CX Is Stuck in the Old World

Customer experience was supposed to be the future.

Instead, in many organizations, it has quietly become the past.

CX teams sit in dashboards.

They track scores, map journeys, optimize touchpoints, and debate decimal-point improvements in NPS.

They do the work.

But growth still stalls. Loyalty still erodes. Customers still drift away.

The uncomfortable truth is this.

CX didn’t fail because it wasn’t important.

It failed because it stayed trapped in an old worldview while customers moved on.

The Old World of CX

The old world of CX was built for a slower, simpler economy.

Customers were receivers.

Brands were broadcasters.

Value flowed in one direction.

In that world, CX made sense as a function.

You could design experiences top-down.

You could standardize journeys.

You could optimize moments that mattered.

So we built systems around control.

• Journey maps frozen in time

• Personas built from averages

• Annual surveys measuring yesterday’s emotions

• Loyalty programs rewarding transactions, not progress

The customer’s role was simple.

Consume what we designed.

Respond when asked.

Renew if satisfied.

That model worked when choice was limited and switching costs were high.

It does not survive in today’s reality.

The World Changed. CX Didn’t.

Customers didn’t just become more demanding.

They became more powerful.

They publish, compare, create, and connect.

They join communities before they join brands.

They learn from peers faster than from companies.

They no longer ask, “Is this a good experience?”

They ask, “Is this helping me become who I want to be?”

And this is where traditional CX breaks.

Because most CX models still optimize experience delivery, while customers now judge personal progress.

We keep measuring satisfaction.

They are measuring momentum.

We keep improving touchpoints.

They are evaluating trajectories.

We keep asking for feedback.

They are voting with attention, participation, and exit.

The gap between these two worlds is where growth dies.

Customers Are No Longer Endpoints. They Are the Engine.

In the new world, customers are not the end of the journey.

They are the force that moves it forward.

They create value by:

• Participating, not just consuming

• Contributing insight, not just feedback

• Building community, not just loyalty

• Amplifying stories, not just referrals

Growth no longer comes from persuading customers to stay.

It comes from helping them progress.

This is why the most successful brands, platforms, and communities don’t talk about CX at all.

They talk about ecosystems.

They talk about belonging.

They talk about outcomes.

They don’t design experiences for customers.

They design systems that customers move through, shape, and improve.

From Managing Experience to Designing Momentum

Old-world CX asks:

“How do we reduce friction?”

New-world CX asks:

“How do we create momentum?”

Momentum is what happens when customers:

• See early value quickly

• Understand what progress looks like

• Feel recognized along the way

• Believe staying will move them forward

This shift requires abandoning one of CX’s most comfortable myths.

That loyalty is something you earn at renewal.

In reality, loyalty is formed in the first 30 to 90 days.

That is where meaning is created or lost.

That is where momentum either starts or stalls.

Organizations that still treat onboarding, engagement, and retention as separate programs are operating with old mental models.

In the new world, growth is a system.

Not a campaign.

The End of Transactional Loyalty

Discounts don’t create loyalty anymore.

Perks don’t either.

Customers stay when leaving feels like losing momentum.

That happens when:

• Value compounds over time

• Progress is visible

• Participation feels purposeful

• Belonging is real, not symbolic

This is why experience can no longer be owned by a CX team alone.

Retention doesn’t live in marketing.

It lives everywhere.

Product design.

Data.

Operations.

Leadership behavior.

Measurement systems.

CX is no longer a department.

It is the operating system for growth.

Influencing the New World

So how do we move CX forward?

Not by renaming teams.

Not by launching another survey.

Not by redesigning a journey map.

We influence the new world by changing the question.

From:

“How do we make customers happier?”

To:

“How do we help customers move forward?”

That single shift changes everything.

It forces organizations to:

• Measure progress, not just satisfaction

• Design value ladders, not flat experiences

• Focus on early momentum, not late retention

• Treat data as empathy, not surveillance

• Build systems that compound, not campaigns that spike

In this world, experience is not something you deliver.

It is something customers accumulate.

The Future of CX Is Growth-Led, Not Experience-Led

The organizations that win will not be the ones with the highest CX scores.

They will be the ones whose customers grow faster because they stayed.

That is the new competitive advantage.

CX is no longer about managing moments.

It is about designing meaning.

And meaning, once built, multiplies.

Thanks for reading and see you here next week!

Sincerely,
Louis

PS - Welcome to everyone who joined CX’s & O’s last week! Let’s keep the conversation going. Connect with me on Linkedin for daily tips and insights!

PPS - If you like these insights, check out my new book “One to One: How to Wow Your Customers With Personalized Experiences.” Learn more.