NPS Isn't Dead, But It’s on Life Support: The Future of B2B Customer Experience Artwork

The CX Iconoclast

If you’re exhausted by traditional approaches to CX, impatient with the stunning lack of progress in the field, and done re-hashing the “best practices” that don’t change anything, you’ve found your podcast. Here’s what we know: Companies gain competitive advantage through exceptional customer experience, and customer insights are the best decision-making tool there is. But traditional CX approaches have run their course and it’s time for the next revolution in CX. Tune in every two weeks as Richard Owen, co-founder of OCX Cognition, hosts conversations and interviews with business leaders, academics, and thinkers whose ideas can guide the CX profession to think in new ways about what success looks like. Most of them aren’t CX professionals, but all of them have something to teach us about CX. We’ll take a clear-eyed look at the problems that have hampered the discipline and explore the compelling ideas behind a re-engineering CX for a modern world. Come disgruntled, leave inspired. Find us at www.ocxcognition.com

All Episodes

The CX Iconoclast

NPS Isn't Dead, But It’s on Life Support: The Future of B2B Customer Experience

March 24, 2025 • OCX Cognition

In this podcast, Richard Owen and Brian Curry tackle the provocative question, “Is NPS dead?” While acknowledging the clickbait nature of the question, they argue that the traditional Net Promoter Score (NPS) program has become outdated—not because the metric itself is useless, but because the way companies implement it has failed to evolve. Surveys, once the backbone of customer experience (CX) programs, are increasingly unreliable due to response bias and their inability to provide real-time, comprehensive insights. Instead, Owen and Curry advocate for a new approach—leveraging AI and operational data to create “generative CX analytics” that provide a more accurate, always-on view of customer sentiment and behavior.

They emphasize that the shift isn’t about replacing NPS outright but transforming how CX programs function. Traditional survey-driven programs are losing credibility with executives, who see them as delivering little actionable value. AI-driven analytics, which integrate survey insights with broader customer data, offer a path forward by providing predictive, real-time intelligence. Owen and Curry predict that companies that embrace this transformation will gain a competitive edge, while those clinging to outdated NPS programs risk irrelevance. The key takeaway: it’s not about whether NPS is dead—it’s about whether your CX program is keeping up with the future.

Find out how predictive CX analytics can help your business: https://ocxcognition.com/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ocxcognition/
Connect with Richard Owen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richard-owen-98ba3

People on this episode

Richard Owen

Host