March 2025 | VOL. 32

“The key to our success is our team, our technology,

and our commitment to customer experience.”

– Mary Barra, CEO General Motors

Welcome to the March Verde Edition newsletter. This month, we are celebrating the women who have shaped the customer experience industry and the use of voice-of-customer insights to take their businesses to new heights.

March is Women’s History Month, and it is a time to recognize and celebrate the invaluable contributions women have made across industries, including the customer experience (CX) sector. Women have played a pivotal role in shaping the way businesses interact with their customers, leading efforts to create more inclusive, empathetic, and customer-centric strategies. From the hospitality industry to retail, technology, and financial services, women have driven innovation in how companies engage with their audiences, ensuring that customer needs and expectations are not only met but exceeded. Their leadership has helped transform CX into a critical component of business success, emphasizing personalization, emotional intelligence, and community-driven engagement.

Many women executives have been instrumental in integrating the voice of the customer into corporate decision-making. Leaders such as Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, and Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, have emphasized customer-driven strategies that prioritize consumer insights, product innovation, and long-term brand loyalty. These executives understand that listening to the customer is not just about gathering data but about shaping the company’s vision and strategy around real consumer needs. Through initiatives like enhanced feedback loops, AI-driven sentiment analysis, and personalized service offerings, women leaders have helped businesses shift from transactional relationships to deep, value-driven connections with their customers.

Furthermore, our own CEO, Paula Courtney, who started Verde Group over 20 years ago, continues to blaze new trails and challenge the status quo through her continued dedication and pursuit of helping organizations around the world understand how to unlock the strategic and monetary benefits of voice-of-customer insights.

In this edition, we provide you with an overview of Revenue@Risk, a pioneering approach to CX insights. The methodology, created via Paula's leadership, has stood the test of time and remains one the most innovative solutions for helping CX practitioners drive revenue and profit growth via customer experience insights. We will also share with you the stories, leadership, and passion of other women leaders in the CX industry who believe in the economic impact the customer can have on business outcomes. Lastly, we will share the results of last month's poll where we asked our readers about their priorities in creating "Big L" loyalty. 

As always, we thank you for your support and welcome your input.

Cheers!

The Verde Group

PXIQ COMING SOON

March Fast Five:

Celebrating Women

Leading the Way in CX

March is Women’s History Month—a time to honor the trailblazers who challenge the status quo, drive innovation, and redefine industries. In the world of Customer Experience (CX), women leaders continue to shape the way businesses connect with and serve their customers.

This month’s Fast Five spotlights five women who have transformed CX across industries—from pioneering proactive service models to integrating technology with human-centered care. Their work not only enhances customer interactions but also paves the way for future leaders in CX.

1. Renee Cacchillo: Advocating Proactive, Customer-Focused Practices 

Current Role: President and CEO, Safelite AutoGlass

Leadership: Renee Cacchillo is a thought leader in the insurance and service industries, advocating for customer experience strategies that focus on emotional connections and proactive service delivery. She emphasizes anticipating customer needs before they even ask.

Accomplishments & POV: Renee has been a vocal advocate for proactive customer service, urging companies to create lasting emotional connections with their customers by predicting needs and responding before they become problems. She also emphasizes that personalization is key to delivering excellent service and that companies must meet customers where they are to deliver the best experiences. 

Renee's accomplishments include the development and promotion of anticipatory service models in the insurance and service industries, where businesses aim to understand and meet customers' needs before they have to ask, creating deeper and more meaningful relationships. 

2. Paula Courtney: Customer Experience Strategy & Advocacy 

Current Role: Founder & CEO of The Verde Group

Leadership: Paula Courtney is a recognized expert in customer experience strategy, known for her work with The Verde Group, a consultancy she founded to help businesses optimize customer experience and drive customer loyalty. Through her work, she has guided numerous companies in creating customer-focused strategies that align with their business objectives, positioning her as a thought leader in the CX space. 

Accomplishments & POV: As the founder of  The Verde Group, Paula works with organizations to transform their customer experience strategies by focusing on identifying the areas of friction that drive business performance. Her approach combines strategic consulting with a deep understanding of the customer journey to help businesses improve their customer experience at every touchpoint. 

Paula is also a  published author, with notable contributions to leading business publications, including Harvard Business Review and Forbes Magazine. Her articles focus on innovative strategies for enhancing customer experience and the importance of customer-centric leadership in driving business success. 

3. Susan M. Murphy: Emotional Connections in CX 

Role: Former CEO of SurveyMonkey

Leadership: Susan M. Murphy is recognized for her leadership in customer experience as well as her expertise in customer insights. She built an organization that emphasized the need for businesses to listen to customer feedback and act on it to improve CX outcomes.

Accomplishments & POV: Susan's leadership helped SurveyMonkey become a leader in customer satisfaction research and a major tool for improving CX. She focused on turning data into actionable insights that empowered companies to create more meaningful customer interactions. 

Susan also helped drive the company’s growth and its focus on customer satisfaction, playing a significant role in making customer feedback more accessible to organizations of all sizes. 

4. Martha Rogers, PhD: Relationship Marketing and CX Thought Leadership 

Current Role: Co-Founder of CX Speakers, LLC and Founder of Trustability Matrix

Leadership: Martha Rogers is renowned for her work in relationship marketing, which is deeply tied to the evolution of customer experience. Her research and insights helped shape a strategic approach to building long-term customer relationships.

Accomplishments & POV: Martha helps businesses understand the importance of individualized customer relationships, moving away from transactional approaches to more meaningful engagements. 

Martha has also co-authored influential books like The One to One Future, which laid the groundwork for the customer-centric strategies that became widely adopted in the 90s and beyond. 

5. Karen Lynch: Transforming CVS into a Healthcare Experience Hub 

Role: Former President and CEO of CVS Health

Leadership: Karen Lynch became CEO of CVS Health in February 2021, driving the company’s transformation from a traditional drugstore into a comprehensive healthcare provider. She’s led initiatives that combine healthcare services with personalized experiences, focusing on accessibility, technology, and customer well-being.

Accomplishments & CX Efforts: Specializing in healthcare integration: Karen has positioned CVS as a healthcare hub, expanding services beyond prescriptions to include wellness offerings, tele-health, and preventive care, empowering customers to manage their health more proactively. By utilizing data and technology, CVS delivers tailored healthcare experiences, including medication management, personalized health insights, and seamless digital tools for customers to manage their care. 

Under Karen's leadership, CVS stores have been redesigned to integrate health services like screenings and consultations, positioning them as community health centers. 

Through collaborations and strategic partnerships with healthcare providers and insurers, Karen has strengthened CVS's position as a holistic care provider, ensuring coordinated, personalized services for customers. 

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we recognize the leaders shaping the future of CX. Their innovation and customer-first mindset continue to set new standards, inspiring the next generation to push boundaries and create meaningful experiences. Who are the women in CX that inspire you?

MARCH 2025 Poll

Which CX leadership characteristic—as featured in our Fast Five section—would you state as being the most important in achieving CX excellence? 

March 2025's Question:

Question:  Dear Verde Group,  this question is for Paula Courtney, Verde Group's CEO. Paula, as someone who built a CX insights practice from the ground up, what accomplishment are you most proud of?

Answer: I'm most proud of the trust and longevity we’ve built with top-tier clients. Industry-leading brands have relied on us to refine their customer strategies and drive measurable business impact—many for over two decades. Their continued partnership has pushed us to stay at the forefront of CX innovation, shaping our proprietary tools and patent-pending methodologies. Our success is a direct result of our clients challenging us to be the best in the field.

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.

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