I started my career 25 years ago in creative roles: designer, art director, and creative director—CX wasn't a career option, it just didn't exist. That's probably because at that time the creative leadership roles were responsible for the foundation of what now falls under CX: have a deep understanding of the customer needs, goals, challenges, motivations and behaviors. Fast forward to today, I'm still pursuing what I knew to be true at the start of my career (regardless of my title): without customers businesses fail. To engage, acquire, retain and build loyalty with customers requires knowing them-and knowing them well. Even the most inspired creative strategy or polished UX can fall flat without knowing the customer-or applying any customer experience strategy. Yet, most agencies overlook CX entirely, and the results—low engagement, disappointing ROI, and frustrated clients—prove it.
The Right Order of Things
I’ve always believed that effective advertising and marketing strategies must be built on a strong foundation of CX strategy. While I initially thought this was a universally understood concept among brand teams, sales teams, and agency leaders, I quickly realized that this isn’t always the case. To address this gap, I’ve dedicated myself to educating clients and internal teams about what I call the "Russian nesting doll" hierarchy of high-performing strategies. It looks a little something like this:
CX Strategy: Start with the big picture. CX strategy is rooted in research and data. It identifies customer needs, goals, and pain points across their journey. Without this, you’re guessing—and guesses rarely perform.
Marketing Strategy: Once CX is defined, marketing strategy maps out how to connect with customers. This includes channels, messaging, and timing—all aligned with the insights uncovered by CX research.
Creative Strategy: Creative strategy takes the marketing plan and brings it to life. This is where the “how” of the message becomes tangible—visuals, tone, storytelling—all designed to resonate with customers.
UX Strategy: Finally, UX ensures that when customers interact with your brand’s digital touch points, it’s seamless, intuitive, and supports the promises made by marketing and creative.
When CX drives the process, everything aligns. The messaging, visuals, and interactions work together to create an experience customers can’t ignore.
Where Agencies Go Wrong
Too often, agencies skip over CX entirely. I’ve often been the lone advocate for CX. Most recently, I left a performance agency where leadership concluded that CX didn’t "work" for paid media. The challenge wasn’t that CX doesn’t work—it was that CX is preventative, not a quick fix. Many agencies focus on delivering fast results, and CX, being an investment and a cultural mindset, doesn’t fit that narrative. Despite this, I’ve remained committed to showing how CX and creative strategy can transform campaigns. Some paid media teams I’ve worked with have dismissed CX and creative strategy, claiming “content doesn’t matter” and that their campaigns will succeed without it. Spoiler: they don’t.
Here’s why: Messaging that doesn’t align with what customers need, want, or feel at each stage of their journey doesn’t connect. And if it doesn’t connect, it doesn’t convert.
What the Data Says
As a curious pragmatist, I regularly dig into research to see if my observations about teams undervaluing CX and creative strategy are unique to my experience or more widespread. One recent finding stood out: companies that lead in customer experience outperform their competitors by nearly 80%¹. Additionally, businesses that prioritize CX grow their revenue 1.7 times faster than those that don’t². And poor customer experiences cost companies a staggering $3.7 trillion in lost sales globally³.
What does that mean for agencies? Ignoring CX isn’t just a missed opportunity—it’s a liability. Without CX driving the strategy, campaigns underperform, and clients don’t stick around.
Why It Works
In my time over the past 7+ years leading experience and CRO for clients across healthcare, finance/fintech, insurance/insurtech, and secondary ed/edtech, a clear trend emerged: the clients who invested in qualitative research and robust tracking systems reaped the most significant results. For instance, I worked with a fintech client to develop data-driven personas and detailed customer journeys. Using these insights, I created a quarterly roadmap for creative and content strategies.
By refining just a few paid media campaigns with targeted messaging and first-party data capture, the client exceeded their MQL goals by 117%. While the strategy delivered results quickly, it was the upfront investment in research and planning that set the stage for success. This example illustrates how a thoughtful, research-backed approach can drive meaningful and measurable outcomes.
The Path Forward
Agencies can’t afford to treat CX as an afterthought. To drive results, they need to:
Invest in Research: Get the data. Talk to customers. Understand their needs.
Align Teams: Ensure CX, marketing, creative, and UX are working toward the same goals.
Lead with CX: Let CX insights guide every decision, from channel selection to design.
When CX is at the core, everything else falls into place. Campaigns resonate, clients see results, and agencies build lasting relationships.
My Take
I’ve built my career on bridging the gaps between CX, creative, and UX. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. And I’ve learned that when CX drives the strategy, you’re not just meeting customer expectations—you’re exceeding them. That’s where the magic happens, and that’s how agencies thrive.
References:
O8 Agency. ROI of Digital Marketing: Ultimate Guide.
Freshworks. Customer Experience Statistics: Driving Growth Through CX.
ShareFile Blog. The ROI of Customer Experience.