“By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.” Unfortunately, the only insight this now famous claim provides is how total nonsense gains credibility if it is shared widely enough.

The image shows a chart from the report - the only basis for the quote I can find. Note that participants described where their strategic emphasis lay — experience, products or price. They did not answer which of these factors was their most important differentiator. To assume they're the same thing is silly — it could simply be that CX is a weakness and the product is already a strength.

The quote is a total mis-representation of the facts then, if you can call them that, given their farcical research methodology:

1. A roundtable discussion with 31 “business leaders” and CX professionals.
2. In depth interviews based on the themes from that roundtable session with another 35 people.
3. Surveying 204 CX professionals to “validate the findings”.

No mention of including CMOs, pricing professionals or product strategists — you could hardly propose a more biased arrangement.

The ease with which this nonsense gains credibility is truly alarming. Less surprising - Forbes published the claim in an article without bothering to check its provenance.

See this post on LinkedIn