I have been in this industry for more years than I care to admit. I have been in the business of creating me
morable customer experiences from the first time I washed someone’s hair at my part-time job at the local hairdressing salon when I was 14, working a summer job, through my university years’ part-time job of being a clown at kids’ birthday parties, not to forget that time I worked as a kangaroo mascot for an Australia Day parade down the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane back in the early ’90s!
After graduating with my master’s degree and working “real jobs” since the late ’90s, I have always been in customer service, clienteling, CRM, or customer experience roles. But it was only after moving to the United Arab Emirates that I learned there was a methodology that brings all this “customer centricity stuff” into a repeatable, scalable framework.
In recent years, I made a pact with myself to do something new and different for myself and my own growth every year. From starting competitive powerlifting to working with refugees fleeing war, this year I decided I would do something a little less physically and emotionally taxing — I would FINALLY get my CCXP!
Supported by an awesome company that has a TEAM of CCXPs ready to support and help, I started attending online and in-person courses to understand what taking the exam entails.
Like anything worth doing, it was more effort than I had initially anticipated. I could deadlift 140 kg before breakfast — but actually documenting examples of where I had led CX strategies took more time and emotional grit than I had prepared myself for! Once I was accepted to take the exam, I purchased and read cover-to-cover the CXPA CX Book of Knowledge, and signed up to take countless mock exams. After about two months of almost daily study (just 60–90 minutes), I consulted with my colleagues who had already taken their CCXP exams and asked them if they thought I was ready. After receiving their resounding YES — I booked the exam at the local exam center.
The exam itself went smoothly — I allowed myself enough time to complete and review my answers and then submitted the paper. The time allowed to take the exam felt sufficient, and I was confident that I was able to review and revisit some of the trickier questions. The results are almost immediate — so I left the exam center knowing that the past six months’ effort had paid off! I was finally accepted amongst a team of people I had been admiring for years.
Some tips:
Prepare to prepare! Start documenting your contributions across the five disciplines so that you can reference them for your application process. Allow yourself plenty of time to write and review your application — and don’t be shy! This is your chance to really be proud of what you have achieved.
Read the CXPA CX Book of Knowledge! It has everything you need to know!
Mock exams are life! For someone who has been in the business for as many years as I have (ahem), the content is not new. What is new is the way those folks who write the exams try to trick you! The “best” or the “most appropriate” questions are the ones to watch out for. All of the answers could be correct, but there is one that is better than the rest. The mock exams were key for me getting comfortable with these questions.
Be like Nike! Just DO it!
This whitepaper by CXPA Member Mohammed Al Shawwa introduces the Contextual Referral Likelihood & Rank-Based Referral Share (CRL–RRS). This framework introduces a behaviorally grounded extension to traditional recommendation metrics.
Have you ever been in a rush, running through a busy airport, straining to hear announcements related to your flight? Take a moment to think about what that experience would be if you couldn’t hear any of it. In a world where sound dominates com...
Explore this valuable resource to enhance your customer experience practice.
Rooted and structured in the 2013 and 2020 psychometric job analysis studies of the CX leader role, CXPA's CX Book of Knowledge provides over 300 pages of clear, practical guidance on terms, processes, and theory essential to understanding customer experience. Organized into the five sections of the CXPA CX Framework (Customer Experience Strategy; Customer Understanding and Insights; Design, Implementation, and Innovation; Metrics, Measurement, and ROI; and Culture and Accountability), the book is written as a thorough, approachable primer that has the value of an academic textbook told through the informed voice of experienced CX professionals. To help provide deeper understanding, the book draws not only on seminal and contemporary CX works, but also on insights and theories from etymology, psychology, design, law, marketing, finance, innovation, change leadership, project management, and total quality management to name a few. This revised edition offers updated graphics and contributor information. This edition features insights from 42 global contributors representing diverse industries and regions, including: Ahmad Samir, Aileen Zink, CCXP, Akisia Grigsby, Alicia Freites, CCXP, Anita Siassios, CCXP, Ashima Bhagat, Brett Sharp, Catherine Gauthier, CCXP, Cathy Lipop, CCXP, Christopher Miller, CCXP, Dave Seaton, CCXP, DeAnn Campbell, Diane Magers, CCXP, Dragana Crevar, Erna Alfred Liousas, CCXP, Esther Mustow, Greg Kihlstrom, Heather Gillbanks, CCXP, Howard Lax, Jennifer Koffie, Jeff Lojko, Jerry Pasierb, CCXP, Karen Riordan, Karan Thaker, CCXP, Larry Leung, Lancelot Sequeira, Marc Karschies, CCXP, Marc Mandel, CCXP, Matteo Todesco, Michelle Sawa, CCXP, Mike Wittenstein, Muneer Mubashir, Nancy Ortenburg, Patty Soltis, CCXP, Rajith Nair, CCXP, Rania Mehwi, CCXP, Ray Killebrew, Sophia Frey, CCXP, Suzanne Kinney, CCXP, Teena Kurian, CCXP, Venkata Dasari, CCXP, and Victor Musiwa, CCXP.
