The Research

Employee Engagement (ePS)

Gallup. "The Benefits of Employee Engagement." Top-quartile engaged teams show 21% higher profitability, 17% higher productivity, 24-59% lower turnover.
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236927/employee-engagement-drives-growth.aspx

Gallup. "The Relationship Between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes." Meta-analysis of 276 organizations. Business units in the top half on engagement nearly double their odds of success.
https://www.workcompprofessionals.com/advisory/2016L5/august/MetaAnalysis_Q12_ResearchPaper_0416_v5_sz.pdf

Gallup. "Well-Being in the Workplace and Its Relationship to Business Outcomes." Top-quartile engaged units produce 1-4 percentage points higher profitability.
http://media.gallup.com/documents/whitepaper--well-beingintheworkplace.pdf

Gallup. "Employee Engagement on the Rise in the U.S." Organizations with highly engaged employees achieve earnings-per-share growth 4x that of competitors.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/241649/employee-engagement-rise.aspx

Customer Loyalty (NPS)

Bain and Company. "How Net Promoter Score Relates to Growth." NPS leaders outgrow competitors by 2x or more. NPS explains 20-60% of variation in organic growth rates.
https://www.netpromotersystem.com/about/how-net-promoter-score-relates-to-growth/

Bain and Company. "Net Promoter 3.0." Harvard Business Review. NPS leader firms delivered median total shareholder return 5x the US median over a decade.
https://www.bain.com/insights/net-promoter-3-0/

McKinsey and Company. "Experience-Led Growth: A New Way to Create Value." CX leaders achieved 2x+ revenue growth vs. CX laggards (2016-2021). CX improvements increase sales 2-7% and profitability 1-2%.
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/experience-led-growth-a-new-way-to-create-value

Forrester Research. "2024 US Customer Experience Index." Customer-obsessed organizations report 41% faster revenue growth, 49% faster profit growth, 51% better retention.
https://www.forrester.com/press-newsroom/forrester-2024-us-customer-experience-index/

McKinsey and Company. "Customer Experience: Creating Value Through Transforming Customer Journeys." CX optimization delivers 5-10% revenue growth and 15-25% cost reduction within 2-3 years.
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/customer-experience-creating-value-through-transforming-customer-journeys

EBITDA and Financial Performance

Bain and Company. "The Economics of Loyalty." Increasing customer retention by 5% increases profits by 25-95%. Referenced across Bain publications and Harvard Business Review.

Harvard Business Review. Markey, Rob. "Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?" January 2020. Short-term profit tactics erode loyalty and reduce customer lifetime value.
https://hbr.org/2020/01/are-you-undervaluing-your-customers

McKinsey and Company. "Best of Both Worlds: Customer Experience for More Revenues and Lower Costs." Improving customer journeys increases revenues 10-15% while lowering cost to serve 15-20%.
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/best-of-both-worlds-customer-experience-for-more-revenues-and-lower-costs

Forrester Research. "How Customer Experience Impacts Company Stock Performance." March 2021. Top 20% of CX Index brands had higher stock price growth and total returns than bottom 20%.
https://www.forrester.com/press-newsroom/how-customer-experience-impacts-company-stock-performance/

Harvard Business School. Hallowell, Roger. "The Relationships of Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Profitability: An Empirical Study." International Journal of Service Industry Management, 1996.
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=4428