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  • Behind the Strategy: 6 CX lessons from Company Sage

    Behind the Strategy: 6 CX lessons from Company Sage


    What does it really take to build a business around customer experience? 

    In a recent episode of Behind the Strategy: CX Leadership in Action, Alchemer CMO Bo Bandy sat down with Company Sage CEO Andrew Pierce and COO Jeff Cummings to unpack how they’ve turned CX into a strategic advantage.  

    Company Sage helps entrepreneurs and small businesses start, manage, and grow their companies, handling everything from entity formation and compliance to back-office support. With more than 80,000 customers and a fast-growing SaaS platform, they’ve built their success not just on operational excellence, but on a company-wide obsession with treating customers right. 

    From real-time NPS follow-up to transparent team communication, here are six lessons from their playbook that any CX leader can apply. 

    Lesson 1: Start with culture

    Company Sage didn’t launch with a polished strategy. They started by simply being kind to customers. 

    “I didn’t want to be mean to clients on the phone,” Andrew said. “So we over-delivered.” 

    That basic principle—treat people well—grew into something more powerful. The team realized that while their larger competitors treated customers like numbers, they could stand out by being personal, responsive, and transparent. 

    Today, customer experience is one of three strategic lenses for the business, alongside scalability and compliance. 

    Lesson 2: Operationalize feedback early and often 

    Company Sage’s NPS program isn’t an annual box to check. It’s a living system that drives action. 

    Instead of blasting all 80,000 customers at once, they send surveys in rolling batches to keep the workload manageable. Every detractor or comment with negative sentiment creates a case in Salesforce. Their support team personally follows up, logs the conversation, and shares insights with leadership. 

    This approach helps the team spot issues early, respond quickly, and turn frustration into loyalty. 

    Lesson 3: Let the data challenge your assumptions 

    Tough feedback isn’t always easy to hear—but it’s essential. 

    Andrew shared how a switch from annual to monthly billing, which seemed customer-friendly on paper, was met with overwhelming negative feedback. “We thought we were doing the right thing,” he said. “The survey results told us otherwise.” 

    Other surprises? Customers didn’t care about hold times as much as they cared about getting their questions answered on the first try. And small changes in mail pricing sparked major backlash that wasn’t obvious until the NPS results came in. 

    Lesson 4: Share feedback across the entire organization 

    At Company Sage, feedback doesn’t stay hidden in dashboards. It’s shared company-wide. 

    Survey insights are discussed in weekly ops meetings, reviewed in all-hands calls, and used to prioritize product roadmaps. Teams are encouraged to face the tough stuff and take ownership. 

    “If we’re not a culture-first company, we can’t be a customer-first company,” Jeff said. One team member, after hearing tough feedback, told her team: “We’re owning this. It’s never coming up again.” 

    That transparency keeps everyone connected to the customer and accountable for improving the experience. 

    Lesson 5: Close the loop and keep it closed. 

    Every round of NPS is followed by a summary of what the team is doing differently as a result. If a customer didn’t fill out the last survey, they get a little FOMO when they see real changes being made and they’re more likely to respond next time. 

    Even internal teams benefit. By tying customer feedback to changes in process or product, employees can see the impact of their work. That alignment keeps morale high and focus sharp. 


    Lesson 6: Keep evolving or fall behind     

    “Customer experience isn’t a destination,” Jeff said. “If we offer the same level of service next year, it’ll feel like a drop.” 

    That’s why they’re constantly looking for ways to improve. They’re using integrations to route feedback in real time. They’re exploring session monitoring tools to trigger intercepts when customers show signs of frustration. And they’re watching trends closely—like the sudden rise in mobile requests that no one mentioned two years ago. 

    The goal is to stay close to what customers want, not just what the company thinks they want. 

    Watch the full conversation 

    For more CX insights, listen to Andrew, Jeff, and Bo’s full conversation in the this episode of Behind the Strategy: CX Leadership in Action. 
     

