In the world of customer experience management, one truth is rarely questioned: the CX manager must prove the return on investment (ROI) of their efforts to senior leadership. While accountability is essential in any professional role, this expectation has become disproportionately one-sided. We often overlook a vital reality — that the responsibility to demonstrate the value of CX should not rest solely on the shoulders of the CX professional. It should be a shared commitment between the CX leader and the organisational leadership team.
The premise of shared accountability
When a company decides to hire or promote someone into a CX leadership role, it implicitly acknowledges the strategic importance of the customer experience. That decision carries with it certain expectations. Leadership saw potential in improving customer relationships, reducing churn, and differentiating the brand. So why, then, is the CX leader often left alone to prove value in isolation?
We need to shift the perspective: CX success is not a solo endeavor. It requires the alignment, engagement, and accountability of leadership to create the conditions in which meaningful change can occur. Leadership must not merely observe progress; they must actively participate in it.
The limits of ‘push’ without ‘pull’
CX managers are skilled at pushing initiatives forward. They conduct research, build journey maps, champion voice of the customer (VoC) programs, and promote cross-functional collaboration. But pushing only gets you so far. Without leadership’s pull — the act of reinforcing priorities, aligning incentives, removing obstacles, and modeling behaviour — initiatives stall. The system resists change. Worse, CX becomes perceived as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a critical business strategy.
Leadership must bring its weight to bear. Not just during budget season but continuously. When they ask for ROI, they must also ask, “what can we do to enable success? What barriers can we remove? What commitments can we make as executive sponsors?”
A flawed metric for a long term strategy
There’s also the fundamental flaw in measuring CX success through the lens of short term top-line revenue. CX is not a quarterly play. Its true impact lies in reducing customer defection, increasing lifetime value, and fostering long term loyalty. Factors that play out over time. When financial pressures rise and organisations look to cut costs, the CX manager is often one of the first to go. Why? Because their value hasn’t been allowed the time or support to fully materialise.
The irony is stark: the very person working to improve customer retention is let go, increasing the risk of losing recurring revenue streams. In a world where customer acquisition costs are rising, this is a risky bet.
Rewriting the narrative
To create a sustainable and successful CX function, organisations must embrace a new narrative:
- Value is co-created: ROI is not the CX manager’s burden alone. Senior leaders should co-author the value story, investing their own credibility and strategic weight into the outcome.
- Enablement is essential: Leadership must actively enable CX by aligning structures, incentives, and systems with customer-centric goals.
- Patience is strategic: Building customer relationships is a marathon, not a sprint. The ROI will come — but only if leadership resists the urge to expect instant gratification.
- Collaboration is key: CX must live beyond the CX department. It should be embedded in operations, marketing, HR, and finance. That can’t happen without executive-level collaboration and cross-functional commitment.
It’s time to rethink how we view the value of CX. The expectation that the CX manager alone must prove ROI not only sets them up for failure, but also misses the point entirely. Customer experience is a strategic imperative that requires shared ownership. When leadership joins forces with the CX team to co-create success, everyone wins — especially the customer.
Let’s move beyond a model of isolated accountability to one of integrated responsibility. Because the ROI of customer experience isn’t just about numbers; it’s about relationships. And relationships are built together.