Measuring Customer Experience ROI

AI is rewriting one of banks’ most fundamental assumptions: customer loyalty — and with it their entire value creation model. For decades, banks treated loyalty as a product-driven outcome: • Measured by cross-sell ratios and account counts, under the unchallenged assumption that product quantity equals loyalty depth. • What no one asked was what lay beneath — how often those products were used, how central the bank truly was to a customer’s financial life, and how much value each relationship created. 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁: • It amplifies a shift already underway — from products to experiences — but one banks had mostly failed to embrace. • It turns customer relationships into continuous engagement. AI allows banks to move beyond static account ownership toward an ongoing, data-driven dialogue — where every interaction updates understanding and deepens relevance over time. • Growth no longer runs on campaigns but on intelligence. AI turns static marketing into a self-learning loop — where goals, propositions, and interactions evolve in real time as every customer action feeds new insight and response. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁? As loyalty becomes dynamic, banks need platforms that connect intelligence and experience in real time — systems that don’t just analyse behaviour but act instantly. One of the best examples of how to actually do this is what Backbase showcased at its recent Engage Europe flagship event in London. Two things stand out: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: • Unified growth loop: Backbase connects data and engagement across acquisition, activation, expansion, and retention — making every interaction feed the next. Example: a new card activation triggers a personalised onboarding journey. • Data-driven expansion: AI identifies when customers are ready for deeper engagement — such as suggesting a savings goal when deposits rise. • Predictive retention: Early signs of inactivity, like fewer app logins, prompt timely action before churn. • Actionable visibility: A single dashboard ties engagement to ROI, revealing which actions truly drive lifetime value. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀: • Backbase’s AI Orchestrator links customer data, product logic, and engagement channels into one adaptive system that learns and responds in real time. • When a customer’s spending shifts — for example, higher grocery and fuel payments and a consistently high balance before payday — the Orchestrator detects and responds instantly, prompting a personalised savings plan and cashback card offer, delivered seamlessly in-app. • Over time, engagement deepens, deposits and card usage rise, and churn risk falls — showing that with the right systems, loyalty becomes measurable and manageable. Opinions: my own, Graphic source: Backbase   𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫: https://lnkd.in/dkqhnxdg

CX Should Be Measured Like a P&L—Not a Sentiment Score We keep measuring Customer Experience with smiley faces, stars, and survey scores. But here’s the reality: If you can’t tie CX to revenue, retention, or cost savings—it’s not strategic. Too many CX teams report on sentiment. Fewer can show the business impact of improving the experience. Want a seat at the executive table? Start thinking like a P&L owner: ✅ Reduce onboarding friction → Faster time-to-revenue ✅ Improve digital containment → Lower cost-to-serve ✅ Decrease churn triggers → Higher customer lifetime value This is how you move from “nice to have” to business critical. Sentiment is a signal. Value is the outcome. 💬 How are you measuring CX in your org? Can you show the CFO how experience drives ROI?

𝗞𝗲𝗻𝘆𝗮'𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗚𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 $𝟭𝟬𝟬𝗠+ 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 – 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝘁! 💎📊 After deep-diving into #Kenya's Big 3 supermarket loyalty programs (Naivas Limited, Carrefour, Quickmart Supermarket), I discovered something shocking: We're witnessing the greatest missed opportunity in African retail history. 🤯 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 📈 🔹 Naivas: 2+ million customers, 5-year purchase histories, yet still relies on MANUAL point capture by cashiers 🔹 Carrefour: Digital-first approach, but basic utilization of customer intelligence   🔹 Quickmart: Traditional program with ZERO data sophistication 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 💰 Kenyan supermarkets are missing out on a trillion-shilling opportunity to leverage their loyalty data for hyper-targeted offers such as personalized discounts and product suggestions based on individual shopping habits. Mass customization at scale through predictive replenishment, personalized lists and subscriptions, and advanced revenue optimization strategies like dynamic pricing, waste reduction, cross-selling, and churn prediction, all of which could dramatically boost profitability and transform customer experience through true personalization. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱? 🤦🏾♂️ - Naivas: Customers manually tell cashiers their phone numbers to earn 1 point per KES 100 - Carrefour: Has the tech but uses it like a digital receipt system - Quickmart: Prayer, Vibes & Inshaallah 🙏🏾 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 🚀 To truly unlock the value of loyalty programs in Kenya’s retail sector, supermarkets must invest in real-time customer data platforms, AI-powered analytics, mobile money integration, and omnichannel journey mapping, while strategically building teams for data science, segmentation, and personalization; above all, a cultural shift is needed - from simply running 'points programs' to building intelligent customer relationship platforms, allowing for dynamic offers, relationship-driven engagement, and individualized experiences that will drive loyalty and long-term profitability. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘 📈: proper loyalty data utilization could deliver 20-30% higher customer lifetime value, 15-25% larger transactions, 40-50% better retention, and 10-15% marketing cost reduction. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻❓ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝘆𝗮'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗮, 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲-𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 to master customer intelligence while they collect dust-gathering phone numbers? 🤔 The data is there. The customers are willing. The technology exists. What's missing is vision and execution. 💪🏾 How do we unlock this goldmine? 🔓 #RetailInnovation #CustomerData #AI

