Everyone expects CX to become crucial, but few manage by it

CX has moved firmly up the strategic agenda. In our CX Maturity Study 2026, 53% of CX managers expect it to gain greater strategic importance over the next 2–3 years, and 26% even see it as a differentiating core factor for the business. Only 8% expect a decline.

Another question in the study points the same way: 70% expect CX to play a greater or even decisive role in their workplace in the future.

That is a clear and unambiguous signal of belief in the discipline. The problem is that believing in CX and actually managing by it are two different things.

Doubt has all but disappeared

It is worth noting how widespread and unambiguous the optimism is. 79% expect increasing or outright differentiating strategic importance over the next 2–3 years. No matter how you ask, the answer is the same. This tells us that no one seriously doubts the premise that CX will matter more in the future than it does today. That makes the gap that follows between belief and management all the more striking. Disagreement about the goal could have explained why so few manage by it. Agreement about the goal cannot.

The belief is there. Management is lagging

59% feel that their CX work has a significant impact on business results. But 41% see only a moderate or limited effect, and even fewer have truly made CX an integral part of how the organisation is actually led and how decisions are made. It is recognised as important, but rarely embedded in management structures, processes and leadership practice. CX is on the strategic agenda, but not necessarily strategic in decision-making.

The difference between being “on the agenda” and being “in the decisions” is not just a matter of words. Being on the agenda means that CX is mentioned when the executive board meets, perhaps as a standing item, often accompanied by a neat presentation with satisfaction curves pointing in the right direction. Being part of the decisions means that CX is a factor when choosing between two investments, when launching a product, or when looking for savings. Few of the companies in the study have reached the latter.

When economic conditions actually drive investment, the effect is felt immediately

One of the clearest patterns in our data supports exactly this point. Among CX managers who feel that current economic realities directly drive investment in customer experience (only 17% of all respondents), as many as 97% say that their day-to-day work makes a significant difference to the customer experience. Among those for whom the economic situation has had no significant influence, the figure is only 73%. The difference is not belief, it is prioritisation. Where management actually lets the economy steer towards CX rather than away from it, employees experience a markedly greater impact from their work.

Vulnerability becomes clear when it really matters

This makes CX vulnerable when the economy tightens. 24% already feel a moderate negative impact from the current economic realities and a further 9% a significant negative impact, while only 17% feel that economic pressure is actually driving investment in CX positively. When something is important in words but not anchored in management, it is typically among the first things to go when tough priorities have to be set.

And this is exactly where the difference between CX-mature companies and the rest becomes visible. The CX-mature companies have made CX part of how they run the business day to day – not just something they hope will have worked when the year-end accounts are drawn up.

As strategic importance increases, so does perceived impact

Our data shows a clear link between how respondents perceive the strategic development of CX and how meaningful their work feels. Among respondents who feel that the strategic importance of customer experience has “increased significantly” in their organisation over the past two years, 89% say that their day-to-day work makes a significant difference. Among those where its importance has “remained unchanged”, the share drops to 60%. This is yet another signal that perceived strategic progress and perceived personal impact are closely linked. Stagnation in strategic prioritisation is also experienced as stagnation in day-to-day work.

What a CFO should ask before cutting the budget

When a CFO considers cutting the CX budget during a difficult period, it is rarely because the figures show that it is the right decision. It is because there are no figures showing the opposite. The relevant question is therefore not “can we afford to invest in customer experience right now?” but “what is the documented consequence if we don’t?” As long as that question cannot be answered with a figure, customer experience will lose out to the other investments that can.

Three perspectives on the same gap

For a CEO, the gap between expectations and management is a strategic risk signal. If 79% of the market expects customer experience to become crucial, but few actually manage by it, there is a large group of competitors who will only discover the problem when it is too late to correct it. For a CCO, it is about where commercial decisions are really made – whether CX is an integral part of the sales and customer retention strategy, or whether it exists separately alongside it. And for a CFO, the point is simple: an item that is strategically important in words, but not in the basis for decisions, will always lose out to items that can be justified with a calculation and a measurable effect when priorities have to be revised.

From conviction to decision

Believing in CX costs nothing. Letting it set the direction, on the other hand, requires a seat on the executive board, a permanent place in management reporting and a willingness to let it win over other priorities when the budget has to be defended. This is exactly where many companies hesitate – not because they disagree that CX matters, but because no one has yet made the decision that it should carry more weight than everything else that is also competing for attention.

The 79% who expect customer experience to become strategically important are already right in their expectation. The question few of them ask themselves is whether they are actually managing by that expectation today, or simply waiting for the future to fulfil it on its own. The 26% who already see customer experience as an outright differentiating core factor typically do not stand out by believing more strongly. They stand out by having turned that belief into a basis for decisions.

The question for the executive board

A single question can reveal where you really stand: was CX a fixed, named factor in the most recent major investment decision you made, or was it mentioned without carrying any real weight in the choice? If the answer is the latter, you are in the same position as the vast majority of companies in the study. The difference between you and the 13% that are truly CX-mature does not lie in how much you believe in CX. It lies in whether that belief is ever tested in a decision that actually costs something.