How to Become a CX Product Manager [+Tools and Resources]

CX product manager career path

Associate CX Product Manager: They work closely with senior product managers to understand customer experience (CX) principles and how they integrate with product design. To progress to an advanced position, you’ll need to demonstrate strong empathy for user needs.
CX Product Manager: Take on responsibility for the end-to-end customer experience management for specific products. This role involves detailed analysis of customer journeys, and designing user interfaces. Advance by consistently improving customer satisfaction metrics and your ability to lead cross-functional teams effectively.
Senior CX Product Manager: Lead and mentor a team of CX product managers, oversee multiple customer experience initiatives, and ensured alignment with the product’s overall vision and company strategy. Progression requires demonstrated leadership in driving key customer experience improvements and a proven track record of successful product launches.
Director of CX Product Management: Oversees the CX product management department and integrates customer insights into broader product strategy and development. You advance by significantly enhancing the user experience and increasing customer retention rates.
VP of CX Product Management: As a vice president, I provide executive oversight for the company’s CX strategies, making high-level decisions that will impact all aspects of product user experience. Progress by demonstrating a deep understanding of CX trends, driving major strategic shifts, and fostering a culture of customer-centric innovation.
Chief CX Officer: In this top executive role, shape the company’s overall vision and strategy for customer experience. Advance by continuously innovating and maintaining the company’s reputation as a leader in customer-centric product development, significantly impacting the market and customer engagement.

How to become a CX product manager?

Becoming a CX product manager isn’t always a linear path since it’s a newly emerged specialization.

Here are some steps to get started:

Get a bachelor’s degree. As in every position, it’s a good idea to lay the groundwork and get knowledge in the sphere of marketing, business, or economics.
Enroll in a CX product manager certification course. After learning the basics, focus on obtaining a specific education and certifications from industry-leading organizations.
Build your portfolio. Seek experience through internships in product management or even customer success roles.
Work on improving your hard and soft skills. Develop skills in data analysis, project management, and communication. Stay updated on SaaS trends and learn from industry experts.

What skills should a CX product manager have?

A CX product manager must possess unique skills to successfully champion the customer’s voice and drive product enhancements. These essential skills include:

Empathy: Put yourself in the customer’s shoes to deeply understand their needs, frustrations, and desires. This empathy fuels customer-centric decision-making and product design.
Data Analysis: Dive into customer feedback, usage metrics, and market research to uncover actionable insights. Data-driven decisions lead to better customer experiences and business outcomes
UX Design Knowledge: Understand UX principles to create intuitive, seamless product experiences. A user-centric design mindset is crucial for improving customer satisfaction and engagement.
Customer Journey Mapping: Visualize and optimize every touchpoint in the customer journey. By identifying pain points and opportunities, you can craft a cohesive, delightful end-to-end experience.

Best certifications for CX product managers

The right certification can equip you with the knowledge and tools to effectively manage customer-centric products, drive adoption, and ultimately improve the overall customer experience. Let’s take a look at a few widely-recognized ones:

Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP): Offered by the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), CCXP is the gold standard in the CX field. It demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of CX principles, methodologies, and best practices. CCXP is highly sought-after by employers and can significantly boost your credibility and career prospects in CX roles.
Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM) certifications: This certification focuses on the core competencies required for product management, including product strategy, development, marketing, and lifecycle management. AIPMM certifications are well-respected in the product management community and validate your knowledge and skills in both product and customer experience domains.
Pragmatic Institute certifications: Pragmatic Institute certifications are known for their hands-on approach and real-world applicability, making them highly sought after by employers.
- Pragmatic Certified Product Manager (PCPM): This certification focuses on practical skills and frameworks for product management, emphasizing market validation, product strategy, and execution.
- Pragmatic Certified Marketing Leader (PCML): This certification is valuable for product managers who want to strengthen their marketing skills and drive product adoption and growth.

While not directly focused on product management, you can also consider certifications like the Certified Customer Success Manager (CCSM). This can be valuable for CX product managers as they demonstrate an understanding of customer lifecycle management and how to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Nevertheless, the best certification for you will depend on your specific career goals, experience level, and industry. Researching each certification thoroughly and aligning it with your aspirations will ensure you choose the most relevant and impactful credential for your career growth.

Best resources for CX product managers

Below, we have compiled a comprehensive list of books, webinars, podcasts, and blogs specifically tailored to enhance the knowledge and skills of CX Product Managers.

Best books for CX product managers

A well-informed CX product manager is a powerful asset to any organization. These books offer valuable insights, strategies, and frameworks for understanding and improving the customer experience:

“Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business” by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine: This book emphasizes the importance of customer experience and provides strategies for transforming customer insights into actionable business plans.
“The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences” by Matt Watkinson: Ideal for CX Product Managers looking to understand the foundational elements of great customer experiences and how to apply them across various product stages.
“Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” by Nir Eyal: Learn about the psychology behind what makes customers repeatedly return to a product. Nir Eyal provides crucial insights for CX Product Managers aiming to enhance user engagement.
“Mapping Experiences: A Complete Guide to Creating Value through Journeys, Blueprints, and Diagrams” by James Kalbach: This book offers a practical approach to understanding and designing customer experiences through effective mapping techniques, making it an invaluable tool for CX Product Managers focused on strategic visualization of customer interactions.
“This Is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World” by Marc Stickdorn, Markus Edgar Hormess, Adam Lawrence, and Jakob Schneider: A hands-on resource that explains the process of service design and its importance in creating memorable customer experiences. It is particularly useful for CX Product Managers who must integrate service design into product development.

