Feature
The Gist
- Employee development. Ongoing customer experience (CX) learning initiatives boost employee satisfaction and retention.
- Certification value. Customer experience certification enhances professional credibility and can lead to higher salaries.
- Variety and access. Multiple platforms offer comprehensive online courses in CX, often at low costs, providing flexibility and accessible learning opportunities.
Editor's Note: This article was updated on June 10, 2024 to include new data and information. The original content was authored by Scott Clark.
Ongoing learning initiatives are vital for employee growth, enhancing employee satisfaction and improving retention rates while adding valuable skill sets to a company. Brands looking to facilitate such growth, as well as customer experience (CX) professionals interested in improving their knowledge, are now turning to numerous online courses available for customer experience.
Let’s look at the top eight online customer experience courses and certifications that can help you improve your skills.
The Benefits of CX Courses and Certification
Customer experience is one of the top priorities of most forward-thinking businesses today. The soft and hard skills necessary to be a CX professional are in high demand. According to data from Research and Markets, the global customer experience management market size is expected to reach $32.87 billion by 2030.
Individuals and organizations that pursue CX certification can see a number of benefits, including:
Increased Credibility
Certifications are in high demand across many industries. Many businesses view certifications as a way of ascertaining that an applicant has the knowledge and skills necessary for the position. CX professionals use certifications as a way of demonstrating their commitment to keeping their skills current. Additionally, CX certifications help increase the credibility of a CX professional.
Boosted Salary
The average customer experience specialist salary is $33,353, according to Comparably, with those at the high-end of the scale able to earn up to $145,000. CX certifications often enable job applicants to start a job at a higher salary and help to differentiate one candidate from another.
Improved Satisfaction
A culture of continual learning, including certification courses, is beneficial to employees because it enables them to gain the new skills required to move up within a company, improves employees’ personal satisfaction and enhances the overall employee experience.
Enhanced Organizational Health
Peter Hirst, senior associate dean of Executive Education at the MIT Sloan School of Management, told CMSWire that a culture of continual learning is the mark of a healthy organization with engaged employees.
“Research increasingly shows professional development is one of the top drivers of employee retention and a positive employee experience. Organizations that support continuous learning understand the enormity of the challenges their leaders are facing today and their need to be supported, connected and empowered to lead.”
Greater Retention and Loyalty
Greg Rose, chief experience officer at Intellum, added that certifications can be a great additional to any education program, as customers who are proficient in your organization’s tools are likely to get much more out of them, leading to increased retention, loyalty and advocacy.
“Major players in the certifications field such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and many others like Instagram, Snap and Pinterest, all partner with Intellum to deliver world-class customer education and certification initiatives,” he explained.
Related Article: What Is Customer Experience (CX)? A Comprehensive Guide
Top Customer Experience Courses and Certifications Available Today
There are a number of individual courses and certification programs to choose from based on your or your company's goals and preferences.
1. LinkedIn Learning CX Courses
LinkedIn Learning offers courses on a huge variety of topics for business professionals. An individual membership is $39.99 per month, with the first month free as a trial period. Or users can save with an annual subscription, which works out to $19.99 per month.
LinkedIn Learning has a multitude of customer experience courses, including:
- Customer Experience: Journey Mapping
- Customer Experience Leadership
- Design Thinking: Customer Experience
- Customer Experience: Creating Customer Personas
- Aligning Customer Experience with Company Culture
- A Design Thinking Approach to Putting the Customer First
- Journey Mapping: Case Study in Action
The Design Thinking: Customer Experience course includes one project, three chapter quizzes and, when completed, a certificate of completion. The course content helps customer experience professionals understand the different components that make up customer experience design, such as archetypes, activities, interactions and experience principles. Using real-world examples, the course demonstrates how these components facilitate a brand's relationship with its customers and is broken into four parts:
- The Customer Experience Context
- The Layers of Customer Experience
- Customer Experience at Work
- Conclusion
Once students successfully complete the course, they are able to add the certification to their LinkedIn profile.
2. Alison CX Courses
Alison offers students 4,000 certification courses on practically any subject, including customer experience, customer service, voice of the customer and more. In addition to the courses offered free to individuals, Alison offers upskilling services for businesses.
Alison’s Voice of the Customer course is broken into four parts, offering highly relevant course content that will aid anyone in the CX profession.
Topics covered include:
- Six Sigma methodology
- Customer segmentation
- Collecting customer data
- Understanding customer needs and expectations
Each part of this CX course also contains instructional videos and a quiz that must be passed in order to move to the next part.
Students can take notes on the course page, set study reminders, participate in course discussions and, once all parts have been completed, take the course assessment so they can obtain the certification. Digital and physical copies of the certification can be purchased from Alison once the course is successfully completed.
Related Article: Customer Experience Management: Why CX Pros' Influence Expands
3. Coursera CX Courses
Coursera offers a seven-day free trial period, after which students pay $39 per month. Students then have access to over 7,000 courses, projects and certifications, as well as the CX course itself.
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The CX course is extremely thorough and estimated completion time is five weeks, with a total of 11 hours of instruction. However, the course is self-paced, so students can take as much or as little time as they wish to complete it.
The Customer Experience course is part of the larger Branding and Customer Experience program and is designed to explore the synergies between and the intersection of branding and customer experience.
The topics for each week are:
- Week One: Converging on a Common Definition for CX – 11 videos, 4 readings and 1 quiz
- Week Two: Customer Journeys as the Lens for Brand Experience – 10 videos, 4 readings and 1 quiz
- Week Three: Aligning Brand and Customer Experience across all touchpoints – 10 videos, 6 readings and 1 quiz
- Week Four: CX relationship with Employee Experience, Outsourcing and Ethics – 10 videos, 9 readings and 1 quiz
- Week Five: THE CAPSTONE PROJECT – 4 videos, 2 readings and 2 quizzes
4. HubSpot Academy CX Courses
HubSpot Academy offers courses and certifications for many different topics, including customer experience certification programs.
