All companies look for ways to grow revenue, and increasingly, employees in every department—not just sales and business development—are called upon to identify opportunities for revenue expansion. In these scenarios, department heads will often look to the organization’s existing customer base to upsell and cross-sell new products and services.

This, in turn, typically leads to questions of, “How satisfied are our customers?” and “Have our customers benefited from a good customer experience with our organization?” Having a Customer Experience (CX) Program in place helps to facilitate answers to these questions.

Happy, Loyal Customers Spend More

A 2014 article in Harvard Business Review shows that customers who have the best experiences with their vendors spend 140% more compared to those who have the poorest experiences. And it’s well known that loyal customers spend more with their providers than those who are passive customers or detractors.

Historically, Customer Experience programs have focused primarily or exclusively on customer retention—ensuring that customers renew their contracts on time and at consistent spending levels compared with historic spending patterns.

Increasingly, however, the focus has shifted to the relationship between Customer Experience and revenue, including retaining revenue (not just retaining customers), avoiding revenue leakage, and identifying opportunities for revenue expansion.

Helping Clients Focus on CX and Revenue

Leveraging Customer Experience programs to expand revenue growth can take different forms:

  • One Primary Intelligence CX client utilizes a partnership approach to ensure customer needs are being met. Adopting a partnership attitude has allowed this organization to identify its promoters, which has been key to expanding revenue and increasing profitability year over year.
  • Another Primary Intelligent client highlights that satisfied customers generate more revenue through increased advocacy and greater referenceability, with customers actively promoting the vendor’s brand to greenfield opportunities.
  • Among most of Primary Intelligence’s CX programs, it’s typical to receive requests for CX interviews prior to clients selling into new divisions or lines of business with an existing account. Having these insights helps the account team best craft and position their RFP responses.

The increased intersection between revenue growth and Customer Experience is one reason Chief Financial Officers and their staffs are increasingly interested in CX metrics and outcomes. As Colby Moosman of Tidemark notes, CFOs who make strategic use of analytics—including correlating CX metrics to operational and financial KPIs—can not only improve their customers’ experiences, but add to the organizational bottom line as well.