    Looking for more CX guidance? 
    Check out additional Behind the Strategy episodes or download The CX Leader’s Guide to the CFO for help aligning your feedback program with business goals. 



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  • Alchemer’s CFO on the keys to getting finance backing behind your CX initiatives

    Alchemer’s CFO on the keys to getting finance backing behind your CX initiatives


    When CFOs push back on customer experience (CX) investments, it’s rarely because they don’t care—it’s because the business case for CX isn’t framed in the financial terms they trust. 

    In the latest episode of The Business of Feedback, Alchemer CMO Bo Bandy sits down with CFO Jove Oakley to explore how CX leaders can break through that disconnect. Together, they outline three practical steps to bridge the gap with Finance, align meaningful metrics, and turn strong CX ideas into fully funded initiatives. 

    Step 1: Speak the CFO’s language—business outcomes 

    Jove’s #1 piece of advice?  
    “Find a partner in the CFO org. Spend time understanding what they’re tasked with. They care about the same things you do—they just speak a different language.” 

    Many CX leaders start with metrics like NPS or CSAT. But as Jove explains, “NPS is just a trended line. The key is tying it to business outcomes that matter—like retention, expansion, and revenue growth.” 

    Instead of starting with customer complaints or experience gaps, start by asking Finance: 
    What problems are you trying to solve this year? 

    It could be improving renewal rates, increasing customer lifetime value (LTV), or reducing churn. Once you know what Finance is focused on, you can position CX as a solution to that challenge, not just another expense. 

    💡 Pro tip: If you’re aligning CX to LTV, break the metric down. Focus on the controllable components—like retention rate, expansion potential, and customer acquisition—that CX can actually influence. 

    Step 2: Show the path to measurable results 

    Your CFO doesn’t need a miracle, they need a clear, measurable roadmap. 

    Jove’s advice? “Tell me what you’re going to measure, how we’ll track it over time, and when I can expect to see progress, even if the full payoff takes two or three years.” 

    That means: 

    • Setting baseline metrics (e.g., current NPS or churn rates) 
    • Defining target outcomes (e.g., 3% retention lift) 
    • Mapping the leading indicators (e.g., reduction in support tickets, more promoters in key segments) 
    • And most importantly: Correlating CX improvements to business impact 

    CX pros often overlook neutral NPS respondents, but as Bo and Jove discussed, that group might actually have the lowest retention rate. Focus on them, and your ROI story becomes even stronger. 

    Step 3: Understand total cost and deliver ROI 

    To get a “yes” from Finance, show that you’ve done your homework. 

    Jove wants to see: 

    • Total cost of ownership (TCO), including vendors, internal resources, and opportunity costs 
    • A realistic timeline for returns 
    • A projected ROI—ideally 3–4x over the program’s lifecycle 

    He’s also evaluating scalability. “Don’t bring me a point solution that solves one problem today but needs to be replaced or expanded in a year,” he says. CFOs want tools that grow with the business and can support multiple teams—marketing, product, HR, and beyond. 

    Bonus: Demonstrate how AI adds real value 

    AI can be a major accelerator, especially when it comes to summarizing unstructured feedback, surfacing insights faster, and democratizing access to data. But it needs to be tied to value. 

    If your CX platform includes AI: 

    • Highlight how it reduces time-to-insight 
    • Emphasize executive visibility (dashboards that your CFO will actually use) 
    • Address security and data governance concerns 

    Jove notes, “The tools I never question are the ones that give me dashboards I open every day. If your platform gives me visibility into key metrics without needing a meeting? That’s a win.” 

    Ready to watch the full conversation?  

    This blog just scratches the surface. To hear the full, candid discussion between Bo Bandy and Jove Oakley—including real-world examples, personal insights, and practical tips—watch the complete webinar: 

    👉 Watch the full webinar here 

    Looking for other resources? You can also watch previous episodes of the Business of Feedback, here. Additionally, check out our latest e-guide, titled The CX Leaders Guide to the CFO! 



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