In their recent report, “The CMO’s Comeback: Aligning the C-Suite to Drive Customer-Centric Growth,” McKinsey lays out a challenge that every modern business leader will recognize:
- Channels are active, but performance is unclear
- Teams are busy, but customer outcomes are inconsistent
- Campaigns go live, but little seems to move the needle
- Everyone owns something, yet no one owns how it all works together
McKinsey recommends stronger CMO roles, unified growth leadership, and improved alignment across marketing, product, finance, and customer teams.
But there’s a more profound truth embedded in the report:
Organizations don’t just need better marketers. They need someone responsible for system-wide performance.
“Companies with a single customer- or growth-oriented role in an executive committee (such as a CMO, chief commercial officer, chief revenue officer, or chief growth officer) see up to 2.3 times more growth than those with multiple roles.”
And that’s exactly what the Digital Effectiveness Officer (DEO) delivers.
🔄 Customer Effectiveness vs. Digital Effectiveness
In an ideal world, we’d talk about Customer Effectiveness—because that’s the real goal: ensuring every interaction, touchpoint, and moment in the customer journey drives value.
From awareness to onboarding. From renewal support. But in practice, there’s a reason we lead with Digital Effectiveness:
Digital is where the problems surface first.
It’s where signals get loud before outcomes break.
- When revenue drops, the dashboards turn red before the boardroom knows why
- When customer journeys stall, analytics shows the falloff before sales calls do
- When a product launches poorly, the search results, site traffic, and UX logs expose it
Digital is the diagnostic surface.
It reflects the coordination or misalignment of every other function.
It shows you where messaging breaks, where systems fail to connect, and where intent gets lost between departments.
That’s why the Digital Effectiveness Officer matters, not just for digital’s sake, but because digital is the most measurable proxy for overall customer experience effectiveness.
A DEO doesn’t just fix the website—they surface systemic misalignment.
They don’t just commission campaigns—they validate end-to-end readiness.
They connect what happens on the screen with what happens in revenue, support, and retention.
So while the long-term vision might be Customer Effectiveness, the tactical and operational path begins with Digital—because it’s the fastest, most straightforward way to diagnose and resolve dysfunction.
Digital Is the Dashboard. Effectiveness Is the Engine.
Every company tracks digital performance.
But few realize how often that data is a symptom, not a source.
- SEO rankings drop because product teams renamed a category without alerting marketing
- CRM data is wrong because form fields were changed in a redesign
- Paid media ROI drops because multiple regions bid on the exact keywords
- Attribution fails because one channel used UTMs, and another used custom scripts
These aren’t “channel problems.” They’re system problems. And when no one owns the system, dysfunction compounds.
The DEO reads the dashboard—but fixes the engine.
They connect data to root cause. Campaigns to platforms. Teams to outcomes.
McKinsey’s 5 Growth Themes Make the Case for the DEO
1. Fragmented Ownership Leads to Incoherent Outcomes
“With multiple teams responsible for growth, customer experience suffers.”
DEO Response:
The DEO doesn’t replace roles; it aligns them. They commission systems, resolve handoff friction, and make sure what’s being built is ready to perform.
2. Unified Growth Leadership Drives Better Performance
“Companies with a single orchestrator grow up to 2.3x faster.”
DEO Response:
The DEO serves as the orchestrator, not of functions, but of interactions. They ensure strategy turns into aligned execution across teams and systems.
3. CMO–CFO Alignment Is the New Power Pairing
“Financial fluency is essential for marketing leaders.”
DEO Response:
The DEO enables clean performance reporting, shared KPI definitions, and budget clarity, making marketing and digital teams credible in the eyes of the CFO.
4. Customer-Centric Growth Requires Cross-Functional Integration
“Marketing must coordinate with product, tech, CX, and analytics.”
DEO Response:
The DEO ensures these groups don’t just talk—they work together. They validate that a launch isn’t just approved, but ready, from SEO to brand to CRM to analytics.
5. Agility Without Accountability Fails
“Cross-functional agile teams need aligned data and direction.”
DEO Response:
The DEO enforces a challenge culture. They ensure test-and-learn loops are integrated, not just iterative. That “fast” doesn’t mean “uncoordinated.”
From Digital Expert to Cross-Functional Operator
The Digital Effectiveness Officer may emerge from a digital background, but their mandate is broader:
- They commission effectiveness across marketing, product, sales, and service
- They work across departments, not in one
- They build systems of accountability and measurement
- They don’t “run” digital—they ensure digital runs right
And they serve as the internal truth-teller—the one asking:
“Who owns this handoff?”
“How will this be measured?”
“What breaks if this goes live tomorrow?”
The Fastest ROI in the Org Chart
Organizations waste millions every year on digital misalignment:
| Breakdown | Impact |
|---|---|
| Duplicated tech & tools | High cost, low integration |
| Poor SEO/SEM alignment | Lost traffic, higher CPCs |
| Disconnected systems | Bad data, failed attribution |
| Repeated launch mistakes | Slower GTM, lower trust |
With a DEO:
- Launches go faster
- Attribution gets clearer
- Teams stop operating in silos
- Systems finally serve the strategy
And most importantly, customer-facing performance improves at every level.
McKinsey Described the Problem. The DEO Is the Solution.
McKinsey’s call for tighter C-suite coordination and customer-centric execution is right.
But what they didn’t say—at least not explicitly—is that this transformation requires a dedicated operational role.
Not another campaign owner.
Not a dashboard builder.
But someone who ensures the entire system performs.
That’s the Digital Effectiveness Officer.
Ready to Commission Performance?
If your organization is…
- Drowning in tools but starving for insight
- Winning in channels but losing in outcomes
- Launching fast but learning slowly
…then you don’t need another platform.
You need someone to make what you have work together.
You need someone to turn your digital dashboard into a reliable growth engine.
You need a DEO.
