CXPA and CCXP - Your baseline to Customer Experience Management

05.01.21 07:45 PM By Hans Vanderwegen

CC what?

This post shares the basic background on the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) label and the Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) label. For full details, please visit the website of the organisation at www.cxpa.org.


Those working in customer experience management, immediately recognise the two labels. The CCXP accreditation is a well-known recognition to individuals with high levels of knowledge on customer experience management. Over the last few days, several of my friends and colleagues have asked me the very simple question: "Hans, what is CCXP standing for?" Many wrong (incl. funny) suggestions being made .... Although this might be an unexpected question when working in this field, for outsiders it is not. In two short articles, I will explain what the accreditation of CCXP is standing for, why it is important, and share some useful tips on how to obtain this certification in a smooth process - for those that would have this interest. 


Before, we elaborated on why leading life science actors are preparing to deploy CXM at global level. End-to-end, from the pharma industry to hospitals and pharmacy chains, reaching their patients. Customer experience management is changing and optimising many of our current customer touch points by leveraging some of the latest innovations that are now being matured. Therefore, in order to be successful in the implementation of CXM, many leaders, employees, colleagues, partners and customers working in the field of customer experience have a strong interest in obtaining this CCXP certification. 

CXPA: Customer Experience Professionals Association

Obtaining your Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) label is one of the most fundamental basics to achieve before you start to work in this arena. The CCXP is issued by the CXPA Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA). CXPA is a global organisation based out of Boston, with more than 4,000 members in 70 countries. 

The association brings together like-minded professionals focused on advancing the practice of customer experience management and creating career growth by establishing customer experience management as a recognised and professional discipline. Members represent a wide range of capacities, from CX team members to CX executives. The association is strong for background, cases, resources and networking on CXM. Membership to CXPA is giving you access to all of these resources. Several sub groups and communities are available to share industry specific cases. For example for life sciences, we have recently created the group CXM for life sciences.

CCXP: Certified Customer Experience Professional

The CCXP certification is the industry-wide, standardised certification for CX practitioners to demonstrate their customer experience management expertise and accomplishments. These individuals have met the experience requirements for the credential, passed a rigorous examination, and taken steps to maintain the credential. I attach a short video below this article on CCXP. The Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) program provides professional recognition of individuals with high levels of knowledge of the customer experience discipline. 


Until the CXPA established this credential, there was no industry-wide, standardised avenue for CX practitioners to demonstrate their expertise and accomplishments, and no formal credentials that showcased an individual’s standing in the industry. Usually, individuals were using their background from academic records in marketing only, even without the need to have demonstrated practical experience with CXM from their industry or sector. As a non-profit, independent association, the CXPA is well-positioned to grant the CCXP as a recognised, independent professional credential. 


The CCXP addresses the following 6 areas:
  • Customer-Centric Culture
  • Voice of the Customer, Customer Insight, and Understanding
  • Organizational Adoption and Accountability
  • Customer Experience Strategy
  • Experience Design, Improvement, and Innovation
  • Metrics, Measurement, and ROI


The CCXP is your first quality label to ensure success - for these companies willing to embark CXM. In some countries such as US, many certified professionals are active; in other countries the number of certified professionals is still close to zero. An issue for global life science organisations.

CX Professional

To wrap up, here is a short video explaining and summarising what a CX professional is doing. In one of my next posts, I will provide you with some handful tips on how to obtain the CCXP, and give some credit to those that have guided me along the way. Stay tuned for more.

Hans Vanderwegen