As brands collect more data than ever, the real challenge is turning consumer feedback into meaningful action. To find out if marketers and agencies are truly closing the loop to improve customer experience (CX), acquisition and retention, Campaign Middle East asked regional experts in this Industry Forum: Are all marketers and agency leaders using consumer feedback optimally to improve customer experience (CX) and enhance acquisition and retention?
Their responses reveal where the industry excels, where it struggles and what needs to change.
Sarah Rassasse
Associate Business Director, Digitas
NO
The simple answer is no. Not all marketers and agency leaders are using consumer feedback to its fullest potential. While most acknowledge its value in shaping customer experience, acquisition and retention, the reality is that meaningful change takes time. Feedback needs to be analysed, prioritised and translated into actionable improvements, and that often requires cross-functional alignment, updated internal and external processes, and sometimes adoption of new technology. So, while the intent is there, the pace of implementation means consumers don’t always see the impact immediately or as fast as they would like.
Jonathan Flender
Vice President – Digital & Omni, GMG
NO
Too often, feedback is captured, recorded, and reported – but rarely actioned. There is little ‘close the loop’ discipline from marketers and agencies to understand the root cause, resolve it, and design processes to prevent recurrence. Instead, feedback is treated as firefighting, with fragmented responses and limited cross-functional collaboration. True optimisation demands leadership ownership, where feedback is not an afterthought but embedded into weekly business rituals. Success should be measured by consistent monitoring and integration of customer voice and net promoter score as core inputs – used as fuel to enhance experience, strengthen acquisition and drive retention in a structured, repeatable way.
Curtis Schmidt
CEO, RAPP MENA
NO
This single biggest reason is often a lack of a centralised data strategy that incorporates first-, second- and third- party data. And to have a centralised data strategy that progressively enriches the view of the consumer, you need to have a loyalty programme in place that offers a value exchange between consumer – the value of consented, individual first-party data – and brand – the experience or services offered based on enriched consented data. Once you get this value exchange right, you will likely see corporate objectives broaden, to not only focus on acquisition and sales volume, but also total customer lifetime value.
Karim Emile Slim
Regional CEO MENAT, MRM
NO
Most marketers and agency leaders recognise the value of consumer feedback, yet not all use it effectively. Too often, insights remain in silos and are applied to surface level campaign tweaks rather than shaping broader experiences, products, or retention strategies. Feedback cycles can be slow, skewed by vocal minorities, and not consistently integrated into customer relationship management or martech systems. The leaders who stand out view feedback as a real-time operating system, using it to close the loop with customers and embed insights across acquisition, retention and CX. The result is not simply fixing complaints, but co-creating loyalty and value.
Taima Al Farouqi
Director of Strategy, Cicero and Bernay
NO
But with a reality check. While many marketers claim to listen to consumers, most still treat feedback as a reaction tool rather than a strategic input. From a communications standpoint, we actively push to close that gap; using feedback to shape narratives, refine experiences, and build relevance before issues surface. The challenge isn’t access to consumer insight; it’s how it’s integrated. Too often, it’s siloed, delayed, or filtered through performance metrics instead of human need. The brands that win on acquisition and retention are those that turn feedback into direction, not correction, and more of the industry needs to operate with that intention.
Elina Nambala
Senior Creative Strategist, Burson
NO
Marketing 101 taught us to put consumers at the centre of our strategies. Yet, while the industry knows consumer feedback is critical, it is underused. So, the answer is … no.
Consumer feedback is too often a tick box exercise that is focused on the data and facts – quantity – rather than the rich and textured insights that we get from actually speaking with audiences – the quality. Consumer feedback is an opportunity to get personal with our audience, turning the ‘what’ of billions of data points, to using the ‘why’ to drive behavioural change. We advise our clients to make earning consumer attention a personal act. One that truly resonates, is rooted in human truth, and designed to deliver impact at both acquisition and retention stage.
Asiya Ali
Founder and MD, MKV Digital
YES
Today, marketers and agency leaders are increasingly sophisticated in using consumer feedback to shape strategy, creative, and customer experiences. Insights from analytics, social listening and CX platforms now guide acquisition, retention and overall brand engagement. While adoption is uneven across the industry, the most effective agencies embed consumer voices into every stage of the journey, turning insights into meaningful action. Listening isn’t just a metric; it’s a driver of growth and loyalty. When feedback informs decisions, brands create experiences that resonate, strengthen relationships and deliver measurable impact.
