Commercial banking is undergoing a profound transformation. Once defined by product-centric models and legacy infrastructure, the sector now faces a rapidly evolving landscape. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), mid-market firms, and large corporates are demanding more from their banks—seamless digital experiences, proactive advice, and relationship management that adapts to their unique and changing needs. Meanwhile, digital-first challengers and fintechs are setting new standards for customer experience (CX), forcing incumbents to rethink how they win, serve, and retain clients.
Despite significant investment in digital transformation, many commercial banks struggle to translate CX ambitions into measurable growth. The complexity of commercial client journeys, the need to blend digital and human touchpoints, and the drag of legacy technology all present formidable barriers. In this environment, the ability to rigorously measure, benchmark, and prioritize CX investments is no longer optional—it’s essential for sustainable growth.
The Customer Experience Growth Index (CXGX), developed by Publicis Sapient, is a breakthrough framework designed to help commercial banks unlock growth by transforming customer experience. Unlike traditional metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), which offer limited guidance on where to invest, CXGX provides a nuanced, actionable, and touchpoint-specific view of the experiences that truly matter to commercial clients.
At the heart of CXGX is the “Three E’s” framework:
By capturing client feedback at key moments across both digital and relationship-managed channels, CXGX delivers a granular, channel-specific view of the commercial banking journey. Each interaction is scored from -100 (strongly negative) to +100 (strongly positive), enabling banks to pinpoint which touchpoints drive loyalty, advocacy, or attrition.
Commercial banking is fundamentally different from retail banking. The client base is highly heterogeneous, ranging from sole traders and SMEs to complex multinational corporates. Each segment has distinct needs:
Legacy technology, fragmented data, and siloed product systems make it difficult for banks to deliver consistent, personalized experiences across these segments. Moreover, as clients grow and move between segments, they often encounter disjointed journeys—new relationship managers, different digital platforms, and repeated requests for information. This not only frustrates clients but also increases cost-to-serve and erodes loyalty.
Research shows that commercial banks are confident in their CX capabilities, but this confidence is often misplaced. Challenger banks and fintechs are consistently outperforming incumbents in service quality and digital agility, especially in the SME space. As business decision-makers become more digitally savvy, expectations are rising—and the gap between leaders and laggards is widening.
CXGX addresses this gap by:
With limited budgets and complex client journeys, commercial banks need to know where to focus their CX investments. CXGX enables banks to:
CXGX provides a robust, repeatable methodology for benchmarking CX performance over time and against competitors. This allows commercial banks to:
Many commercial banks are on a journey from product-centric to customer-centric operating models. CXGX accelerates this shift by:
Consider the onboarding process for a new SME client. Traditionally, this journey is slow, manual, and fragmented—requiring repeated data entry, multiple handoffs, and long wait times. By applying the CXGX framework, a bank can:
Similarly, for large corporates, CXGX can help banks understand the interplay between digital portals, relationship manager interactions, and complex product origination journeys—pinpointing where to invest in integration, data sharing, or enhanced advisory support.
While the appetite for CX improvement is strong, commercial banks face significant barriers:
CXGX provides a common language and set of metrics that can unite technology, operations, and business teams around shared goals. By focusing on the experiences that drive growth, banks can build the business case for core modernization, data integration, and agile ways of working.
Commercial banking is entering a new era—one where customer experience is the primary battleground for growth and retention. The CXGX framework empowers banks to:
As the sector continues to evolve, those banks that harness the power of CXGX will be best positioned to unlock new value for their clients—and for their own organizations.
Ready to transform your commercial banking experience? Discover how CXGX can help you unlock growth through customer experience excellence.