I JUST looked at the data from recent customer calls, and 70% started the same way… "We need to understand what's being said about our industry/brand/competitors." Our data backs this up (Talkwalker). Mentions of "Social Listening" are up 145% year-over-year, with engagement around the topic up 84%. But this goes beyond traditional brand monitoring. The revenue leaders I’m speaking to are asking questions like: → What are prospects saying before they even reach out to sales? → How is our messaging landing compared to competitors? → What objections are surfacing in social conversations? GTM teams are starting to realize that while they're debating campaign performance in quarterly reviews, their buyers are having very public conversations about purchasing decisions… right now. So what can we learn from the world's largest focus group (5bi+ to be more precise)? Everything. Market shifts before they hit the mainstream. Competitive positioning gaps. Real buyer objections. Pipeline signals your sales team can actually act on. When we saw how GTM teams were using social intelligence we knew this was the future. The companies winning today aren't the ones talking the loudest on social. They're the ones listening the closest.

He delivered perfect metrics. She fumbled through a messy slide deck. He got fired. She got promoted. Because she spoke in dollars. Board meeting. Twelve minutes in. Director of Customer Success presents glowing NPS scores. Zero questions from the executives. Next slide: Engineering shows server uptime at 99.97%. Polite nods around the table. Then Marketing presents one number: Customer acquisition cost dropped 23% to just $3,000. Suddenly everyone's awake. Questions for thirty minutes straight. Additional budget approved on the spot. Here's what I learned watching from the back of that room: Numbers without dollar signs are just statistics. Numbers with dollar signs are how businesses make decisions. Last quarter, somewhere out there in the corporate world, a Head of Support rewrote her quarterly review. Version 1 (what she originally wrote): "Response times improved 15% this quarter. Customer satisfaction jumped to 4.8 stars. Team morale is at an all-time high." Version 2 (what got her promoted): "Faster response times retained $890K in at-risk accounts. Higher satisfaction converted $1.1M in expansion opportunities. Improved team retention saved $200K in recruiting, hiring, and training costs." Same achievements. Completely different reception. Her original presentation got polite applause. Her rewrite received accolades. Operational metrics → Financial impact Team performance → Business outcomes Customer feelings → Revenue protection "We reduced bugs by 60%" becomes "Prevented $400K in churn from technical issues." "Users love the new interface" becomes "UI improvements drove $153k in expansion” "Training improved team skills" becomes "Skills development cut support costs $150K annually." Every metric in your company connects to money. Your job is drawing those lines clearly. Because executives don't fund good feelings. They fund good business.