Dan Leach
Managing Director, TBWA\RAAD Saudi Arabia
YES
But there’s considerable room for improvement.
Marketers and agency leaders are increasingly using consumer feedback to inform how they engage, convert, and retain customers. However, the process isn’t always consistent or deeply embedded across teams and decisions. Many brands still treat feedback as a diagnostic tool rather than a strategic engine for innovation, acquisition and loyalty. Marketers need to take the next step and turn insight into action, using real-time data to personalise experiences, refine messaging, and co-create with consumers. Those who master this continuous feedback loop will strengthen customer loyalty and unlock long-term growth.
Inge Rademeyer
CCXP – Experience Strategy Director, Memac Ogilvy
NO
Many marketers and agencies fall short. While drawing insight from a few conversations might inform acquisition, true CX improvement and sustained retention demand continuous data capture across the entire customer lifecycle. We often prioritise our own ideas over genuinely listening. However, enduring engagement stems from empathising and acting on feedback at every touchpoint, from call centres to app usage.
This requires centralising and distributing data across departments and agencies, fostering an integrated ecosystem – a shared customer understanding. Without this continuous validation, we risk creating campaigns that promise what the brand can’t operationally deliver, ultimately eroding trust.
Omnia Ahmed
General Manager – Customer Experience Management, AW Rostamani Group
NO
Despite all the buzz around personalisation, many organisations still fall into the common trap of collecting customer feedback only to let it go into black holes of departmental silos. Others get obsessed with chasing high scores over examining feedback insights and taking actions that could drive meaningful value. Subsequently, they miss critical opportunities to enhance customer experience, reduce churn, and optimise acquisition strategies.
On the other side, a few bold leading companies treat feedback as a strategic asset. They centralise experiential data from all touchpoints across the customer journey and use analytics to uncover patterns and swiftly act on insights. Most importantly, they close the loop by letting customers know that their voices were heard and led to real improvements. While forward-thinking companies are challenging norms, adopting and equipping their teams with the rightful tools to harness strategic gains, others remain stuck in inefficient processes and outdated technologies. The cost? Missing out on one of the most valuable sources of growth: the voice of the customer.
Naman Pathak
Senior CRM Strategist and Analyst, Cheil
NO
Most marketers treat customer feedback like a trophy – nice to display, but rarely put to work. While widely collected, it rarely drives actionable strategy. Insights are often trapped in surveys or dashboards, disconnected from behaviour, purchase trends and cultural context. Without this integration, they become hindsight, not foresight.
As a strategist, I see feedback as a live pulse, a demand radar. When decoded, it uncovers unmet needs, sparks product innovation, improves customer experience, sharpens acquisition targeting, predicts churn and strengthens retention. But timing matters – delayed action turns insights into background noise, not the game-changer they could be.
Donna Glasper
Executive Director – Marketing, Communications and Customer Experience, Shamal Holding
NO
Brands are waking up to the fact they need to, but many are still stuck at surface-level collecting feedback without embedding it into strategy. It becomes a vanity metric rather than a strategic driver of journey redesign, operational change and emotional connection. Consumers hold real power when brands listen and adapt. It sparks innovation, retention, loyalty, trust, empowered teams and better experiences. Negative feedback, often feared, is actually the strongest catalyst for improvement. Building a culture that values all feedback removes fear, sharpens insight and fuels innovation. Leaders who treat feedback as a strategic asset, not a dashboard KPI, will win.
James Harrison
Executive Director, MPN
MAYBE
Marketers are listening, but not yet connecting all the signals. There’s more feedback than ever, from social sentiment to real-time behavioural data, yet too often it’s viewed in isolation. True progress will come when those insights are unified to guide creative, media and experience design in one continuous loop. AI will accelerate that process, helping to interpret vast amounts of data and reveal patterns humans might miss. But it can also strip out the nuance and emotion that make brands relatable. The future of listening lies in balance, where intelligence informs empathy, and data serves genuine human understanding.
