How To Cut Costs While Maintaining A High-Quality Customer Experience

Forbes

06-08-2025

Tough times often force entrepreneurs to consider making strategic budget cuts in order to sustain the business. This typically leads to select products or services being axed, as well as non-essential departments or roles being eliminated.
While these changes are effective for trimming costs, the removal of certain offerings and key positions can result in disruption in how the business runs and irreparable damage to the customer experience.
Before deciding on any concrete business changes, it's best to consider the short- and long-term effects on both the business and customers. Below, 20 Forbes Business Council members share fruitful ways to cut costs without drastically impacting the quality of your customer experience.
1. Prioritize The Features That Matter
Cost-cutting doesn't have to mean compromise. When you prioritize the features that really matter, strip out the noise, and invest only in what your customers most value, you can save money while actually improving loyalty. Audit expenses with fresh eyes and ask, 'How does this serve the needs of my most valuable customers?' If it doesn't, that's where to trim. - Chris Fosdick, PA Consulting
2. Ask Customers For Feedback
Ask your customers. Find ways to be more clear about the "wow" factor in your products or services. I'm quite astonished by the number of companies that do not take consistent steps to measure and recognize what customers value most. Once you know, you'll have a better idea of your clients' nonnegotiables. You can then begin to plan based on what you must have rather than what would be nice to have. - Loubna Noureddin, Mind Market
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3. Tighten The Belt At The Top
Most company profits go to upper-level management and senior executives. However, cuts usually occur among line staff, customer service and marketing budgets. Great leaders reverse those priorities, tightening the belt is at the top, while ensuring the marketing and customer service budgets remain unscathed. - Charles Stanton, Transient Consulting
4. Trim Non-Customer-Facing Costs
Start by trimming non-customer-facing costs, including rent and travel, and pause hiring. For essentials tied to the customer experience, optimize without removing them. Instead of layoffs, consider flexible shifts or reduced hours across the team. The goal is to stay lean while still honoring the trust and experience customers rely on. Kushal Chordia, VaaS - Visibility as a Service
5. Make Employees Part Of The Process
Invest in people, not just processes. Empowering frontline teams to identify waste and streamline workflows protects quality while reducing costs. In healthcare, especially in surgery, small efficiency wins. Things like smarter supply use or better coordination preserve excellence without compromising outcomes. - Paula Ferrada, Inova Healthcare System
6. Improve Internal Efficiency
Focus on improving internal efficiency before making cuts that affect your customers. Eliminating wasteful processes or automating routine tasks can lower costs without changing the quality of your service. This way, you maintain a strong customer experience while operating more leanly behind the scenes. - Quanique Johnson, LQ Logistics LLC
7. Streamline Internal Processes
When times are tight, we cut costs by streamlining internal processes, not customer value. Automating routine tasks or pausing non-critical projects helps us stay efficient while keeping the same quality and service our players expect. - Denys Kliuch, WHIMSY GAMES GROUP LTD
8. Implement Energy Efficient And Smart Management Upgrades
In multifamily investments, one effective way to cut costs without drastically impacting the quality of experience for residents is by implementing energy-efficient upgrades and smart utility management. Energy and utility costs are a significant portion of operating budgets. Reducing these costs preserves net operating income without slashing staff, deferring maintenance or closing amenities. - Veena Jetti, Vive Funds
9. Audit For Inefficiencies
Audit for silent inefficiencies, such as tools, subscriptions or processes that add cost but no real value. Trimming these invisible money drains keeps your customer experience intact while boosting operational health. It's like cutting weight without losing strength, making the organization leaner but not weaker. - David Price, The Price Group
10. Renegotiate Supplier Agreements
One effective way to cut costs without hurting the customer experience is to renegotiate agreements with suppliers. For example, request temporary discounts or additional bonuses. This helps maintain service quality while reducing expenses during tough times. - Jekaterina Beljankova, WALLACE s.r.o
11. Optimize Spending For Packaging And Materials
Optimize your business's packaging design and use more affordable materials. For example, you can use fewer packaging layers or replace complex packaging shapes with simpler, more technologically advanced ones. The quality of the product remains the same. - Anton Alikov, Arctic Ventures
12. Consolidate Software Tools
Consolidating software tools is a smart way to cut costs without affecting customer experience. By reviewing and eliminating redundant subscriptions or licenses, you can reduce overhead while streamlining operations. This not only saves money but also simplifies your tech stack, making it easier for your team to manage and maintain the quality of service your customers expect. - Sabeer Nelliparamban, Tyler Petroleum Inc.
13. Align Spending With Things Users Value
When resources are tight, we align spending with what users tangibly value. At Bitget Wallet, cost control comes from strategic automation—like using cloud credits and auto-KYC—without sacrificing the core experience. By prioritizing high-impact systems, we trimmed 20% of operating expenses while keeping speed, uptime, and security intact. - Alvin Kan, Bitget Wallet
14. Offer Flat, Fixed Rate Prices
Our business model indirectly cuts costs for our customers. We offer flat-rate, secure transport services, which are typically billed by the mile. We've found that offering a fixed rate enables our clients to bring predictability to every part of their profit and loss statements. This pricing levels the playing field for smaller operators, giving them access to enterprise-grade logistics without the variable cost burden. - Ari Raptis, National Secure Transport
15. Leverage Automation
We automate backend workflows and customer support using AI. This reduces overhead while maintaining fast, high-quality service, enabling customers to still get white-glove care but at a fraction of the cost. - Haokun Qin, Gale
16. Outsource Tasks
Outsource smartly. Hiring offshore talent lets you reduce costs while maintaining service quality. The key is training and integrating those team members fully. When done right, your clients won't feel the difference, but your budget will. - Braden Yuill, Virtual Coworker
17. Streamline Customer Support Processes
Customer support is one of the most expensive functions, but also one of the easiest to make more efficient. You don't need 24/7 live agents if 90% of your tickets can be resolved with one article. Build a smart help center. Use asynchronous channels like email or ticketing, and streamline resolution paths. Keep the human layer for critical issues and precisely automate the rest. - Ran Ronen, Equally AI
18. Enable Users To Independently Resolve Issues
The best customer experience enables users to resolve issues independently and quickly. User-centric design, AI chatbots, help pages, video tutorials, community forums, intuitive error messages, and comprehensive documentation cut costs and increase customer satisfaction. For example, our 24-hour toll-free hotline runs under $5K each month, including platform fees and Philippines-based contractors. - Ozan Bilgen, Base64.ai
19. Cross-Train Employees To Handle Multiple Tasks
Tough times come and go, but tough people endure. One effective way to cut costs without impacting your customers is by cross-training employees to handle multiple roles internally. This strategy reduces hiring needs, keeps customer service consistent, and boosts team morale. Pairing this with AI automation tools that streamline workflows helps avoid employee burnout. It's a clever, in-house win. - Simbiat Adighije, Conscientia Health
20. Make Advance Plans
One of the most effective ways to cut costs without affecting customer experience is to plan ahead. By maintaining healthy cash reserves and operating lean at all times, you're less likely to pass the pressure onto the customer when times get tough. - Andrew Lopez, 1000 Media