Chief customer officers · the role
What does a chief customer officer do?
The short answer · updated
A chief customer officer is the executive accountable for the customer’s whole experience of a company, from first purchase to renewal. They own customer strategy, insight and the measures that track it, usually lead customer success and service, and make the case for customers in decisions other functions take. Most report to the chief executive.
What is a chief customer officer?
A chief customer officer is a C-suite role created to give the customer one accountable owner.
Sales, marketing, product and service each touch the customer; the chief customer officer is responsible for the experience adding up, and for keeping and growing the customers the company already has.
The role is most common where revenue depends on customers staying: subscription software, financial services, telecoms, utilities and retail.
In a software company it often grows out of customer success.
Chief customer officer roles and responsibilities
The CXPA CX Framework, the competency standard behind the CCXP exam, groups the work into customer insight and understanding; customer experience strategy; metrics, measurement and return on investment; design, implementation and innovation; and culture and accountability.
A chief customer officer is accountable for all five at company level.
In practice:
- Customer strategy. Defining the experience the company intends to give, linked to its strategy and brand.
- Insight. Running the voice-of-the-customer programme and turning feedback and data into decisions.
- Retention and growth. Leading customer success, renewals and expansion of existing accounts.
- Service. Running customer support and service operations, or setting their standards.
- Measures. Choosing and reporting the customer metrics the board watches, alongside the financial ones.
- Cross-functional change. Fixing the journeys that break between departments.
- Culture. Making customer outcomes part of how every team is managed and rewarded.
Chief customer officer vs chief commercial officer vs CRO
Both are abbreviated to CCO, so read the full title.
A chief customer officer owns the experience and the retention of existing customers.
A chief commercial officer owns how the company earns from its markets: sales, pricing and partnerships.
See what a chief commercial officer does.
A chief revenue officer owns the revenue number across sales, marketing and often customer success; where a company has both, the chief customer officer typically owns the post-sale customer and the CRO the pipeline.
See what a CRO does.
Titles vary between companies, so compare the remit and the reporting line, not the acronym.
Regulation and benchmarks
In financial services, customer outcomes are regulated.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty sets high standards of protection for retail consumers and requires firms to put their customers’ needs first; a chief customer officer in a regulated firm usually works closely with compliance on the evidence.
Across sectors, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets the legal baseline for the rights of consumers.
For comparison with other companies, the Institute of Customer Service publishes the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, a national benchmark of customer satisfaction across sectors.
Fractional, interim and permanent chief customer officers
A permanent chief customer officer suits a company whose growth depends on retention every day.
An interim chief customer officer covers a fixed period: a turnaround in churn, a service rebuild, or a gap between appointments.
A fractional chief customer officer works part of the week, often for a scale-up putting customer success on a footing.
See how to hire a fractional chief customer officer.
A fractional or interim chief customer officer working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35).
Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination.
Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
Pay depends on the size of the company and the scope of the role.
Our chief customer officer salary page sets out published pay with sources.
How to hire a chief customer officer
Decide what the role owns that sales, product and service leaders do not, and which customer measures it will answer for.
Then define the first year: a retention target agreed, a voice-of-the-customer programme running, a broken journey fixed.
Test candidates on your own customer data and take references from the teams they led.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.
For a customer brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.
To hire a chief customer officer, start with our hire chief customer officer page.
Questions people ask
What is a chief customer officer?
The executive accountable for the customer’s whole experience of a company: customer strategy, insight, retention, service and the measures behind them.
Is a chief customer officer the same as a chief commercial officer?
No, though both are called CCO.
A chief customer officer owns the customer experience and retention; a chief commercial officer owns sales, pricing and partnerships.
Who does a chief customer officer report to?
Usually the chief executive.
In some companies the role reports to the COO or the CRO.
What qualifications does a chief customer officer need?
None is required by law.
Some hold the CCXP credential, whose exam is based on the CXPA CX Framework; most are hired on a record of improving retention and service.
Can a chief customer officer work part-time?
Yes.
A fractional chief customer officer works part of the week.
See how to hire a fractional chief customer officer.
How do I hire a chief customer officer?
Define the remit against sales, product and service, set the customer measures the role answers for, and test candidates on your own data.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
