Why This is the Moment for Radical UX and CX Thinking

To say that the only certainty right now is uncertainty seems like one of the biggest understatements I’ve ever made. AI, tariffs, war, inflation, political strife, and more make the current economic environment very challenging for most organizations.

And when tough times hit, we tend to see organizations start pressing familiar levers to get through the challenges. Marketing and advertising budgets get cut, yet the financial goals stay the same. People are asked to do more, but with less. And most of the time, that is not possible.

If your marketing agency or internal marketing team could spend less, have fewer employees and get more conversions, then they would’ve done these things a long time ago. Trust me.

The reality is that there is only one lever to pull to help the finance team’s dream of doubling sales while lowering spend — and that lever is leaning into radical UX and CX thinking. That’s User Experience and Customer Experience, for those who don’t immerse themselves in marketing speak. In most cases, the lion’s share of effort goes into attracting new customers, yet so little goes into retention or preventing churn. Once acquired, a customer is far too often seen as a cost rather than a valuable asset. Preventing churn is not only good business, but also relieves pressure on customer acquisition needs and often costs less.

Want to add $500k in sales revenue without spending incremental budget on advertising? For a business that generates $10 million in annual revenue, that’s a 5% lift. You could chase more traffic, or you could make the user experience work harder for the audience already showing interest. That means removing friction, building confidence, and making every touchpoint easier to navigate and act on across all channels AND interactions.

Growth isn’t only about what you gain, but also what you keep. Reducing a customer churn rate from 10% to 8% for a $10 million business means retaining around $200,000 in revenue that would have otherwise left. Instead of needing to drive $500k in new sales, you only need to create $300k.

UX isn’t just for digital interfaces. It’s the entirety of your audience’s journey — even display ads, even OOH, even customer support — all the touchpoints. Yes, all of them. The average person doesn’t consciously break down their engagement with a brand into channels, mediums, or stages. But they do feel it when those things fail to all work together.

Changing to a radically focused UX and CX mindset on both the acquisition and customer sides is not just good in a challenging economic environment. It’s always good. Always. Like always always.

Somehow, we just seem to forget this at times.