The CMO’s Comeback? It Might Finally Work, if We Understand the Elasticity of CX

It Might Finally Work, if We Understand the Elasticity of CX

McKinsey’s recent article, “The CMO’s Comeback”, proclaims what many in our field have long hoped: that CMOs are poised to reclaim a central role in driving growth, strategy, and customer centricity.

But let’s be honest, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this.

Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed repeated attempts to bring the CMO back into the strategic core. And yet, time and again, they’ve been sidelined—either edged out by Chief Growth Officers, overwhelmed by tech transformation, or boxed into “brand” instead of business.

So what makes this time different?

Here’s my view: this time it works if we understand the elasticity of Customer Experience.

Why CX Needs to Become Elastic

In my research, I’ve argued that the future of CX won’t be powered by slogans, better surveys, or isolated campaigns. It will be driven by what I call the Elastic Future of CX — a new operating logic where experience is treated not as a cost center, but as a dynamic, high-leverage growth system that flexes in response to customer needs and financial realities.

Elasticity means understanding how far we can stretch our CX investments to generate measurable value—and when they begin to snap back, offering diminishing returns. It means making CX scalable, adaptable, and financially accountable.

McKinsey’s article points in this direction, calling for agile teams, integrated P&L models, and CFO–CMO alignment. But to truly unlock this shift, organizations need to activate four key dimensions of Elastic CX.

1. The CX-Led Profitable Growth Flywheel

From CX as sentiment to CX as strategy.

We need to stop thinking about CX as a feel-good program, and start seeing it as a performance engine. The flywheel model I’ve developed shows how strong customer experiences generate momentum across five interconnected business outcomes:

• Customer Lifetime Value (through loyalty and repeat behavior)
• Pipeline Growth (through differentiation and relevance)
• Retention Growth (through reduction of friction and churn)
• Advocacy (through emotional resonance and trust)
• Operational Efficiency (through reduced cost-to-serve and self-service design)

But this only works if they’re empowered to orchestrate outcomes across silos. Growth today is not won in media plans, but in orchestrated, end-to-end experiences.

2. Customer Experience Elasticity

Like a rubber band—stretch it, and it expands. Stretch it too far, and it snaps.

Not every CX initiative has infinite return. And not every touchpoint deserves equal investment. The concept of CX Elasticity helps organizations measure how sensitive a business outcome (like revenue or margin) is to improvements in specific customer experience levers.

This is where most organizations get stuck. They overinvest in being “nice and easy” and underinvest in what truly matters to their customers—or what moves financial outcomes.

Elastic CX means asking better questions:

• Which CX levers still have upside elasticity?
• Where are we overextending for little return?
• What sequence of improvements will generate compounding value?

3. The CX Elasticity Index (CXEI)

Measuring what matters. Most CMOs still struggle to connect the dots between experience and enterprise value. Metrics like NPS, CSAT, and CES offer directional insights—but rarely satisfy the CFO.

That’s why we introduced the Customer Experience Elasticity Index (CXEI): a composite measure that quantifies how improvements in core CX levers drive change in business outcomes like CLV, churn, advocacy, and cost-to-serve.

McKinsey’s call for tighter CMO–CFO collaboration rests on the same logic. To secure investment, CMOs must walk into the boardroom not with stories, but elasticity curves demonstrating, with rigor, where experience pays off and where it plateaus.

CXEI makes experience investable, measurable, and comparable across business units. It becomes the translation engine between emotion and economics.

4. Ambidextrous CX

Balancing today’s performance with tomorrow’s transformation.

This may be the most overlooked dimension of Elastic CX and the most vital for the CMO’s comeback.

We live in a dual-speed world. CMOs are expected to execute flawlessly today (personalization, growth targets, ROI), while also designing tomorrow’s experience (AI, ecosystems, identity-based loyalty). These demands often conflict—but they must coexist.

That’s the essence of Ambidextrous CX:

• Exploit what works now (optimize journeys, tighten operations).
• Explore what could create the next advantage (new models, experiences, platforms).

Conclusion

In an elastic world, you don’t just build pipelines. You build muscle for adaptation.

So… Can the CMO Really Come Back?

Yes, but not by returning to the past.

This isn’t about reclaiming lost power. It’s about redefining CX as a financial, strategic, and adaptive discipline. The tools are finally there: real-time data, AI-powered orchestration, closed-loop attribution, and cross-functional agility.

The question is: will CMOs take the lead?

To do so, they must embrace elasticity:

• Flex where value stretches
• Snap back where investments plateau
• Translate emotion into economics
• Balance performance with innovation