Customer experience has become one of the most decisive competitive advantages in modern SaaS, yet it is still treated as a supporting function rather than a core revenue driver. Keith Vere Fenner, Chief Revenue Officer a leading global legal tech and professional services firm Morse, argues that organizations unlock their strongest and most sustainable growth when customer experience becomes the key principle of every commercial motion.
“You can have the best product, the smartest people, and the slickest tech stack. But if your customer experience feels like a black hole, your revenue will too,” says Vere Fenner. His perspective is grounded in decades of building global revenue engines across more than 100 countries and multiple technology sectors including GRC, ERP, CRM and HCM. His leadership track record spans triple‑digit SaaS expansion, international market penetration, high‑velocity GTM transformation and large‑scale commercial operations. Through all of it, one insight has remained constant: revenue follows experience.
Reframing Experience as the First Mile of Revenue
His approach begins with a reorientation of how companies think about the sales process. Revenue does not begin at the contract stage; it begins at the very first interaction. The pre‑sale journey must mirror the post‑sale reality to reduce friction and build trust. According to McKinsey, companies that create consistent end‑to‑end experiences across the customer lifecycle outperform their peers by 15% in revenue growth.
At Diligent, this approach drove a restructuring of the pre‑sale experience to match the clarity, responsiveness and value customers would receive after signing. The results were immediate: shorter sales cycles, higher conversion rates and stronger early‑stage alignment. This demonstrates a broader principle that consistency across the lifecycle creates confidence, and confidence accelerates revenue.
Frontline Teams as Multipliers of Growth
While many organisations still emphasize acquisition as the primary growth lever, the customer lifecycle is the true multiplier. Research shows that increasing customer retention by just 5% can drive profit increases between 25 and 95%. Despite this huge potential , frontline teams, such as onboarding specialists, support agents and renewal managers, are often under‑resourced.
“Your frontline teams are your revenue multipliers,” says Vere Fenner. When Morae equipped customer success teams with both commercial insight and expansion‑focused capabilities, NRR improved, GRR strengthened and client relationships deepened. The transition from reactive support to strategic partnership is what transforms retention into long‑term enterprise value.
Making Data the Foundation of Experience
Experience without intelligence cannot scale, which is why data plays a pivotal role in Vere Fenner’s methodology. One broken promise, one moment of friction or one unanswered need can shift a loyal customer into a lost one. Understanding what triggers those turning points becomes essential to designing experiences that keep customers engaged rather than pushing them away.
While working at Microsoft, Vere Fenner described how journey analytics were leveraged to personalize lifecycle touch points and surface next‑best actions for sales teams. This not only improved conversion but eliminated the ambiguity that often slows enterprise selling. “It’s not enough to ask if a customer is happy. You need to know why they stay or leave,” he says, emphasizing that embedding intelligence into daily workflows ensures that teams can act with precision rather than intuition.
Building High‑Performance Growth Engines
Across his leadership roles,Vere Fenner has consistently built growth systems defined by operational discipline, cross‑functional alignment and a culture grounded in empowerment and accountability. His work spans launching new product lines during crisis environments, navigating complex regulatory landscapes and helping early stage companies establish scalable, investor‑ready commercial structures. What unites these achievements is a central belief that powerful revenue engines are intentionally designed, not inherited. “Customer experience is your revenue strategy,” he says. “When you design every touch point around value and trust, you don’t just retain customers, you unlock growth.”
This philosophy has made him a sought‑after leader for organizations undergoing digital transformation and market expansion. He continues to bring together product innovation, commercial execution and strategic clarity to accelerate enterprise value creation. As companies compete in increasingly saturated markets, Vere Fenner’s insights are important to keep in mind: Growth is never guaranteed, but when experience becomes the company’s most consistent promise, it becomes its most reliable revenue driver.
Connect with Keith Vere Fenner on LinkedIn or visit his website.
