Aarron Spinley on CX's $10 trillion blind spot
April 2, 2026
Service failure costs businesses over $10 trillion globally, yet most organizations are still relying on shortcuts, surface-level metrics, and technology-led assumptions to manage their customers. As they scale, many lose sight of what a customer base actually is, how it behaves, and what really drives long-term value. In this episode of In Other Words, host Jason Hemingway sits down with Aarron Spinley, co-founder of the Field Bell Institute and author of The Customering Method, to challenge some of the most widely accepted ideas in CX, marketing, and growth.
Service failure costs businesses over $10 trillion globally, yet most organizations are still relying on shortcuts, surface-level metrics, and technology-led assumptions to manage their customers. As they scale, many lose sight of what a customer base actually is, how it behaves, and what truly drives long-term value. In this episode of In Other Words, host Jason Hemingway sits down with Aarron Spinley, co-founder of the Field Bell Institute and author of The Customering Method, to challenge some of the most widely accepted ideas in CX, marketing, and growth.
From the questionable science behind NPS to the way marketing automation quietly degrades customer value, Aarron explains how most CX strategies end up oriented to channels and messaging KPIs rather than genuine customer need. He lays out what changes when you treat a customer base as an asset governed by the same principles of scientific management and quality systems that apply to every other asset a business owns.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why asking customers questions to understand behavior is scientifically invalid
- How NPS became the most dangerous corporate shortcut in modern business
- How to reframe customers as an asset
- The critical difference between marketing strategy and customer management
- How to measure what actually matters to the Board without surveys or shortcuts
- Why automation and AI amplify bad decisions at scale
Aarron Spinley is the Co-founder of the Field Bell Institute, Principal at SPINLEY.CO, and Author of The Customering Method, one of the most provocative and evidence-led critiques of modern customer experience thinking in decades. Aarron’s work spans customer science, marketing strategy, risk, and leadership, challenging long-held assumptions about CX, growth, and how organizations actually create (or destroy) customer value.
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Highlights and YouTube Chapters:
- 00:00 Introduction
- 02:20 The Career Path That Shaped Aarron’s View of Customer Value
- 04:38 The myth of "just ask your customers"
- 08:58 The Hidden Influence of Technology Vendors on CX Thinking
- 09:35 Why Customer Bases Should Be Treated Like Business Assets
- 14:23 What Makes The Customering Method Different
- 19:04 NPS: the most dangerous corporate shortcut
- 22:24 Why Measurement Should Come at the End
- 26:50 The One Thing Aarron Would Automate
- 27:25 How Automation Can Degrade Customer Value
- 31:34 Why the Wrong Incentives Keep Damaging Customer Relationships
- 34:48 The AI shopper myth
- 39:24 What CMOs, COOs, and CIOs Need to Get Right First
- 43:17 Why Fundamentals Matter More Than Tools
- 44:51 The One Book Every Executive Should Read
- 45:37 Final Thoughts
Episode Resources:
- Aarron Spinley, Co-Founder at Field Bell Institute
- Field Bell Institute Website
- SPINLEY.CO Website
- The Customering Method Website
- Jason Hemingway, CMO at Phrase
- Phrase Website