Customer Experience Expert, CXPA Board Member, and Best-Selling Author of "Do B2B Better" and "How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer? Using Journey Mapping to Drive Customer-Focused Change"
As CX programs are being cut, it’s becoming clear that those focused solely on survey scores are at risk. To truly drive value, B2B CX programs must tie their efforts to financial outcomes—a critical connection many programs miss. One simple but powerful metric to consider is order velocity—the frequency of customer orders, regardless of size or type. By combining the order data with good survey questions, you can track how improved customer experiences lead to faster order velocity. While it’s not the final financial metric, it gives you an early indication of CX impact. Order velocity works especially well in industries with less frequent transactions, like B2B insurance. For example, if brokers typically average six policies yearly, an improved experience should lead to more orders the following year. If not, it could signal that your surveys aren’t targeting the right issues or that other factors, like pricing, are having a larger impact. Remember, there’s often a delay between shifts in customer attitudes and changes in behavior. In industries like health insurance, a boost in CX scores during mid-year could drive more orders by Q4. In manufacturing, the timeline might vary—tactical orders may rise quickly, while long-term sales like turbines could take years to reflect the change. For a more holistic view, pair order velocity with client-specific metrics like margin per client or number of categories ordered. Order velocity is relatively easy to track and is a great entry point for deeper insights. Reporting on this invites questions from leadership—and when the right questions are asked, it paves the way for gathering more valuable data. #CX #CXROI #Customerexperience