December 2025 | VOL. 39

"Every company has data.

The winners are the ones that turn it into decisions."

-Thomas Davenport

Welcome to the December Verde Edition newsletter.

The Verde Group is evolving our newsletter content strategy to better meet the needs of business leaders who are increasingly seeking actionable intelligence, not just commentary, about customer experience performance. Going forward, each edition will place a stronger emphasis on the data behind the story: key metrics, patterns, and financial signals that help organizations understand where customer friction originates and how it impacts revenue, loyalty, and business risk. By centering our content on verified insights rather than generalized trends, we aim to provide readers with a credible, evidence-based view of the challenges shaping today’s competitive landscape.

A second major shift involves elevating the role of real-world examples and case studies. Our readers consistently tell us that the most valuable information is the content they can apply. Frameworks, comparisons, and lessons learned from organizations that have successfully addressed the same problems they face will be a focal point to help our readers drive change and increase the effectiveness of the VoC efforts. Each newsletter will now feature concise case studies that illustrate how companies have utilized VoC insights to measurable financial outcomes using Verde Group methodologies. These stories will highlight not only the findings uncovered, but also the decisions taken, the cultural shifts required, and the economic gains achieved.

Ultimately, our goal is to help business leaders de-risk decision-making by helping them understand the linkage between the experience their customers realize and the impact it has on their behaviors. Too many organizations invest heavily in measurement but fall short on activation. They collect feedback but do not link it to the financial stakes or operational levers that drive change. By providing richer data, more actionable frameworks, and clearer examples of how insights turn into outcomes, the Verde Group newsletter will become a practical tool for executives, analysts, and operators who want to drive high-confidence, financially grounded decision-making across their organizations.

Cheers!

The Verde Group

As organizations head into 2026, many leaders are facing a perfect storm of economic uncertainty, rising customer expectations, rapid technology change, and intensified competition. In this environment, relying on traditional CX metrics and surface-level dashboards is no longer enough to guide confident decision-making.

In our latest article, "A Wake-Up Call for Executives: Why Smarter CX Metrics Are Now Essential to De-Risk Strategy," the Verde Group explores why misaligned or misunderstood customer data now represents a major source of business risk—and how smarter measurement is becoming essential to de-risk strategy itself.

This post breaks down why popular tools like NPS and even today’s AI-powered CX platforms often fall short without a strong financial and behavioral measurement foundation. More importantly, it outlines what a modern, outcome-driven CX framework should look like—one that directly ties customer experience to revenue, retention, and growth. If your organization is serious about turning CX from a scorekeeping exercise into a true economic decision engine, this is a must-read.

The article emphasizes a reality many brands still underestimate: Customers will forgive small missteps, but unresolved high-impact issues drive defection at levels most companies don’t see coming.

Specifically, we'd like to highlight point 14 from the article where our CEO Paula Courtney is quoted regarding the importance of rewarding customer-first behavior:

"Reward it—and show the data behind it. When employees see how the customer experience directly drives revenue and how a poor experience puts it at risk, they connect their actions to business outcomes. Most people want to do great work, so linking rewards and recognition to customer-first behaviors makes that mindset stick." - Paula Courtney, The Verde Group

At the Verde Group, this is exactly why we focus on identifying:

✔ The small number of experiences that create the largest economic risk

✔ Where emotional triggers outweigh operational fixes

✔ How brands can elevate CX by reducing revenue-at-risk, not by trying to fix everything

As the article reinforces, brands that invest in understanding these “make-or-break” moments can dramatically improve retention, differentiate their category experience, and protect market share.

👉 Read the full Forbes article:

Top 5 Experiential Friction Points Impacting Manufacturer Revenue - It's All About Your Reps!

According to the Verde Group's Pulse Database, we consistently identify that the single most impactful experiential touchpoint leading to manufacturer business performance is the customer's interaction with their sales representative. Below are the top five opportuntiess... How well is your organization performing on these key factors?

Our 2026 predictions reflect a boardroom reset, where stories, scores, and dashboards give way to dollars, downside risk, and accountability.

1. You’re less likely to lose your job to AI if you can prove your CX programs drive revenue. Automation can replace tasks, but it can’t replace leaders who clearly tie CX investments to measurable financial results. Analyst research shows CX leaders materially outperform peers on revenue growth, making the ability to tie CX investments to dollars an increasingly vital job-preserving skill. The safest seat in the room will belong to those who can show revenue impact, not just activity.  McKinsey research 2023
2. AI will continue to lose its luster in some very specific ways. The novelty is wearing off. In 2026, organizations will be far more skeptical of “AI for AI’s sake.” Tools that don’t clearly reduce costs, protect revenue, or improve decision-making will be quietly shelved. Gartner's 2025 Hype Cycle for AI shows a maturing field shifting from peak hype to practical application, with Generative AI (GenAI) entering the Trough of Disillusionment (realizing challenges in ROI, governance, hallucinations) while AI Agents, Multimodal AI, AI-Ready Data, and Responsible AI sit near the Peak of Inflated Expectations, attracting intense interest. Key trends include focus on AI Literacy, AI Governance, Security (AI TRiSM), and the need for solid ModelOps/MLOps, as the industry seeks real value beyond pilots, moving towards sustainable, scalable deployment. 
3. More CX programs will be cancelled than launched. Budgets are tightening, patience is thin, and leaders want proof. Programs that can’t demonstrate which experiences put the most revenue at risk will struggle to survive. Forrester

READY TO TALK? Book an intro session with Dennis Armbruster, Verde Group Executive VP, to discover how you can enhance the impact of your CX program. We want to help you find methods to anchor your customer insights firmly within your business framework, driving stronger ROI and increasing executive buy-in. We want to learn more about your current challenges.

From quick-hit blogs and insight-rich newsletters to in-depth white papers and proprietary research (including our Revenue@Risk® framework), there’s something for every CX leader in our growing resource library.

We’re passionate about helping organizations rethink customer experience through data, strategy, and decades of real-world insight. Dive in, explore, and see what ideas rise to the surface when you challenge the status quo.

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