Is there an ROI for being customer focused?

Thanks to a post on The Engaging Brand I read about study done by Peer Insight.

They did a three year study of 40 Fortune 500 companies - and the results clearly make a case for the ROI a company can realize by focusing on being purposeful about the customer experience.

The study showed that companies that focused upon customer experience design outperformed the S&P 500 by a 10-1 margin.  While I think that's a very nice argument for crafting the customer experience, I think it is only one way to measure the value.

Here are some other valuations you need to consider:

~ Employee retention.  (Use this calculator if you have a strong stomach.)
~ Customer retention. Multiply your new customer acquisition costs times 5.
~ Loss of word of mouth.  The best marketing tool around.  And you don't have any.
~ Fewer surprises.  When you've planned the customer experience, you can anticipate problems before they sneak up on you.

And that's probably just the tip of the iceberg.  What other benefits/ROI are there for purposefully designing the customer experience?