentor seniors on emerging trends, new technologies, or even fresh perspectives. This approach has empowered our younger employees and kept our leadership team more attuned to the latest developments and shifting customer expectations.”
— Chris Sorensen
Learning and development initiatives also empower your staff to make decisions on their own and to serve customers better. As Michael Podolsky, CEO of PissedConsumer, says:
“A lot of companies just give checklists for customer service agents to go by, and their agents are not allowed to make a step left or right from that checklist. We strive to train our employees so they can serve customers on the spot and be able to suggest options per a specific customer case.”
— Michael Podolsky
Finally, continuous development helps team members feel more confident. “Educated employees who feel part of something greater will be energized and motivated,” Michael says. “And your customers will feel this enthusiasm too. It will influence them.”
Promote cross-functional collaboration
An exceptional customer experience doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s influenced by many departments, from marketing to web development.
One effective way to implement this is to set up regular cross-department meetings to discuss customer feedback and pain points.
At DevSquad, Phil sets up cross-functional customer journey mapping workshops.
“These workshops involve team members from various functions — marketing, product, support, and sales — working together to map out the entire customer journey from initial contact to long-term engagement,” he says.
“By visualizing the customer journey in this collaborative environment, we identify pain points, gaps, and opportunities for enhancement. The insights gained from these workshops are then used to refine our processes, improve our products, and ensure that every touchpoint contributes positively to the overall customer experience.”
And the result? A cohesive journey that improves satisfaction and customer retention rates.
Upgrade your tech stack
According to Adobe’s research, almost 80% of companies use fundamental tech stack elements like project management or customer data management tools.
However, more advanced capabilities like AI and automation are still underutilized.
Yet executives who have improved their customer experience the most throughout the customer lifecycle have done so using “data, segmentation, and automation of digital touchpoints.”
Our own research confirms this. In our State of Customer Experience report, we found that 80% of executives who integrated AI reported improved customer satisfaction and contact center performance.
Assess your current tools and identify gaps in data integration, automation, and AI capabilities. Then, to upgrade your stack, consider exploring tools like predictive analytics software and AI chatbots.
“We’ve leveraged AI to analyze customer interactions — emails, chat transcripts, and support calls — to gauge sentiment and emotional tone. This lets us proactively address issues and tailor our communication strategies to better meet customer needs. For example, if AI detects a rising level of frustration in customer interactions, the system alerts our CX team so they can intervene with personalized support before the situation escalates.”
— Phil Alves
Nextiva: Empowering Your Customer Experience Team
A lot goes into building a great CX team, like setting clear goals and KPIs, recruiting people with a diverse range of skills and personality traits, and establishing the right team structure.
Implementing powerful customer experience management software and an agile tech stack can take you even further and put you ahead of your competitors.
Nextiva’s Unified CXM and call center technology is designed to help teams like yours increase efficiency, provide high-quality service more consistently, and focus on the areas that matter most.
Build Amazing Customer Experiences
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