The Business Case For NBX

Why NBX Decisioning Is a Business Priority in 2026

Next Best Experience (NBX) is the current best-practice model of decisioning in marketing. It prioritises the customer at every turn, based on the well-researched idea that happy customers are good for business.

Positive experiences build loyalty. Loyalty translates to customer lifetime value (CLTV). Higher CLTV means higher profits.

Marketing has been moving in this general direction for well over a decade. Recently, however, we’ve passed the tipping point where customers would forgive brands for treating them impersonally.

The vast (and vocal) majority of customers now expect consistent, context-driven experiences that join up across a seamless journey.

The Data Behind Decisioning

Research consistently shows that delivering personalised customer experiences is good for business.

• Companies excelling at personalisation generate 40% more revenue than peers (McKinsey).
• 84% of businesses that improved CX saw revenue gains; up to 1.5x revenue growth and 1.8x profitability over competitors (Forrester).
• A 5% uplift in retention can boost profits by 25–95% (Bain & Company).

We could go on, but you get the idea. Better personalisation = better business performance.

This is where NBX has evolved from a buzzword to a business priority.

Why NBX and Why Now

As more marketing automation and customer engagement platforms deploy AI-enabled decisioning tools, and with agentic AI gaining steam in the background, the barriers to true NBX decisioning are falling fast.

This was the subject of my recent talk at AntiCon 2026, which was all about Next Best Experience enabled with AI decisioning. There’s a real early mover advantage for brands that invest in Next Best Experience capabilities.

McKinsey found that AI-powered NBX can:

• Lift customer satisfaction by 15–20%.
• Increase revenue by 5–8%.
• Reduce cost-to-serve by 20–30%.

Of course, none of this is automatic. NBX isn’t a feature you can switch on. It takes a concerted effort for the organisation to evolve from rules-based offers to reasoning-informed experiences.

There are also technical considerations, including whether you use a central decisioning brain or touchpoint-level tools, and how you unify and manage the data needed to make decisioning work.

The Cost of Getting it Wrong – Or Doing Nothing

• 52% to 79% of consumers stop buying from a brand after one bad experience.  

• 80% say the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services.  

• 79% expect consistent interactions across departments and 73% expect personalisation to improve in line with technology.  

• 26% of sales reps lack context about a customer’s situation, and 80% believe that better access to other departments’ data would improve their work.  

Despite the obvious pros and cons of NBX, even the best-intentioned marketing teams struggle to move past the idea that customers are there to be sold to.  

As a result, most brands end up personalising interactions at the touchpoint level rather than delivering the best possible experience.  

It sounds like NBX, but it’s not. It’s still grounded in the idea that the customer must do something. It’s also product-led and siloed, not customer-centric and unified.  

Why More Isn’t Always the Answer 

The reflex response to the stats above is to think that you need to engage more.  More retargeted ads. More messages on more channels. More personalisation tags. 

But more isn’t always better.   

The Personalisation Paradox demonstrates that customers on the receiving end of personalisation are 2x more likely to feel overwhelmed by the volume of information and 2.8x more likely to feel time pressure on a purchase. But they are 1.8x more likely to pay a premium after a positive experience.

Gartner, 2025

Next Best Experience evaluates a catalogue of potential experiences – including the option to do nothing – against long-term goals of loyalty and lifetime value.

In doing so, it challenges the assumption that a customer needs to do something for the interaction to be valuable. A tailored offer, a personalised service notification, or a well-timed break are all viable experiences.

How to Convince Your Colleagues That NBX is Worth it

The reality of business is that financial results and marketing metrics are easier to understand than long-term customer outcomes. They also show up sooner. CLTV is a movable feast that develops over time.

Next Best Experience decisioning is a long-term project with long-term payback.

That said, developing the capabilities is no longer a multi-year programme with an enterprise-sized price tag.

Building a business case to invest in NBX requires you to define a customer engagement problem, establish a hypothesis, and map all the moving parts across the org chart, data, processes, tech, and strategy.

“If everything looks good on paper, you’re in a strong position to start proactively building NBX capabilities. Too often, it’s left unaddressed until engagement or CLTV start to freefall.”

Mark Clydesdale

It’s important to set realistic expectations. NBX is a strategic move, not a short-term marketing tactic.  

But if you think you’re ready to explore an evolved decisioning approach, Tap CXM can help you take the next steps. We’re working with clients to develop NBX capabilities in several sectors. 

Get in touch to speak with me or our CXM consultants any time.