CEOs neglect customer experience and compromise company growth.
An expert points out strategic errors made by leaders who ignore customer service as a pillar of reputation, retention, and corporate profitability.
247 - Although innovation, marketing, and product dominate the agenda of executive boards, many CEOs are failing by neglecting a crucial factor for sustainable growth: customer experience (CX). This strategic oversight has a direct impact on reputation, retention, and brand value, even among companies with good products and robust campaigns.
“It is increasingly common to find companies with excellent products and good campaigns, but which do not grow as they could because customer service drives the customer away,” says João Paulo Ribeiro, specialist in customer-centric organizational culture and CEO of Grupo Inove, an organization that operates nationally and internationally focusing on CX transformation.
The scale of the problem is proven by relevant numbers. According to a PwC survey, 73% of Brazilians consider customer experience as important as price or product quality. Another statistic, from Zendesk, reveals that 78% of consumers abandon a brand after a single bad experience. Even so, many executives continue to treat the issue as an operational function and not as a strategic matter.
The three most common mistakes CEOs make.
João Paulo identifies three common pitfalls that compromise the customer experience in companies: delegating without aligning, automating without listening, and charging without understanding.
1. Delegating without integrating into the culture
“It’s common for CEOs to pass responsibility for customer service to middle management teams without ensuring that the organization’s values are reflected there,” says Ribeiro. The result is a depersonalized service that acts only as a problem triage tool, without strengthening ties with the customer.
2. Automating without real listening
The promise of automation, if poorly applied, turns into frustration. According to Salesforce, 64% of consumers report dissatisfaction with inefficient automated interactions. “Automation is important, but it needs to be designed to support, not hinder. Bots cannot replace sensitivity or resolve crises on their own,” says João Paulo.
3. Setting targets without understanding the basis.
Indicators such as AHT (average handling time) and FCR (first call resolution) are useful, but they cannot be demanded without active listening. "The CEO demands speed, but doesn't invest in infrastructure, active listening, or training. This undermines the work environment and deliverables," points out the expert.
Customer service can be a lever or an invisible bottleneck.
A McKinsey report highlights that companies that continuously invest in CX are 80% more likely to experience annual revenue growth. However, only 27% of Brazilian companies consider customer experience in their strategic decisions, according to [source missing]. Customer Experience Benchmark 2024, from Genesys.
For João Paulo, this mismatch is crucial. "Customer experience is the bridge between expectation and reality. When that bridge is poorly built, the customer simply won't cross it again," he summarizes.
At Grupo Inove, the executive leads processes that begin with actively listening to employees, move on to mapping the organizational culture, and culminate in realigning customer service areas with the company's strategic pillars. "There is no solid customer experience without a strong culture. Listening needs to be vertical: from the CEO to customer service and from customer service to the CEO," he argues.
Among the results achieved by companies advised by Inove are an increase in NPS (Net Promoter Score) of up to 42%, a reduction in churn of 30%, and an increase in revenue per customer in sectors such as healthcare, retail, and financial services. "A well-managed experience is not a cost. It's a lever for growth," concludes João Paulo.