What Essense does

Essense is a customer experience design and consulting agency headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 2011 and operating as a private limited company under the legal name Essense Service Design B.V. The firm provides six integrated service areas: CX Strategy & Brand Experience, Journey Management & Governance, Data-Driven CX & AI Consulting, Customer Insights & Optimisation, Operational Excellence for Employees, and CX Maturity & Transformation. Delivery is supported by a proprietary methodology called the PROMISE Framework (© Essense) for delivering branded customer experience with business impact, and an in-house CX Academy offering training in journey mapping, service blueprinting, customer research, and experiment design. The firm also places consultants, service designers, UX designers, journey managers, data consultants, and UX researchers directly inside client teams on an interim basis.

Essense monetizes exclusively through professional services on a project- or quote-based model: consulting engagements, in-house placements, and paid training programs. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is determined by consultant seniority, engagement scope, and duration. The firm is an official implementation partner for three third-party platforms: TheyDo (journey management), Qualtrics (CX measurement), and Expoints (customer feedback), positioning the agency as the go-to European services partner for these vendors. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales combined with content marketing, whitepapers, webinars, LinkedIn, and in-person roundtables; the website lists scheduling via Calendly and direct inbound contact.

The customer base is entirely enterprise and institutional, spanning retail, telecom, energy, banking, healthcare, semiconductor technology, streaming/media, and the public sector. Named 2025 clients include IKEA/Inter IKEA, Philips, Rabobank, bol.com, Greenchoice, Heineken, Odido, ASML, ATAG, the European Investment Bank, Albert Heijn, Videoland (RTL), APG, Coöperatie VGZ, Saman Groep, Dopper, Decathlon, and Rotterdam Partners. Operations are based in Amsterdam (Van Diemenstraat 296, an address shared with Eidra) and Rotterdam (Stationsplein 45). The firm is founder-led, with Harald Lamberts as Founder, Arthur Buring as Managing Director, and a team including proposition owners for each service line. No external funding rounds, acquisitions, or ownership changes are disclosed.

Name

Essense

Legal name

Essense Service Design B.V.

Website

https://essense.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Essense is a privately held Amsterdam-based customer experience consultancy founded in 2011 that helps European enterprises operationalize CX strategy, journey management, and data-driven experience improvement through its proprietary PROMISE Framework and In-House consultant placements, serving clients such as IKEA, ASML, Philips, Heineken, and Rabobank.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Consulting Services: Project-based CX consulting engagements including CX strategy, journey management, customer research, and operational excellence engagements with enterprise clients.
2. In-house Consultant Placement: Placement of CX consultants, service designers, UX designers, journey managers, data consultants, and UX researchers within client internal teams for interim support or specific projects.
3. Training & Academy Programs: CX Academy offerings including journey mapping, service blueprinting, customer-centric innovation, need-based profiles, experiment design, and employee experience training programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Essense is a hands-on customer experience agency that delivers consulting, in-house consultant placement, and training services to help enterprises organise, implement, and execute CX management. Its core offering is project-based CX consulting across six service areas (CX strategy, journey management, data-driven CX, customer insights and optimisation, operational excellence, and CX transformation), supported by the proprietary PROMISE framework and the CX Academy.

Product overview

Essense is a hands-on customer experience agency that offers a portfolio of interconnected consulting services centred on customer-centric transformation. The core offering consists of six integrated service areas: CX Strategy & Brand Experience, Journey Management & Governance, Data-Driven CX & AI Consulting, Customer Insights & Optimisation, Operational Excellence, and CX Maturity & Transformation. Key methodologies include the proprietary PROMISE Framework for delivering branded CX across channels. The company delivers services through consulting projects, the CX Academy training programs, and In-House Consultant placement. Essense is an official implementation partner for TheyDo (journey management tooling), Qualtrics, and Expoints (customer feedback platforms). Whitepapers published include CX monitoring, ROI of journey management, and CRO experiments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CX Strategy & Brand Experience Defines a branded CX ambition and an implementation strategy aligned with business goals, covering customer engagement, moments of truth, omni-channel matrix, and personalisation approach. Targeted at enterprise leadership teams.
• Journey Management & Governance Organises and operationalises journey management with journey frameworks, tooling (TheyDo), way-of-working, and governance structures across teams. Targeted at enterprises seeking to align siloed departments around customer journeys.
• Data-Driven CX & AI Consulting Defines the metrics and data sources for monitoring CX performance and helps clients leverage customer data and AI tools for impact, including CX monitoring systems and customer feedback implementation.
• Customer Insights & Optimisation (CXO) Embeds voice-of-the-customer and optimises experience along customer journeys and channels through quantitative and qualitative research, digital service design, and conversion rate optimisation.
• Operational Excellence for Employees Maps backstage processes and systems to identify bottlenecks and creates blueprints for streamlining operations and improving employee experience across departments.
• CX Maturity & Transformation Assesses CX maturity and defines capability roadmaps for establishing customer-centric capabilities and culture across teams, including CX Academy training programmes.
• In-House Consultants
• CX Academy

Quantifiable outcome

• Client saved €1.3 million annually by implementing 4 solutions in a single customer journey
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• TheyDocoreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial TheyDo partner providing journey management implementation, tool configuration, way-of-working setup, and pilot project support. Essense helps clients implement and scale journey management using the TheyDo platform.
• QualtricscoreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial implementation partner for Qualtrics customer feedback management tool, helping clients implement and operationalize CX monitoring and ongoing measurement across organizations.
• ExpointscoreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial implementation partner for Expoints customer insight tool, supporting customer feedback management and CX measurement implementation.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Custellence: Custellence is a customer journey mapping and CX management software provider with a European footprint, closely comparable to the journey management tooling layer Essense implements and supports.
• Theydon't: TheyDo is the journey management platform that Essense is an official implementation partner for, making it a directly comparable and tightly intertwined peer in journey-based CX management.
• Inviqa: Inviqa is a UK-based digital experience consultancy offering CX, service design, and digital transformation services, comparable to Essense in serving enterprise clients across customer-centric initiatives.
• Open Shutter: Open Shutter is a Dutch CX and customer-centric transformation consultancy focused on journey-led change, directly comparable to Essense in delivering CX strategy and transformation work.
• Namahn: Namahn is a Belgian service design and CX consultancy with multi-disciplinary design teams, directly comparable to Essense in offering CX and service design engagements to enterprise clients.

Emerging players

• Mopinion: Mopinion is a European-based Voice-of-Customer and customer feedback platform with implementation partners in CX consulting, an emerging player comparable to the tooling ecosystem Essense operates within.
• RockBoost: RockBoost is a Dutch conversion rate optimisation and customer research agency, an emerging specialist comparable to Essense's CXO/CRO research and optimisation offering in the same Dutch market.

Broad incumbents

• Qualtrics: Qualtrics is a global CX and experience management platform and a key technology partner of Essense, providing the broader platform layer in which Essense's measurement consulting sits.
• Accenture (Customer Experience practice): Accenture runs a large-scale CX, service design, and customer transformation practice serving global enterprises, providing the broad incumbent alternative to boutique CX firms like Essense.
• KPMG (Customer & Digital practice): KPMG's customer and digital consulting practice serves large enterprises with CX strategy and transformation engagements, representing the established incumbent competition to specialist CX agencies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/essense-customer-centric-collaboration
• Instagraminstagram.com/essenseservicedesign
• Xx.com/essense

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Essense