If you’ve been in the marketing game long enough, you’ve probably seen the rise (and sometimes fall) of countless trends. But one thing that’s here to stay is Customer Experience (CX). Why? Because at the end of the day, it’s all about creating meaningful, lasting relationships with your audience. As an agency, you’re already halfway there—crafting campaigns, engaging audiences, and driving results. The next step? Integrating CX into your services to offer a more comprehensive and customer-centric approach.
Don’t worry; you don’t need to transform your entire business model overnight. Adding CX to your offerings can be done incrementally and strategically. This step-by-step guide will show you how to get started, enhance your marketing services, and position your agency as a forward-thinking partner for your clients.
Step 1: Understand What CX Really Means
Before you start selling CX, it’s crucial to understand what it really entails. CX is more than just customer service or satisfaction surveys—it’s the entire journey a customer experiences when interacting with a brand, from the first click on an ad to the post-purchase follow-up. Every touchpoint, interaction, and message contributes to the overall perception a customer has of a brand.
To make CX part of your marketing services, you need to think about how campaigns fit into the bigger picture. How do your email sequences align with the website experience? Does your ad messaging match the customer’s experience when they land on the site? Are you creating consistent, seamless interactions that make customers feel valued and understood?
When you view marketing through the CX lens, it becomes less about isolated campaigns and more about an interconnected strategy that builds trust and loyalty.
Step 2: Start Small—Add CX Elements to Existing Services
You don’t need to launch a full-blown CX department to get started. In fact, the best way to integrate CX is by enhancing your existing marketing services with customer-focused elements:
Customer Journey Mapping: Begin by mapping out the customer journey for your clients’ campaigns. Identify the key touchpoints—where they’re engaging, converting, and dropping off. Understanding these moments helps you create strategies that align with customer behavior and emotions, ultimately improving results.
Personalization & Segmentation: If you’re not already using customer data to segment and personalize marketing messages, now’s the time. CX is about delivering the right message at the right time, and personalization is a powerful tool to create relevant, tailored experiences for each audience segment.
Voice of the Customer (VoC): Introduce VoC programs as part of your service offerings. Gather customer feedback through surveys, social listening, or website behavior analysis to understand what your audience values and where they encounter friction. This insight allows you to refine your campaigns and ensure they resonate with customers’ needs and expectations.
Step 3: Educate Your Clients on the Benefits of CX
Now that you’ve started integrating CX into your services, it’s time to educate your clients on why it matters. Many clients may still see CX as “just another buzzword,” so it’s your job to show them how it directly impacts their bottom line.
Explain how CX can enhance campaign performance by increasing customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty. For example, a customer who feels valued is more likely to engage with the brand again, recommend it to others, and become a repeat customer—ultimately lowering acquisition costs and increasing lifetime value.
When clients see CX not as an expense but as an investment that boosts ROI, they’re more likely to buy into the approach. Position yourself as the expert who can not only implement effective marketing strategies but also optimize those strategies through CX insights.
Step 4: Align and Train Internal Teams on CX Goals
One of the most critical steps in adding CX to your services is ensuring internal alignment. Your team needs to understand why CX is important and how it fits into your agency’s overall strategy. Without internal buy-in, it’s challenging to deliver cohesive, CX-focused results.
Communicate the Vision: Share your CX goals with all departments, from creative to account management, so everyone knows what you’re trying to achieve and how it will benefit both clients and the agency. Make it clear that CX is not just a marketing add-on; it’s a holistic approach that impacts every part of the customer journey.
Provide CX Training: To effectively integrate CX, your team needs to understand the basics. Host training sessions or workshops on CX principles, journey mapping, and VoC strategies. Bring in a CX expert if needed to provide hands-on training and answer questions. The goal is to equip your team with the knowledge and skills they need to confidently execute CX strategies as part of their daily work.
Encourage Cross-Functional Collaboration: CX touches every part of the customer journey, so it’s essential that teams collaborate. Whether it’s the design team working closely with copywriters or digital strategists partnering with account managers, fostering cross-functional collaboration ensures that CX is woven into every touchpoint, creating a consistent and cohesive experience.
By aligning and training your internal teams, you create a culture of CX that not only enhances client campaigns but also strengthens your agency’s overall service quality and efficiency.
Step 5: Develop CX-Focused Metrics Alongside Traditional KPIs
Marketing agencies often focus on KPIs like click-through rates, conversions, and engagement metrics. While these are still important, adding CX-focused metrics can give you and your clients a fuller picture of campaign effectiveness.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): A simple way to measure customer loyalty. Ask customers how likely they are to recommend the brand on a scale of 0-10. A high score suggests your campaigns are creating positive brand experiences.
Customer Effort Score (CES): Measure how easy it is for customers to complete a desired action (e.g., making a purchase or signing up for a service). The easier the process, the better the CX.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Get immediate feedback on specific touchpoints or interactions. If your email campaign drives clicks, ask customers how they felt about the next step in their journey—was it smooth or frustrating?
By combining these CX metrics with your traditional KPIs, you’ll gain a holistic view of campaign success and areas for improvement. Plus, it shows clients that your agency goes beyond surface metrics to truly understand and enhance their customer relationships.
Step 6: Scale Your CX Services as Demand Grows
As you build CX into your marketing services and start showing clients the value, you may see demand increase. This is the perfect time to scale.
Create CX Packages: Develop tiered packages that offer different levels of CX involvement—basic journey mapping and VoC for smaller clients, and full-service CX strategy development for larger engagements.
Invest in CX Training for Your Team: Ensure your team understands CX principles and knows how to implement them. It could be as simple as hosting a workshop or bringing in a CX expert for a training session. When your entire team is aligned on the importance of CX, it becomes a natural part of your agency’s DNA.
Leverage CX Technology: As demand grows, consider integrating CX tools that automate feedback collection, journey mapping, or customer segmentation. These tools can save time and provide deeper insights, allowing you to scale your services without adding significant overhead.
Adding CX Creates Value for You and Your Clients
Integrating CX into your agency’s offerings isn’t just about keeping up with industry trends—it’s about future-proofing your business and delivering more value to your clients. When your agency can demonstrate a commitment to creating meaningful, consistent customer experiences, you not only strengthen your client relationships but also enhance your agency’s reputation as a trusted partner in growth.
Ready to start integrating CX into your services? I offer a free 15-minute CX consultation to help agencies like yours take the first step. We’ll assess your current marketing strategies, identify opportunities for CX integration, and map out a high-level approach tailored to your needs—no strings attached. Let’s explore how CX can elevate your marketing results and set your agency apart.