If metrics alone won budgets, CX leaders would be dangerously overfunded.
Instead, most teams are still explaining (very patiently) why a dip in CSAT or a spike in handle time is, in fact, a real problem and not just “noise.”
Somewhere along the way, an executive latches onto one red number, the conversation derails, and the actual decision never happens.
That exact dynamic was the focus of our recent masterclass hosted by Mercer Smith (Senior Director of CX Strategy & Solutions at Boldr) and Craig Stoss (VP of Solutions at KODIF), where we explored a truth most CX leaders already know: CX metrics don’t earn investment; business outcomes do.
Today, we’ll distill the core ideas from that session into a piece that stands on its own (and is hopefully actionable enough to be helpful), no webinar attendance required.
(But if you do want the full experience, slides are waiting for you at the bottom. )
CX teams live and breathe metrics, while executives usually politely tolerate them.
Where CX leaders think in CSAT, AHT, and recontact rates, executives tend to think in:
So when a CX update shows up as a dense dashboard with no translation, executives do what humans do under cognitive load: fixate on the one number that looks alarming and ignore the rest.
The challenge isn’t access to data; it’s that the data on its own doesn’t explain the business narrative or the operational impact behind the signals.
It’s very tempting to lead with the thing you want:
Unfortunately, without context, that sounds less like a necessity and more like a preference.
Executive-ready CX storytelling starts with the problem, framed in terms leadership already cares about:
Think of it this way: information is not a request, direction is.
“CSAT dropped” is information. “Customer sentiment is slipping in a high-value segment, creating measurable churn risk unless response times improve” is the direction.
Good CX storytelling isn’t about being dramatic, it’s about being clear.
An executive-ready CX narrative usually follows a structure like this:
If someone leaves the meeting thinking, “That was interesting” but not “I know what I’m being asked to approve,” the story isn’t done yet.
Dashboards are great, they’re just not necessarily executive tools.
A common mistake in exec reporting is trying to show everything: channels, tags, verbatims, sub-metrics, and edge cases. It’s impressive… and completely overwhelming.
A better approach is a five-tile CX scorecard that answers one very simple question: are we healthy?
A strong executive CX scorecard typically includes:
Each tile should show:
Visual indicators help, but only when they’re meaningful. For example, color should signal urgency, not just “number moved slightly.”
Many CX updates do an excellent job explaining context, trends, and risk, and then quietly stop before making an actual request.
Executives rarely fill in that gap for you. Executive-ready storytelling makes the ask real and concise:
One rule applies universally: if the ask isn’t explicit, it might as well not exist.
ROI is important, but leading with it is usually a mistake.
Before leadership cares about return, they need to agree on:
The sequence that tends to work is:
Start with spreadsheets too early, and the conversation turns into math instead of actual momentum.
This is where CX teams often level up (or don’t).
Compare these two descriptions of the same situation:
When CX performance is clearly connected to revenue protection, cost control, or scale, the conversation changes.
When CX doesn’t get funded, it’s rarely because leadership doesn’t care.
It’s because budget decisions are trade-offs.
CX initiatives compete with product work, sales investments, and other bets leadership believes will move the needle faster. Understanding that reality makes it easier to position CX work in terms that resonate. In many organizations (especially growth-stage ones), those terms often include scale enablement.
When CX initiatives are framed as scale enablers, budget conversations tend to go better. Not magically, but noticeably.
One of the simplest ways to build executive trust over time is also one of the most overlooked:
When each update builds on the last, CX stops feeling reactive and starts feeling intentional. Executives stay oriented, commitments stay visible, and the story compounds.
When CX metrics are anchored to outcomes, budget conversations stop feeling like uphill battles.
This article is based on Boldr’s live masterclass, “Executive-ready CX storytelling: how to win a budget with a narrative + a scorecard.”
If you’d like to go through the slides themselves, here are Mercer’s (password: exec) and here are Craig’s.