HubSpot’s courses and certifications are widely recognized by many colleges and universities. The Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business requires students taking their Inbound Information Technology course to become HubSpot certified. Additionally, Northeastern University accepts HubSpot certifications as transfer credits for their Social Media Concentration in either the Master of Professional Studies in Digital Media or the Masters in Corporate and Organizational Communication. HubSpot partners with over 500 colleges and universities to align its curriculum with industry expectations.
HubSpot’s Creating a Customer Journey Map course takes the student through the ins and outs of mapping customer journeys and discusses the implications a journey map will have on business growth and overall CX strategy.
The course consists of two videos and a quiz. The two videos, Understanding the Customer Journey and Creating a Customer Journey Map, are about developing a deeper understanding of the customer experience through the creation of a customer journey map, with the goal of improving the customer experience. Although there is no certification associated with this particular course, it is an excellent introduction to the subject of customer journey mapping.
Related Article: Current State of Digital Customer Experience
5. Udemy CX Courses
Udemy offers tens of thousands of courses on a wide variety of subjects including business, marketing, design, programming, search engine optimization and customer experience, with varying prices for each one.
Its Customer Experience Management Masterclass costs $99.99 and consists of 27 sections featuring 109 video lectures for a total of nine hours of instructional material. It was designed for CEOs, client and sales executives, client success professionals and any other customer experience professional interested in creating exceptional experiences.
Section topics include:
- CX Management in a New World
- The Benefits of Great CX
- Best Practices for CX Leaders
- Customer Experience Pitfalls to Avoid
- How To Measure and Analyze Customer Experience
- The Main Causes of Bad CX and What You Can Do About It
- Practical CX Strategies Using Technology
Beyond the Masterclass, Udemy has a number of other customer experience course offerings, including:
- Customer Experience (CX0 in Industry 4.0)
- The Ultimate Customer Experience Course
- Omnichannel Customer Experience Management
- Mastering Customer Insights
- Customer Experience Management Blueprint
- Customer Experience Management – Customer Journey Mapping
- Using Customer Experience to Grow Your Customer Base
- Uncover Cognitive Biases in the Customer Journey
- Customer Experience: Brand Promise & Customer Loyalty
Of all the CX course providers mentioned, Udemy offers the widest variety of CX courses for the CX professional interested in learning more at a very reasonable cost.
6. Customer Experience Professionals Association Certification
The Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) offers the Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) program, which provides professional development for those who want to increase their credibility and experience in the field.
A Certified Customer Experience Professional certification shows employers that you have the experience, education and competence to lead a company's CX strategy, programs and projects. Those who are interested must meet certain eligibility requirements, including a post-secondary degree or global equivalent, and three years of full-time CX experience that covers categories like:
- Customer insights and understanding
- Customer experience strategy
- Metrics, measurement and return on investment (ROI)
- Culture and accountability
Alternatively, those with a high school diploma or equivalent can apply through a different pathway if they meet the requirement of at least five years of work experience.
Those who meet the eligibility requirements must apply to obtain CCXP certification, review the exam preparation resources at their own pace and schedule the in-person CCXP exam at one of the available monitored test facilities, of which there are approximately 900 around the world. The first exam is included in the CCXP application fee of $645, and additional attempts require an exam fee of $198.
Those who pass the in-person CX certification exam will earn their CCXP certification, be listed in the CCXP directory and also get highlighted in a video shared on the company's LinkedIn page.
7. Forrester CX Certification Courses
Forrester currently offers three different CX certification programs, including Mastering Customer Experience, Mapping Customer Journeys and Innovating Customer Experience. Each course costs $2350 and is offered at multiple times throughout the year.
Each CX course offers self-paced lessons, delivered online and built for practical application to real-world business challenges.
The Innovating Customer Experience course, for instance, is a customer experience certification workshop that covers:
- Tailoring your voice of the customer program
- Supercharging your journey mapping
- Experimenting with new approaches to CX data
- Innovating your business model for a CX advantage
These courses are curated and taught by Forrester analysts and primary use short-format videos, along with podcasts, webinars and case studies. The interactive media and hands-on exercises will give any customer experience specialist the tools they need to broaden their knowledge of customer advocacy, CX accountability, strategic decision-making and much more.
Related Article: Is Customer Empowerment the New Customer Engagement?
8. Customer Service Institute Certification
The Customer Service Institute offers the Certified Customer Experience Professional program, which is ideal for on-boarding new CX employees, refreshing training for frontline staff and offering organization-wide customer-focused training.
The program includes eight course modules covering required knowledge for CX pros who want to stay ahead of the curve. Those who sign up for the online course will have access for 60 days, though it's estimated to take between six and seven hours to complete.
The topics covered include:
- What is customer-focused service?
- What customers want
- Understanding customer expectations and perceptions
- Developing internal partnerships
- What to do when problems occur in the organization
This customer experience certification costs $247 to enroll and certification lasts for a period of 24 months. After that, candidates must complete the re-certification process.
The Takeaway: CX Courses Are Great Upskilling Opportunities
Ready to get a certified customer experience education? With so many customer experience certification programs available at little to no cost, CX professionals have the opportunity to add to their knowledge, increase their skill set, boost current CX efforts for the businesses they work for and learn to create an exceptional experience for their customers.
No matter the course you choose, a certified customer experience professional can realize great benefits like better job opportunities, increased salary and improved job satisfaction.
