Marketers back appointment of CCO

The role of Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is set to take its place in corporate management ranks, with more than two-thirds of marketers agreeing their organisation needs to fill that role.

According to research carried out by IBM-owned analytics firm SPSS, half of 100 marketers polled in a survey it commissioned have already put CCOs in place, and the rest are not far behind. Around 66 per cent of respondents from a survey of 100 marketing professionals said they understood the need for the position.

Almost 40 per cent said the CCO should work within the marketing department. A quarter said it should be a board level position.

Colin Shearer, senior vice-president of strategic analytics at SPSS said: “Although attracting, retaining and growing customers are the key priorities for marketers, they see the recruitment of a CCO, with a customer service oriented role, as a natural next step to heighten the organisation’s customer strategy. Our research shows that marketers in larger organisations understand the importance of a CCO but are slower to recruit one.”

“By definition, a CCO offers in-depth customer insight to drive customer strategy that feeds the rest of the business. With direct ROI being a key focus point for organisations in today’s challenging economy, it is possible that a CCO may be seen as an unnecessary expense currently. While financial accountability is important, customer service and retention are increasingly vital in delivering return on investment and preparing to be ahead of the game for the imminent recovery.”