During mergers and acquisitions, customer experience often takes a back seat to legal, financial and operational work, leading to disgruntled customers and destroying value, experts say. “They don’t consider customer experience until the customer is already feeling it,” said Jeannie Walters, founder and chief experience investigator at Experience Investigators. Loyalty programs and accountsLoyalty programs are the most common failure point, experts say. Walters pointed to Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels as a clear-cut example of loyalty integration gone awry. “This helps ensure customers experience the benefits of the merger rather than the complexity behind it.”