So, how much did being genuinely nice to our customers earn us this quarter? Now imagine asking this question to your CFO. Today we are well aware and sometimes even obsessed with metrics: NPS, CSAT, churn rates…all perfectly calculated. But translating the warmth of customer happiness into cold, hard financial results? Well, that's not so simple. After all, it is not easy to connect a ‘smiling support rep’ to ‘higher EBIT’. However, the truth bomb here - Top CX performers consistently outperform their competitors. But the magic they create is not just in making customers smile. It is about connecting every delighted customer with revenue, retention, and even willingness to pay a little extra. The question for us to answer is - Are we connecting dots, or just coloring the margins? As business leaders, are we digging deep enough? What would happen if CX was tagged to every financial review, not just a customary part of the annual presentation? You could be walking into your next review, armed with not just satisfaction scores, but a clear graph of what those scores added to the bottom line. If you think ROI from customer experience is not just fairy dust, then here are 4 metrics to add gravitas to your next board meeting: ☘️ C - Customer Retention Track repeat purchase rate/ renewal rate. Know how many customers come back. Even a 5% increase in retention can boost profits considerably. ☘️ T - Ticket Size Happier customers spend more. We all do that. Measure if your CX improvements lead to higher average order value. ☘️ S - Share of Voice Delighted customers talk. Track organic referrals, online reviews and social media mentions. Don't forget - word of mouth reduces marketing costs. ☘️ S - Service Cost Zero-effort experiences reduce complaints and rework. When customers don't need to call back, your cost to serve drops. Measure cost per support ticket and first contact resolution rate. These may not happen in a day, but start somewhere. One step of transition a day leads to transformation over a quarter or a year. Let’s get past the vanity metrics and start making CX pay its own bills. About time no? #cx #customerexperience #serviceexcellence

Attribution has never been perfect, but for DTC brands, it has become significantly harder in the past few years. Apple’s iOS14 updates, third-party cookie deprecation, and increased privacy regulations have disrupted traditional attribution models. Brands that once relied on last-click attribution, ad platform reporting, or rule-based LTV calculations now face major blind spots in understanding which marketing efforts drive long-term value. Even those investing in first-party data strategies, post-purchase surveys, and media mix modeling (MMM) struggle to fully connect the dots. The reality is that data is still fragmented across multiple platforms such as Shopify, Klaviyo, Google Analytics, ad networks, and third-party analytics tools. Most solutions focus on aggregating data, but aggregation alone doesn’t tell the full story of how customers move through the funnel and what actually drives retention. Rob Markey - In his article, "Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?" published in the Harvard Business Review, Markey emphasizes the significance of measuring and managing the value of a company's customer base. He advocates for creating systems that prioritize customer relationships to drive sustainable growth. Chip Bell - Recognized as a pioneer in customer journey mapping, Bell has contributed significantly to the field of customer experience. In an interview titled "The father of customer journey mapping, Chip Bell, talks driving innovation through customer partnership," he discusses how organizations can co-create with customers to drive innovation and enhance the customer journey. So how do brands solve this? 1. Shift from static LTV models to predictive insights - Traditional LTV calculations are backward-looking, often based on averages that don’t account for future behavior. Predictive analytics, using real-time behavioral and transactional data, can provide a more accurate forecast of customer lifetime value at an individual level. 2. Invest in first-party data strategies that go beyond acquisition - Many brands have adapted to privacy changes by collecting more first-party data, but few are fully leveraging it. Loyalty programs, surveys, and on-site behavioral tracking can provide valuable insights into retention and repeat purchase drivers, helping brands reallocate spend more effectively. 3. Adopt AI-driven segmentation and customer equity scoring - RFM segmentation and standard cohort analysis have limitations. AI-powered models can help identify high-value customers earlier in their lifecycle, predict churn risk, and optimize acquisition based on true long-term value, not just early spend. Markey and Bell have long emphasized that customer loyalty isn’t built on transactions alone, it’s about the entire journey. Brands that can better understand and predict customer value will be the ones that thrive in a world where third-party tracking is no longer a reliable option. #CustomerJourney #Attribution #CustomerEquity

