Challenges Facing Customer Experience Leaders

Business leaders are often their own worst enemies when it comes to improving #CustomerExperience, lifting loyalty and retention, and improving lifetime value. Leaders typically seek to train their employees on how to say more empathetic things to customers without giving employees the time and autonomy to be more empathetic. Leaders regularly say they want employees to take the time to understand customers' needs while rewarding the employees who handle the most customers in the least time. Leaders frequently claim to want a more customer-centric culture while rewarding employees primarily (or exclusively) for short-term financial outcomes. Leaders ask employees to build stronger bonds with customers while at the same time demanding employees do more with less. Leaders say they want to provide effortless experiences to customers while failing to evaluate and alter the corporate policies, practices, and systems that add time, effort, and frustration to customer experiences. Leaders hold employees accountable to improve NPS and satisfaction scores without making the proper investments to address what drives down those scores. There is one and only source of long-term growth for brands: Customers. You can't cost-cut, efficiency-lift, or even out-acquire your way to growth. These are all short-term ways to lift margin and revenue, but they are not sustainable. If you won't listen to customers, understand what they need and want, and find ways to prioritize investments to match, then you cannot retain and grow customers, lift reputation and word of mouth, and increase the lifetime value of customers. Employees can lift #CX in small pockets from the ground up, but sustainable, customer-led growth only comes from top-down customer-centric culture.

CX leaders, we failed... We have to admit it: CX is still not treated as a true discipline like Marketing or Finance. Real CX practitioners design, manage, and improve the entire customer journey, every interaction, every touchpoint. But unlike marketing and finance, which have hard currencies (impressions, ROI, dollars) and decades of academic backing, CX is still seen as the “arts and crafts” corner: nice to have, a little fluffy, hard to pin down. And that’s on us. CX is not a spectator sport. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines watching the car drive by when you should be in the car steering it, it’s time to change. Here are five things to stop doing, and what you might want to start instead. CX Stop → Start Playbook ✨ Stop Selling “Delight.” Delight sounds like sprinkles on a cupcake. Stop pitching magic moments. → Start Reducing Friction and Proving Financial Impact. Make the basics flawless and tie it to dollars. 🫶 Stop Being the Empathy Police. Execs don’t want sermons about how customers are human beings. They know. → Start Connecting Empathy to Business Outcomes. Retention, loyalty, and spend, not moral high ground. 📊 Stop Drowning in Surveys. NPS worship is a dead end. If all you bring is survey results, you’re a glorified feedback collector. → Start Using Data as a Business Case. Link metrics to churn, lifetime value, and efficiency. 🪑 Stop Acting Like Victims. “We don’t get a seat at the table” is code for “we didn’t make ourselves indispensable.” → Start Making Yourself Unignorable. Show ROI, risk, and upside until leaders can’t move without you. 🎯 Stop Overcomplicating. Fancy journey maps with rainbows and post-its mean nothing if you can’t say, “Fixing this checkout step nets us $3.2M.” → Start Simplifying to Impact. Translate fixes into fast, measurable, undeniable business gains. CX will never be taken seriously until we take it seriously. Let's stop decorating the sidelines and start steering the car. Because if we don’t prove CX is a discipline, no one else will.

𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗫 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗺 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲 Well-intentioned CX Leaders may find themselves in the subtle grip of what I call "Stockholm Syndrome." This scenario unfolds when leaders, driven by noble intentions, become intertwined with a corporate culture that staunchly resists change. 1. Embracing an Outsider's Perspective Stepping into a new role often means you bring fresh eyes and innovative ideas to the table – that's precisely why you were selected. Harness this unique perspective to illuminate glaring issues that could detrimentally affect the customer experience. 2. Navigating the Complexities of Cultural Conformity Among the greatest challenges CX leaders encounter is the art of harmonizing with the existing organizational culture and its intricate power dynamics. Success lies in striking a delicate balance between honoring an organization's traditions and values while fervently advocating for necessary transformations. 3. Deciphering the Intricacies of Politics and Decision-Making Avoid the pitfalls of power plays and cultivate robust relationships with influential stakeholders and thought leaders. These connections are the bridges to ensuring your ideas receive the attention and consideration they deserve, significantly enhancing your ability to drive meaningful change. 4. Evaluating Risk Appetite Every organization grapples with risk management, and many colleagues often fear failure more than they embrace the potential for success. Learning how your company manages risk empowers you to tailor your proposals and initiatives accordingly. 5. Balancing Tradition with Innovation Traditions undoubtedly hold value within any organization, and their reverence is imperative. However, it's equally crucial not to let tradition stifle innovation. Use change management methods to harmonize time-honored practices with contemporary thinking, striking a balance that fosters positive change. 6. Prioritizing the Customer as Your Guiding Light Above all else, your unwavering focus must center on the customer. By consistently placing their needs and expectations at the forefront of your initiatives, you'll discover a wellspring of support to bolster your CX improvement endeavors. 7. Dissolving Silos and Turf Boundaries The defense of territorial boundaries can hinder collaboration. Look for the “what’s in it for you” in your cross-functional teamwork and open communication channels to promote seamless departmental cooperation and synergy. Remember, the customer is the common ground that unites us all. CX leaders can anticipate, recognize, and effectively confront these challenges without becoming hostages to the formidable forces of the status quo. ⚠️Share your experiences with CX Leader Stockholm Syndrome in the comments and join the conversation. Follow me, and together, we will continue to drive customer experience excellence. #customerexperiencemanagement #changemakers