Best webinars for CX product managers

Webinars provide a convenient way to stay current with the latest CX trends, tools, and strategies. Here are some top-notch options for CX product managers:

Userpilot Webinar Series on Enhancing Customer Experience: Userpilot regularly hosts webinars that cover various aspects of customer experience management, featuring industry experts.
“Crafting a Delightful Customer Experience” by CXPA: Offered by the Customer Experience Professionals Association, this webinar explores innovative strategies to delight customers through effective product management.
“Driving Product Success with CX Insights” by Gartner: Learn how to leverage customer insights to drive product decisions and strategies from Gartner’s analysts.
“Leveraging AI for Enhanced Customer Interactions” by Adobe: Adobe offers webinars that use artificial intelligence to improve customer interactions and personalize the customer journey. These sessions provide practical applications of AI that CX Product Managers can implement to enhance user engagement.
“Innovative Techniques in Customer Feedback Analysis” by Forrester: This Forrester webinar delves into advanced methods for analyzing customer feedback, enabling product managers to extract more significant insights and make informed decisions.

Best blogs for CX product managers

Blogs are a fantastic resource for staying informed about the latest CX trends, strategies, and best practices. Check out these blogs for valuable insights:

Userpilot: This blog offers a wealth of articles on enhancing user experience and integrating CX into product management. Highly recommended for practical tips and industry best practices.
CX Journey™ by Annette Franz: An insightful blog that covers a wide range of topics around customer experience, ideal for CX professionals looking to deepen their knowledge.
Forrester’s Customer Experience Blog: This blog provides research-based insights and strategies for CX improvement, ideal for those in leadership positions.
Smashing Magazine’s CX Section: Smashing Magazine provides articles and practical guides on improving customer experience through design and user interaction.
Harvard Business Review’s CX Collection: Harvard Business Review features articles focusing on customer experience from a strategic business perspective.

Best podcasts for CX product managers

Podcasts offer a convenient way to learn while on the go. Tune into these podcasts for engaging discussions on CX topics:

“The CX Cast”: Each episode provides valuable insights on improving customer experience from industry leaders and practitioners. Listen on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
“This is Product Management”: Interviews with product managers and business leaders, focusing on how they integrate customer experience into their product strategies. Available on all major podcast platforms.
Userpilot’s “Product-Led Growth” Podcast: Explore episodes that delve into creating products that strongly focus on customer experience. Episodes are available on the Userpilot blog and podcast platforms.
“Focus on Customer Success” Podcast: Dedicated to exploring strategies that enhance customer success and retention. Experts discuss tools, tactics, and philosophies that can be implemented to boost the overall customer experience.
“Experience This! Show” Podcast: Hosts Joey Coleman and Dan Gingiss share remarkable customer service stories and insights on creating outstanding experiences. Their practical discussions are filled with actionable advice that can help CX Product Managers make impactful decisions.

Best tools for CX product managers

Here are some top tools tailored to the responsibilities of a CX Product Manager:

Best tool for user journey analytics – Userpilot: Userpilot gives you valuable insights into the user journey and its different analytics tools such as paths, funnels, and cohort tables, enabling you to identify gaps in the user experience.
Best tool for project management – Monday: Helps CX Product Managers organize tasks, track progress, and ensure timely delivery of customer-centric projects.
Best tool for product management – Jira Software: Enables efficient backlog management, sprint planning, and issue tracking, which is essential for managing the lifecycle of customer-focused products.
Best tool for customer experience (CX) – Zendesk: Provides robust support and feedback management features, allowing CX Product Managers to address customer concerns promptly and improve satisfaction.
The best tool for customer success is ClientSuccess: Tracks customer health metrics and engagement, helping CX product managers identify at-risk accounts and proactively enhance customer retention.
Best tool for UX/UI design – Figma: Facilitates collaborative design and prototyping, ensuring the development of intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that meet customer needs.
Best tool for data analytics – Tableau: Offers powerful visualization and analysis capabilities, enabling CX Product Managers to derive actionable insights from customer data and make informed decisions.
Best tool for collaborative documentation – Confluence: Enhances team collaboration and knowledge sharing, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned on customer experience strategies and product updates.

CX product manager FAQs

What is CX in product management?

CX in product management means customer experience. Customer experience refers to a customer’s perception of your brand based on their interaction with your product or brand across all customer journey stages.

What is the role of a CX manager?

A CX Manager, or Customer Experience Manager, oversees and enhances the customer experience. This role involves developing customer-centric strategies, managing feedback, and implementing initiatives to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty across various channels.

What is a CX role?

The role of a CX (Customer Experience) professional involves managing and improving the entire experience customers have with a company’s products or services.

What does a CX operations manager do?

A CX Operations Manager focuses on the operational aspects of customer experience within an organization. Their role includes designing and implementing CX strategies that optimize customer interactions and improve overall satisfaction.

Conclusion

Becoming a successful CX product manager requires dedication, continuous learning, and a proactive approach to developing relevant skills.

By following the outlined steps and leveraging the resources available, you can effectively navigate your career path and achieve your professional goals.

We hope this guide has provided you with valuable insights and practical advice to help you on your journey to becoming a proficient and impactful CX product manager!

Looking into tools for CX product managers? Userpilot is an all-in-one product platform with engagement features and powerful analytics capabilities. Book a demo to see it in action!

How to become a CX product manager?

What skills should a CX product manager have?

Best certifications for CX product managers