The CX Perception Gap has been documented for nearly two decades. Leaders believe they’re delivering great experiences. Customers rarely agree. And the pattern keeps repeating.

Just look at the numbers:

• 2005: 80% of leaders said they deliver great CX. Only 8% of customers agreed (Bain & Co)
• 2018: 75% vs. 30% (Capgemini)
• 2022: 82% vs. 10% (Acquia)
• 2024: 80% vs. 24% (Amdocs)
• 2025: 80% vs. 24% (Amdocs)

People often blame metrics, silos, or lack of follow-through. Those are real, but they’re symptoms. The deeper reasons are more uncomfortable:

• Calculated tradeoffs: Many leaders accept mediocre experiences, believing the cost of fixing them outweighs the risk of losing customers—especially where switching is designed to be hard.
• Discomfort with disruption: Acting on customer feedback often means challenging legacy processes or leadership decisions. That discomfort stops many organizations short of real change.
• Tolerating customer pain: Some companies knowingly live with customer frustration, betting that as long as revenue holds, the discomfort of real change isn’t worth it. They’re not unaware—they’re unconvinced the ROI justifies the upheaval.

Here’s the part nobody likes to say out loud:

Many companies consciously decide not to close the gap.

They calculate that as long as revenue holds steady, it’s easier to live with some customer frustration than to disrupt internal structures or invest significantly in change.

The real risk is this: that logic works—until it doesn’t.

Markets shift. New entrants redefine what “good” looks like. Customer tolerance can erode quickly, and loyalty that took years to build can disappear far faster than many leaders expect. Customers rarely switch purely for delight. They switch to avoid hassle, risk, or feeling ignored. Competitors who systematically eliminate those pain points often capture share, even without a radically different product.

CX can’t be an afterthought. It has to be built into decisions that hurt—pricing, policies, processes, staffing, technology investment—not just marketing campaigns or training sessions.

Otherwise, we’ll be looking at the same gap chart in 2030.

So let me ask:

Is your company trying to close the CX gap—or simply deciding it can live with it?

If you’re ready to go beyond surface-level changes and tackle the hard work of transforming how your business truly operates for customers, let’s talk. At ImprintCX, we help leaders turn CX from an initiative into sustainable business impact. Let’s talk.