In brief
CX incentives in financial services often reward behaviours that improve internal efficiency or sales at the expense of client outcomes. In this episode of Competitive CX, Aimer, Taylor, and Grainger explain how KPIs and performance rewards can quietly erode trust, loyalty, and client value. They offer practical fixes – from aligning metrics with client journeys to including non-client-facing teams – incentivising the actions that genuinely improve experience.
Could your incentives be quietly undermining your client experience?
In Episode 5 of Competitive CX, Melanie Aimer, Hamish Taylor, and Adam Grainger examine how well-intended incentives can undermine CX in financial services reward systems in financial services can backfire – pushing teams to prioritise efficiency, sales, or compliance over client value.
From KPI scorecards that favour volume over relationships, to incentives that exclude non-client-facing teams, the discussion highlights the disconnect between internal metrics and external experience.
With practical examples and expert commentary, this episode shows how to align rewards with behaviour that genuinely improves the client journey.
If you’re serious about client loyalty, engagement, and trust, it’s time to rethink what success looks like – and what you’re incentivising across your firm.
CX incentives in financial services
This episode of Competitive CX explores how performance incentives can unintentionally deprioritise client experience in financial services.
While CX KPIs are meant to improve outcomes, if poorly constructed, they can reward what’s easiest to measure – like sales volume or operational efficiency – rather than client satisfaction or loyalty. Therefore, rethinking performance KPIs for better client experience should be part of any CX transformation.
The hosts argue that true CX transformation requires firms to embed client-centred metrics into every part of the organisation, including back-office and support functions.
As Grainger puts it, “What signals are we sending through targets, goals, bonuses that quietly shift focus away from the client? Because if we’re not brave enough to reward what matters, we can’t be surprised if what matters starts to disappear.”
Real-world examples from banking and asset management highlight how misaligned targets lead to habits that erode trust. The discussion includes practical strategies for aligning employee rewards with client outcomes: rewarding journey improvements, celebrating long-term relationships, and recognising actions that humanise the client experience.
The episode closes with a warning: without aligned incentives, even the best digital tools or CX strategies can fail to deliver meaningful change.
Key Takeaways
- Misaligned KPIs often reward internal efficiency over client outcomes.
- Incentives should reflect what clients genuinely value – not just what’s easy to track.
- Non-client-facing teams must also be included in CX performance models.
- Celebrating retention and relationship-building helps drive long-term loyalty.
- Client-centric culture requires tying rewards to improved journeys, not just outputs.
- Over-reliance on price or volume as incentives can degrade perceived value.
- Digital tools must be guided by human-centric goals – not just automation speed.
If you’re an asset manager, check out Accomplish’s client experience services here.
And if you just found this useful, check out our other podcast episodes designed for financial services professionals:
- Why care about CX?
- What is CX and who should own it?
- Cultures that kick CX down the road.
- Organisational structure gets in the way of CX.
- Incentives that inadvertently deprioritise CX.
- Regulator – friend or foe to CX?
- Technology – enabler or disabler for CX?
- Solving the most common CX complaints.
- Where to start with CX?
Listen to the full recordings on Podbean.
Connect with Hamish Taylor, Melanie Aimer and Adam Grainger on LinkedIn and follow Competitive CX for cutting-edge insights on client experience in finance.
Frequently asked questions
1. What are CX incentives in financial services?
CX incentives in financial services refer to the performance targets, KPIs, and reward systems used to influence how employees contribute to client experience. When misaligned, they prioritise internal efficiency or sales over client service (broadly defined) and retention.
2. How can incentives undermine client experience?
Poorly designed incentives may reward speed, cost-cutting, or volume – behaviours that can degrade service quality, fragment journeys, and reduce perceived value from the client’s perspective.
3. What should CX incentives focus on?3. What should CX incentives focus on?
Effective CX incentives reward behaviours that strengthen the client journey and deepen the client relationship, e.g meeting volumes, client tenure, and product-per-client ratios.
4. Can firms improve client experience without changing all their incentives?
Yes. Even modest changes – like recognising cross-functional collaboration or linking rewards to journey improvements – can begin to shift culture and outcomes without a full overhaul.
