Reframing Customer Experience through Experience Market Value and Elastic CX

From Sentiment to Strategy: Why CX must be managed like a market

For years, customer experience (CX) has been lauded as the great differentiator, the heartbeat of brand loyalty, and the hidden driver of profitable growth. And yet, despite its supposed importance, CX remains structurally underfunded and operationally marginalized. When economic pressure mounts, it is often the first function to face cuts—while marketing, sales, and finance retain their strategic seat at the table. This recurring pattern reveals a deeper issue: customer experience still lacks a valuation model that resonates with executive decision-makers. It is treated as qualitative when the rest of the business runs on quantitative logic. CX is measured in feelings; strategy is measured in forecasts.

It is time to close that gap.

In this article, I argue that we need to reframe how we think about customer experience—not as a support function, but as a market. More precisely: what if every touchpoint in your customer journey had a stock price?

Experience Market Value: A new financial logic for CX

The concept of Experience Market Value (EMV)introduces a way to manage CX using principles from capital markets. Instead of treating customer experience as an abstract bundle of interactions, EMV breaks it down into tradable assets. Each touchpoint—login screens, onboarding flows, support calls, checkout processes—has a measurable financial base, an elasticity to change, and a volatility profile. Together, these variables define its EMV: a risk-adjusted, forward-looking valuation.

In this logic, experiences are not static moments. They are market-priced assets. And like any asset, they can appreciate, depreciate, or be rebalanced in a portfolio.

Connecting EMV to the Elastic Future of CX

This approach is part of a broader systems model known as the The Elastic Future of CX (Burggraaf, 2025)., a framework that connects operational actions (CX levers), measurable financial outcomes (CLV, retention, pipeline growth), and long-term transformation effects (brand resilience, TAM expansion, innovation velocity). Here, the CX Elasticity Index (CXEI) plays a pivotal role. It measures how a change in a specific CX lever (e.g., improving effort reduction during checkout) impacts financial outcomes. For instance, if checkout improvements lead to a 5% better conversion rate, and the CXEI coefficient for that touchpoint is 0.8, applied to $200 million in annual revenue, the result is a predicted $8 million uplift in value.

EMV then reprices that touchpoint, updating its strategic importance in real time. If volatility is low, the investment is stable—akin to a blue-chip stock. If volatility is high but elasticity is strong, it may be a growth stock worth betting on. If neither condition holds, it may be a penny stock to divest or redesign.

This framework replaces vague customer sentiment with concrete, financially actionable insight.

From behavioral economics to organizational strategy

The EMV approach is not only grounded in portfolio theory but also draws from behavioral economics. As Kahneman and Tversky have long shown, customers do not evaluate all experiences equally. Certain moments—what some might call “peak-end” experiences—have an outsized effect on perception, loyalty, and decision-making. EMV integrates these insights by adjusting valuations based on observed volatility and impact variance.

At an organizational level, this unlocks a new capability: ambidextrous CX. Leaders can now simultaneously optimize existing high-performing touchpoints (exploit) while experimenting with new, high-upside journeys (explore). EMV provides the discipline to manage both modes using a unified investment lens.

Why this changes the game

Most companies still track CX like they track the weather—through dashboards of Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer satisfaction (CSAT), or open-text surveys. These are reactive, vague, and ultimately non-actionable. They tell you how people feel but not what it’s worth—or where to act.

EMV changes that.

It enables CX to be evaluated like a business unit. It introduces discipline, accountability, and predictive foresight. Leaders can run scenario models, simulate volatility shocks, and prioritize where to invest based on return—not intuition.

This not only makes CX defensible; it makes it investable.

Final Thought: CX as a financial asset class

In a future defined by differentiation through experience—not just product—organizations need a better way to allocate capital across the journeys that shape perception and drive growth. With Experience Market Value, we can finally build a bridge between the operational and the financial. We can stop just listening to customers and start trading on their experiences—with the same rigor and strategic foresight as a portfolio manager in a volatile market. Because if every customer touchpoint has a cost, an outcome, and a risk profile…

It’s time we start managing it like the asset it really is.

References

Burggraaf, P. (2025). The Elastic Future of CX: Rethinking Growth Through Experiences [Conceptual Paper].

Gilmore, J. H., & Pine, B. J. (2020). The Experience Economy: Competing for Customer Time, Attention, and Money (Updated ed.). Harvard Business Review Press.

Morgan, R. M., & Hunt, S. D. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 58(3), 20–38.

Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1999). The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Harvard Business Press.