The need to prove the value of CX has never been higher. With business leaders pressed to make course-changing decisions on bottom line figures alone and CX unable to connect the dots with the traditional metrics it has in its arsenal, businesses are unable to quantify how their CX program impacts the bottom line. And when budgets come under pressure, CX is frequently among the first areas to be challenged.
It’s just part of why CX Network's annual research to establish the state of CX has repeatedly found that proving ROI is one of the biggest barriers to CX investment and success.
Many people have written about this, but now a new book, The ROI of Customer Experience, authored by consultant and Qualtrics executive Martin Meyer-Gossner (pictured below), is shifting the focus from CX practitioners, by outlining several value models and making the case for vendors to show their cards during the procurement process.
In this interview with Meyer-Gossner, the author, consultant, and executive outlines what the new book covers, where the biggest ROI challenges lie, and how too often, CX ROI is assessed from the wrong angle.
CX Network: Your book is called The ROI of Customer Experience – an important topic that poses challenges for many practitioners. Tell us a little about what it covers and who it is written for.
Martin Meyer-Gossner: The idea behind this book is simple – even if the topic itself is anything but.
Today, almost every SMB and enterprise claims to run a valuable CX program. Too often, however, these initiatives exist primarily to produce a CX metric for the
Yet over the past 15 years, while advising boards, C-level executives, and leaders across product management, sales, marketing, and customer service, I have consistently been asked the same questions: How does our CX program impact the bottom line? How does it change the business? What is the real success behind all this effort?
Budgets are spent, resources allocated, teams mobilized, and time invested – often without a clear answer to what CX truly delivers in business terms.
This book was written to close that gap. It is designed to help CX leaders connect customer experience with tangible business value – through clear data logic, robust business models, real-world examples, and, of course, a bit of brain food along the way.
CX Network: When we conduct our annual research into the state of CX, our network members often tell us linking CX initiatives to ROI is a top challenge, as is measuring the benefits of CX. Why do you believe this is?
Martin Meyer-Gossner: Because it is the truth – that’s exactly why. When I was writing the book and reflecting on business cases from my consulting work, the same root cause came up again and again when it came to proving CX ROI: data.
Whether we talk about data governance, data generation, data transparency, data processing, data protection, or data synergies, structured and unstructured data in all its forms is both the greatest opportunity and the biggest enemy.
And this challenge is not limited to external customer data. Internal data usability and accessibility – across employees, departments, and even legal teams – is often poorly designed and insufficiently organized.
Let me give you a concrete example. Imagine an automotive company aiming to build truly differentiated vehicles. Customers provide rich feedback on usage, pain points, wishes, and the pros and cons of current models. Yet the CX team alone has access to service or sales data, product teams only see anonymized customer inputs, and insights are fragmented across silos. In that setup, how can a brand promise truly come to life? How can innovation happen? How can new features outperform the competition? And how can the company be confident it has understood customer feedback at every step of the journey?
If data lives in silos and is not democratized, CX ROI remains invisible – and brand promises remain unfulfilled.
CX Network: When it comes to demonstrating the returns on and benefits of CX, where do the biggest challenges lie?
Martin Meyer-Gossner: The biggest challenges in demonstrating the returns and benefits of CX fall into three areas: preparedness, planning, and processing.
Preparedness: CX teams are not always equipped with the right arguments before the next C-level meeting or before new market trends emerge. When budgets come under pressure, CX is frequently among the first areas to be challenged – resulting in cuts to technology or resources. Too often, teams are reacting instead of leading.
Planning: Many organizations fail to plan how to showcase CX results in a way that resonates with executives, investors, or budget owners. Raw CX metrics alone are rarely compelling. What captures attention are meaningful customer stories, supported by concrete values and clear business context. Imagine CX teams presenting not just scores, but real examples, tangible impact, and relevance to growth and profitability. That shift alone would significantly elevate both the perceived value of the CX program and the business itself. CX should be the shining star for customers – not a “disappointment show” designed to satisfy internal processes or board reporting requirements.
Processing: Closing the loop remains a stumbling block in many CX strategies. It is the clearest signal of how seriously a company takes its customers and their feedback – or whether it does at all. To close the loop effectively, data must be aligned, accessible, and democratized across the organization, just like the business strategy itself. Only then can everyone work toward a shared goal with the customer at the center.
CX Network: When working with external vendors and service providers, what are some of the top questions practitioners should be asking to ensure they can track the success of their investment and their returns?
Martin Meyer-Gossner: Frameworks such as the ROIvolution, the CX Iceberg Concept, the CX E-Engine, and the value models I outline in my book are examples of strategy-led approaches to value creation. Vendors should be able to clearly explain whether – and how – they have applied such models successfully in the past, and how they intend to embed them within your organization.
It’s equally important to ask for proven case studies and to discuss them critically. These conversations should go beyond surface-level metrics. Simply tracking NPS or CSAT does not tell the full story of the customer experience, nor does it reflect how customers truly perceive your business or how you value them as long-term, loyal revenue drivers.
Metrics alone won’t move the needle. Guidance, structure, and a shared value logic will.
Always keep this principle in mind: Appreciation drives value creation. This applies just as much to your collaboration with external service providers as it does to growing your own business.
CX Network: What are some of the top metrics that you recommend practitioners use when measuring the impact of their work? Does this change across industry?
Martin Meyer-Gossner: The most relevant metrics depend on the objectives of the business running the CX program. Broadly speaking, there are two KPI perspectives that should guide measurement: value-enhancing drivers, which focus on business growth, and cost-effectiveness drivers, which aim to minimize operational effort. So, it really depends where the business is focusing on for the future.
For value enhancement, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Average Revenue per User (ARPU) are strong indicators. On the cost-efficiency side, Cost to Serve (CTS) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) resonate well with most executives.
Overall, context matters more than industry. Metrics tend to be department-driven rather than industry-specific: customer service is typically under closer scrutiny, while sales is more strongly tied to growth metrics.
That said, I have often challenged this traditional split in the last years, when we have helped several automotive and financial services brands rethink their CX perspective and measurement approach. Too often, CX ROI is assessed from the wrong angle. And that’s exactly where my book comes in.
You can purchase The ROI of Customer Experience via this link.
Quick links
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