Customer Experience: A Warm Blankie That Can Hurt

Customer Experience is like a pulled-up warm blanket when you’re lying on the couch on a Sunday afternoon…so soft, so warm, so comfy.

Except that the couch you’re lying on is about to fall through the floor.

Yeah, that CX blankie looks so good when you read about all the benefits: CX leaders growing revenue 3x faster than CX laggards; high levels of customer retention; positive WOM; and so on. And it’s all true. CX is vitally important to the B2B organization as it continues to mitigate churn and squeeze the highest possible levels of return from previous marketing investments from continued purchases.

But here’s the big problem: it’s an exposed function that will be first to get cut from the Marketing budget when the going gets tough. And it will get tough, as it always does.

Why is it at risk to be cut? Two big reasons.

First, it’s not completely attributable to Marketing as it’s a function that is delivered by many different departments across a variety of responsibilities: from accounting to support to sales to everyone. As it should be. However, when fat needs to be slashed, the CX function can be decentralized so that no one function pays for the centralized effort. You can just hear the CFO say “Let’s push CX down to each department, and remove all these Marketing expenses.” Oof.

And second, it’s not completely quantifiable. Oh sure, you’ve got the almighty customer sat survey, and everyone is feeling so good about everyone doing the right thing for the customer be it digital or (perish the thought) face-to-face. But can you track that back to a sale, to a transaction? And are there any other factors associated with that transaction that was impetus for completion, e.g., pricing, sales relationship, etc.? That grim reaper of a CFO will come looking for you if there isn’t a direct tie from CX to $.

CX is important, but the B2B Marketer is utterly at risk should CX be the #1 priority. It’s a soft benefit to the organization, kinda flimsy and ready to break. Yeah, you want it, but when push comes to shove, it’s a goner. Do you really want your mission tied to something so fragile? You want to be on that couch with that warm CX blanket when it falls through to the floor below?

So what is the B2B Marketer to do?

• Focus on your MarTech investments. Drive the greatest utilization from the investments that have been made, as this sets you up to take advantage of MarTech’s greatest corporate feature: measurability. Which leads to…
• Build a solid system of attribution. Get that indisputable track record in place. Get your tags, your models, your breadcrumbs in place, and tie your MarTech investment back to revenue. It’s the anti-grim reaper CFO.
• Report attribution regularly. Scream from 29,092’ and be sure no one misses it. Take that track record and boast. Best defense is a good offense.
• Then, and only then, turn your attention to CX. Why? Because you’ve established a solid track record of contribution and as a result, you and your staff are relatively risk-free from the forthcoming downturn. You’ve got a safety net beneath you (when that couch falls through the floor).

Look, it’s real easy to fall into the CX trap. It looks relatively simple, it’s needed, and it’s the right thing to do. No doubt. It’s less painful than MarTech, but it doesn’t offer you protection from the inevitable downturn. Done correctly, MarTech’s contribution is irrefutable. Can’t say the same for CX.

So take the blankie off and shore up the floor.