Chief experience officer
A chief experience officer (CXO) is an executive responsible for the overall experience of an organization's products and services. As user experience (UX) is quickly becoming a key differentiator in the modern business landscape,[1] the CXO is charged with bringing holistic experience design to the boardroom and making it an intrinsic part of the company's strategy and culture.
Responsibilities
[edit]A CXO's responsibilities include:
- Corporate leadership in UX strategy
- Software and hardware design management
- Creative reviews and concept development
- Intellectual property positioning and protection
In a piece in UX Magazine, Lis Hubert said the goal of having a CXO is "to have someone responsible for curating and maintaining a holistic user-, business-, and technology-appropriate experience" at the C-level.[2][unreliable source?] Authors Claudia Fisher and Christine Vallaster state that a CXO or chief marketing officer is a good idea when "the brand is seen as a strategic driver of the organization."[3]
In Healthcare
[edit]Howard Larkin wrote that in healthcare, the CXO is "responsible for making sure every aspect of a complex delivery system consistently meets basic patient and human needs" and what it calls "operationalizing the patient experience mission."[4]
Perception of title
[edit]In 2006 the New York Times discussed the role of the chief experience officer in the context of a number of "unconventional" and "wacky" titles being created by Madison Avenue firms with the intent to "signal a realization by an advertiser or agency that in a rapidly changing marketing and media landscape, the time for the tried and true has come and gone".[5]
Management academics of the Wharton Business School have called the proliferation of roles in the C-Suite "Title Inflation."[6][7]
Corporate futurists Herman and Giola have warned about the "dangerous side effects" of "job title invention."[8]
STLX, the 3,000 member Meetup group created for User Experience and Service Design professionals, holds an annual conference. In 2014 speaker Chris Feix, in his talk titled "Why UX #Fails", argued that any software company that doesn't demonstrate a C-Level investment in UX is doomed to fail. [9]
Related positions
[edit]In a 2012 publication, it was reported that "chief customer officer" (30%) and "chief client officer" (15%) were more commonly used for the role than "chief experience officer" (10%), with 45% utilizing other variations.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "CEO as Chief Experience Officer". GA Blog. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
- ↑ Hubert, Lis (October 28, 2011). "UX, It's Time to Define CXO". UX Magazine. ISSN 2168-5681. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
- ↑ Fisher-Buttinger, Claudia; Vallaster, Christine (April 1, 2010). Connective Branding: Building Brand Equity in a Demanding World. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. p. 147. ISBN 9780470740873. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
- ↑ Larkin, Howard (November 11, 2012). "Chief Experience Officer: Listener-in-chief". Hospitals & Health Networks. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
- ↑ Elliott, Stuart (September 13, 2006). "Wanted: Experience Officer. Some Necessary". The New York Times. p. C8. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
- ↑ Coomber, Steve; Woods, Marc (June 10, 2008). Where Do All the Paperclips Go: ...and 127 other business and career conundrums. John Wiley & Sons. p. 99. ISBN 9781906465001. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
- ↑ Day, George; Lodish, Leonard; Cappelli, Peter (May 30, 2007). "Chief Receptionist Officer? Title Inflation Hits the C-Suite". Knowledge at Wharton. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
- ↑ The Futurist. World Future Society. 2000.
- ↑ "Why UX #FAILS (with notes)". Slideshare. Retrieved 2025-11-30.
- ↑ Manning, Harley; Bodine, Kerry (2012). Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business. New Harvest (Amazon Publishing). p. 186. ISBN 9780547913988. Retrieved January 17, 2013.