Top 7 Gripes of CX Professionals

Let’s discuss the elephant in the room — or should I say, the elephants?

You had a vision when you started this CX journey, right?

You wanted to create magical experiences that would make customers swoon, turn your company into a customer-loving powerhouse, and watch those satisfaction scores soar.

But then… reality hit. And hit hard.

The dream of seamless, personalized experiences across every touchpoint often feels more like herding cats while juggling flaming torches on a unicycle in a hurricane.

I get it.

The frustration of knowing exactly what needs to be done but feeling like you’re swimming upstream against a corporate rapid of indifference, short-term thinking, and “but we’ve always done it this way” attitudes.

So, let’s dive into the seven biggest gripes I hear from CX pros like you.

No sugarcoating, no corporate speak — just the raw truth about what’s driving you up the wall, paired with some practical and sometimes unorthodox advice on tackling these beasts.

1. The “Customer First” Fairy Tale

The Gripe: Your CEO wouldn’t shut up about customer-centricity at the last town hall, but when it comes to investing in CX initiatives? Suddenly, it’s all crickets and tumbleweeds.

Example: Picture this: You’ve spent months crafting a proposal for a new customer feedback system that would revolutionize how you collect and act on insights. You’re pumped and ready to present to the executive team. But then? “Great idea, but maybe next quarter… or next year… or never.” Sound familiar?

Action Plan:

• Get sneaky with pilot programs. Start small, show results, then ask for forgiveness instead of permission to scale.
• Become a data hoarder. Collect every shred of evidence showing how CX impacts the bottom line.
• Find your CX soulmate in the C-suite. Having an executive champion can work wonders.
• Master the art of storytelling. Dry data won’t cut it — make them feel the customer’s pain (and the potential for glory).

2. Departmental Hunger Games

The Gripe: Trying to get Marketing, Sales, IT, and Customer Service to play nice? We might as well try to get cats and dogs to have a peaceful tea party.

Example: You’re trying to create a 360-degree view of the customer journey, but Marketing is hoarding data like toilet paper in 2020. Sales are off in la-la land, making promises you can’t keep, and it’s moving at the speed of a sloth on vacation.

Action Plan:

• Throw a “CX Party” (aka workshop) and make it too fun to skip. If necessary, bribe with good food.
• Create a shared enemy. Nothing unites teams like a common foe (like that pesky competitor stealing market share).
• Play matchmaker with metrics. When everyone’s bonus depends on the same CX goals, watch how fast they learn to cooperate.
• Become a master of diplomacy. Sometimes, you’ve got to speak IT to IT, Marketing to Marketing. Learn their lingo.

3. The Tech Time Machine

The Gripe: Your company’s tech stack belongs in a museum, not a modern CX strategy.

Example: You dream of AI-powered chatbots and predictive analytics, but your reality is more like a digital Frankenstein’s monster. Customer data is scattered across so many systems that you need a treasure map and a decoder ring to find a phone number.

Action Plan:

• Become best friends with your IT folks. Seriously, bring them coffee and laugh at their jokes.
• Start small. Find one painful manual process and automate it. Use the wins to push for more.
• Get creative with workarounds. Sometimes, a clever Excel macro can bridge the gap while you fight for real solutions.
• Paint a picture of the promised land. Help everyone envision how much easier life could be with modern tech.

4. The New Customer Gold Rush

The Gripe: Your company is throwing money at shiny new customers while treating loyal ones like yesterday’s news.

Example: The sales team’s popping champagne over a flood of new signups, but you’re watching in horror as long-time customers quietly slip away, lured by competitors who appreciate them.

Action Plan:

• Crunch the numbers on customer lifetime value. Show how a bird in the hand is worth way more than two in the bush.
• Start a “customer love” campaign. Shower existing customers with so much attention that the higher-ups can’t ignore the results.
• Create FOMO around retention. Highlight competitors who are killing it by focusing on loyalty.
• Make retention sexy. Challenge the team to get creative about keeping customers, not just wooing new ones.

5. The Channel Chaos Theory

The Gripe: Your website says one thing, your app says another, and your call center… well, who knows what they’re saying?

Example: A customer starts a return on your website, tries to check the status on the app, and ends up in a Kafka-esque nightmare when they finally call in. Your team’s left playing detective, piecing together a customer journey that resembles a Jackson Pollock painting.

Action Plan:

• Map it out. Get all the stakeholders in a room and visually map the customer journey across channels. Prepare for gasps of horror.
• Mystery shop your own company. Document the madness firsthand and present your “customer’s diary of despair” to the higher-ups.
• Create a cross-channel task force. Give them the mission to align the experience, one touchpoint at a time.
• Celebrate consistency wins. Make a big deal of every slight improvement to keep the momentum going.

6. The ROI Riddle

The Gripe: “What’s the ROI on making customers not hate us?” is a question you’re tired of trying to answer.

Example: You know in your bones that improving the checkout process will boost sales, but you’re asked to quantify somehow the exact revenue impact of reducing customer frustration by 3 points on a satisfaction scale.

Action Plan:

• Befriend the bean counters. Learn to speak their language and help them see CX through a financial lens.
• Get creative with metrics. Find proxies for CX improvements that tie directly to dollars and cents.
• Borrow credibility. Lean on case studies and research from respected sources to bolster your arguments.
• When in doubt, test it out. Use A/B testing to show concrete impacts of CX changes.

7. Quarterly Tunnel Vision

The Gripe: Long-term customer relationships are sacrificed on the altar of hitting this quarter’s numbers.

Example: You’ve got a killer loyalty program in the works, but it’s shelved in favor of a quick-hit discount campaign that’ll juice this month’s sales (and tank next quarter’s margins).

Action Plan:

• Play the long game. Develop models showing the cumulative impact of CX investments over time.
• Find quick wins that align with long-term goals. Show how you can move the needle now and in the future.
• Make customer lifetime value a key metric. Get everyone obsessing over long-term customer health, not just short-term gains.
• Tell cautionary tales. Highlight companies that fell from grace by focusing too much on the short-term.

Next Steps

Rest assured, you’re not alone in this fight.

We’ve all been there with every eye roll, exasperated sigh, and moment of “Are they serious right now?” frustration.

But here’s the thing: you’re doing important work.

Revolutionary work, even. You’re the voice of the customer in a world that too often forgets to listen.

So keep pushing, innovating, and believing in the power of great customer experiences.

One day, you’ll look back on these challenges and laugh… preferably while accepting an award for transforming your company into a CX powerhouse.

Now, go forth and conquer those CX mountains. Your customers (and your future self) will thank you for it.

I want to share some of the exciting content and programs that I have created for your personal and professional growth:

30 Days to Greater Influence — a email course crafted specifically for customer-obsessed leaders like us.

DCX Executive Coaching — 1:1 coaching for customer-obsessed leaders (Mention DCX for 50% off the first three months)

The Daily Challenge SMS Service — Daily text messages designed to uplift your spirit, remind you of your worth, and inspire you to keep going, no matter what. — 7-Day FREE Trial

365 Days of Accountability — Accountability Books, Journals, and Exercises

I hope you find these programs useful. Let me know if you have any questions or need any further assistance.

-Mark

www.marklevy.co

Originally published at https://digitalcx.substack.com.