Let’s talk about one of the biggest problems in customer experience today: we’re speaking different languages. In theory, the below is going to sound super simple. But in practice? It's still one of the hardest things to deliver on. Executives talk about hard data, operational velocity, and risk reduction. CX leaders talk about delight, empathy, and storytelling. Both matter, of course, but which one do you think actually gets funded? If what’s important to your customers doesn’t show up in the metrics that are important to your business, your CX strategy will always sound like a nice-to-have. In my 20+ years in CX, I have never seen a business fund “delight,” "wow moments," and "moments of truth." But I have seen them fund results. I’ve sat in enough executive meetings to know if you can’t draw a straight line between what customers feel and what the business earns, the conversation ends pretty quickly. Something tells me some of you have as well, but point the finger at your executives and say things like, "They're not customer centric." You want to make CX real for leadership? Translate your work into outcomes they care about. They're looking for statements like the below. “We reduced 90,000 avoidable contacts at $4 each. That’s $360K saved.” “Improving onboarding dropped churn by 2 points. That’s $5M retained.” “Reducing hold times increased customer spend by 12%.” Now you’re not talking about journeys or personas, you’re talking about business impact. That’s the language executives understand. Too many CX teams are stuck in the storytelling loop. They spend all their time describing the journey and none of their time proving the value. Stories inspire; data convinces. It's your job to connect both. Here’s a simple test: Can you show impact (what changed), leverage (how does it scale), and predictability (how is it repeated)? If you can hit all three, you’ll never have to fight for CX investment again. It's the CX Trifecta for my horse betting friends out there. So this month, I have a challenge for you: take a hard look at your metrics. Are they telling the story of how CX drives the business, or are they just describing how customers feel? Only one of those will earn your executives' attention. #customerexperience #leadership #gsd

Too often, Customer Experience (CX) gets stuck in dashboards and meetings without real action. But I believe CX is a true business asset, especially when it directly impacts the bottom line. I recently shared this thought, and it sparked a great conversation about how crucial ownership is within an organization. It’s about those passionate individuals who build bridges with stakeholders and illuminate how CX drives business outcomes. Let me share a story from our work with an NBFC that provides small loans to customers: Imagine this: Customers, many in Tier 2/3 cities with limited email access, were flooding the contact center, frustrated about not receiving their No Objection Certificate (NOC) after repaying their loans. This single issue was one of the top call drivers and came as the number 1 issue in the feedback taken after the loan was closed. The kicker? The company was sending the NOC via email, which many customers couldn't easily access. In closed-loop calls, customers mentioned that we never use emails; it was only created when we signed up to get a loan from you. And by simply switching to sending an SMS link for the NOC, those calls were reduced by 50%! Now that's operational efficiency born from a deep understanding of the customer This isn't just about reducing calls; it's about making life easier for customers and freeing up the contact center to focus on more complex issues. CX truly becomes an asset when people inside the company are empowered to own the customer experience. Sometimes, the link to business outcomes is crystal clear; other times, it requires digging deeper. But with the right people championing the cause, you can create magic for both your customers and your business. #CustomerExperience #CX #BusinessOutcomes #CustomerCentricity #NBFC #SuccessStory #Ownership #MakingADifference

I built a Clay workflow to monitor brand mentions across social media and turn them into GTM signals my team can act on. Most teams either ignore social chatter, drown in it or react when their investor sends them something they saw. None of these works. They lack a strategy and a system to enable social listening. My Clay workbook listens across Reddit, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X, analyzes sentiment, summarizes the context, and drops a clean signal straight into Slack. Here’s how the workflow works: – Pull brand mentions from Reddit, LinkedIn company mentions, and Twitter/X keywords – Visit the source URL to extract the actual post text – Analyze sentiment and assign a score so you know if it is positive, neutral, or risky – Generate a short summary instead of dumping raw text – Send everything into a dedicated Slack channel in near real time What I love most about this is how many use cases this unlocked. If sentiment is positive, you get instant feedback on what messaging resonates. If sentiment is negative, you catch brand risk early before it spreads. If buyers are talking about a problem you solve, you spot pipeline signals hiding in public conversations. And because this lives in Clay, you control everything: Keywords, sources, frequency, models and event costs. This replaces expensive social listening tools and gives GTM teams something better... a living feedback loop tied to action. If you want the full walkthrough and Clay template, it's in this week's Stack & Scale episode. Or comment "Clay workflow" AND connect with me (I've run out of InMail already), and I'll send the resources directly. Happy (social) listening!