Customer experience (CX) is the sum of someone’s perception of an organization.
If CX is a customer’s perception of an organization, customer experience management is the strategy for tracking those perceptions as well as creating, delivering, and measuring customer experiences and making sure they align with business goals.
Customer experience managers set the overall context of a customer’s experience and cultivate competitive advantages at every stage of the customer life cycle (growing business, attracting prospects, winning customers, engaging customers, retaining customers, and engaging employees).
In the CX world, the favored strategies for most organizations have been from customer experience management, enterprise feedback management, and voice of the customer.
Companies where ExDM alumni have worked in this field include organizations such as:
- Qualtrics
- Lucid Software
- Podium
- Adobe
- Weave Communications
Example job titles for this career path include roles such as:
- Account Manager
- Sales Enablement Specialist
- Client Success
- Consultant
- Client Service Coordinator
Core Competencies
Students in this track can expect to become competent in the following topics:
- Customer Journey Mapping – EXDM 404: Experience Design
- User Experience Design
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: EXDM 490R, section 5: Managing Meaningful Guest, Visitor, and Customer Journeys
- Data Analysis – EXDM 423: Experience Insights
- Design Thinking – EXDM 404: Experience Design
- Storytelling – EXDM 404: Experience Design
- Visual Design – EXDM 416: Experiential Marketing
- Project Management – EXDM 412: Event and Experience Management
- Risk Management – EXDM 412: Event and Experience Management
- Financial Management – ACC 200: Principles of Accounting; FIN 201: Principles of Finance
- Administration – HRM 391: Organizational Effectiveness; MSB 390: Ethics for Management
- Human Resources – HRM 391: Organizational Effectiveness; EXDM 490R, section 14: Designing Employee Experiences
- Stakeholder Management – EXDM 306: Community Festivals and Special Events; EXDM 422: Experience Needfinding; EXDM 423: Experience Insights; EXDM 490R, section 5: Managing Meaningful Guest, Visitor, and Customer Journeys
- Site Management – EXDM 306: Community Festivals and Special Events
- Marketing – MKTG 201: Marketing Management; EXDM 416: Experiential Marketing
- Professionalism – M COM 320: Communication in Organizational Settings
- Communication – M COM 320: Communication in Organizational Settings
Suggested Electives and Minors
Electives and minors should help a student develop the ability to design experiences for customers. The ExDM program encourages students to also consider the following supporting electives and minors:
- EXDM 490R, section 5: Managing Meaningful Guest, Visitor, and Customer Journeys
- EXDM 494R: Experience Design Lab
- Communications Minor
- Design Thinking Minor
- Creative Writing Minor
Professional Organizations
Organizations provide excellent opportunities to network and learn more about the profession from professionals. Most provide greatly reduced student membership rates. They also host conferences that have reduced rates or volunteer opportunities for students. Students are highly encouraged to join at least one of these organizations and attend one of their conferences.
Certifications
Certifications not only help in professional development, but they are also valued by potential employers. The ExDM department highly recommends working toward certifications that are aligned with a student’s career aspirations. The program actively attempts to integrate certifications or preparation to gain certifications into curriculum whenever possible.
- Qualtrics Customer Experience Certification*
- Project Management Certifications
- Certified Meeting Professional
*Integrated into the ExDM curriculum
Who to Contact
Curriculum Advisement
For more information and assistance regarding academic requirements, preparing for applying to ExDM, and making course decisions please contact Heidi Engh from the BYU Marriott Undergraduate Advisement Office.
Career and Internship Placement
For more information about career opportunities, check the experience design and management career placement profile or contact ExDM career director Noelani Wayas in the Business Career Center.
For questions or information regarding internships, please contact ExDM internship coordinator Joel Agate.
No employees specified
Professional Contacts
To learn more about professional contacts as part of the ExDM mentoring program, get in touch with student experience administrator Lauren Anderson.
Graduate Degree Opportunities
Students are highly encouraged to consider graduate school as career preparation option. Students interested in graduate school should consider enrolling in EXDM 585R: Experience Design Research Seminar. Students can also reach out to Dr. Patti Freeman, who teaches the research seminar course, if they have questions about graduate school opportunities.
Professional Organizations and Certifications
For more information about the professional organizations and certifications associated with this career track please reach out to Dr. Neil Lundberg.