We’re increasingly asked to justify CX investments not just on “how they feel,” but on what they contribute.
Most organizations have no shortage of customer data. Surveys go out. Dashboards fill up. Sentiment scores tick up or down. But behind all that noise, I find myself wondering:
Do we really understand what any of it means — in terms of actual value?
Not how happy our customers say they are. Not how likely they are to recommend us. But the harder, more consequential question:
What is the true, measurable impact of the experiences we’re creating? 
And maybe more provocatively:
Are we even asking the right questions to begin with?
Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: a lot of what passes for customer measurement today was built for a different era — one where “knowing how someone felt” was the end goal, not the starting line for strategic decisions.
The Limits of the Current Toolset
We’ve all seen the metrics:
- NPS for loyalty
- CSAT for satisfaction
- CES for ease of experience
They’ve been reliable companions — easy to collect, simple to benchmark, and comforting in their familiarity.
But they’re also… thin.
- NPS can look great while customers quietly walk out the door.
- CSAT might spike after a transaction, but tells you nothing about what happens next.
- CES rewards simplicity — which is good — but can ignore emotional impact or strategic value.
These tools describe what happened. They rarely suggest what to do. And they almost never tell you what that moment was worth — to the business, to the relationship, or to the future. That’s the blind spot.
When Feedback Isn’t Enough
The danger here isn’t just operational. It’s existential.
We’re increasingly asked to justify CX investments, loyalty programs, experience design efforts — not just on “how they feel,” but on what they contribute. That’s a fair ask. But it’s also one we’ve been under-equipped to answer.
And when experience work can’t be explained in the language of the business — of value creation, financial return, enterprise outcomes — it gets sidelined. That’s when customer strategies turn into cost centers.
And experience becomes a set of tasks, not a source of leverage.
A New Lens: What If Experience Was a Strategic Asset?
Here’s where my thinking has started to shift.
What if we treated CX like any other business investment?
Not in the performative way — with dashboards designed to impress. But in a real, operational, line-item sense. What if we could measure — and more importantly, forecast — the value of an experience before it goes live? What if we could connect a journey redesign or a loyalty enhancement to tangible business outcomes — not six months later, but as part of the business case?
The truth is, that shift doesn’t require magic. It requires a better model.
Looking Deeper: Total Customer Value
One idea I’ve been working with is something I call Total Customer Value (TCV).
It builds on familiar concepts — Recency, Frequency, Monetary value — but adds in two key dimensions we often ignore:
- Advocacy — Who brings in others? Who influences behavior beyond their own transaction?
- Data — Who contributes meaningfully to our understanding of their needs, preferences, and intent?
Because today, value doesn’t come solely from purchase behavior. It comes from:
- Who stays longer
- Who tells your story for you
- Who shares signal-rich data that helps you serve smarter
These are indicators of future value, not just past performance. And yet most measurement models stop short of capturing them.
Why This Matters
The shift toward Total Customer Value isn’t just a philosophical one. It’s practical. It forces us to think differently about:
- Who our best customers really are
- What behaviors we’re incentivizing
- How we justify CX and loyalty investments
- Where to double down (and where to walk away)
It’s a more holistic way to understand contribution — and a more useful lens for strategic planning. Because at the end of the day, a high NPS score won’t get you funding. But a well-articulated case for growing long-term customer value? That might.
No Acronyms Necessary
To be clear, I’m not suggesting we all rush out and replace our current tools with something shiny and new. This isn’t a teardown. It’s more like an expansion.
Can we keep measuring how customers feel — while also getting better at understanding what those feelings are worth?
Can we evolve beyond surface metrics, into something more dimensional? Something that lets us talk about experience not just as emotional lift, but as strategic lift? That’s the opportunity. And I think we’re ready for it.
One Thought to Leave You With
If you’re working on CX, loyalty, service design, personalization — or anywhere that customer experience and business value intersect — consider this:
We may not need better surveys.
We may just need better questions.
Because when we start asking not just how did that feel? but what did that create? — We begin to understand the real power of the work we’re doing.
Experience isn’t just emotional. It’s economic.
And the more clearly we can see that connection, the more confidently we can design for it.
