CPQ Customer Intelligence · 2026 Edition

Quote Unquoted

What do customers really think about their Configure Price Quote vendors? Aggregated findings from confidential reference calls across 30+ CPQ vendors.

MGI Research 30+ Vendors 20 MGI 360 Rated™ Confidential Interviews

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1 in 5

CPQ customers are unsure if they would recommend the product

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93%

Of customers are not using their CPQ vendor's AI

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1 in 3

first time CPQ implementations fail

The ROI of CPQ

When CPQ works, the results are measurable

MGI Research conducted in-depth interviews with customers from all 20 MGI 360 Rated™ vendors and more. This report surfaces aggregated data from those confidential customer references.

We migrated from Salesforce to DealHub, and DealHub took us from 3 admins down to 1. All the while, we've increased our monthly quotes by 50%.

— CPQ Customer Reference

Direct quotes from customer references

With PROS, we're able to pull fast-moving cost elements into a cart, quote in 5 to 7 minutes, and it has an automated feed into SAP. That process used to take 3–5 hours because of how manual it was.

With Vendor A, we're dealing with tens of thousands of customer licenses with many add-ons, rules, and processing the data takes forever. You could go get a cup of coffee and come back in 10 minutes and it still won't be done.

We saw a 75% increase in the speed to generate quotes with Expedite, which is phenomenal.

Business Problems

Why buyers go looking for a new CPQ

During evaluations, buyers often focus on current business needs and only look forward 12–18 months. Organizations should evaluate CPQ platforms not only against current requirements but against where the business expects to be in three to five years.

What business problems led to evaluating and selecting a new vendor?

Ranked by frequency cited in confidential customer reference interviews

Inability to scale with business

Failed prior CPQ implementation

Lack of trust and accuracy with past CPQ

Needed more agile CPQ

Lack of functionality

Outdated system

Pricing and quoting siloed

Customer Takeaways

Vendor Takeaways

Customers increasingly view CPQ as a strategic enabler rather than a point solution, making scalability a critical buying criterion. Vendors capable of supporting increasing complexity, larger sales organizations, higher transaction volumes, and evolving business processes will be better positioned to win and retain customers.

Salesforce definitely improved customer satisfaction and reduced revenue leakage because it helped us grow revenue. At the same point, you need a doctorate degree to understand it.

— CPQ Customer Reference

Direct quotes from customer references

Conga CPQ is a little bit more advanced than Salesforce CPQ. For Salesforce, when it comes to large quotes or complex quoting needs, we might have to explore more.

We've had some trouble even getting baseline commits from Vendor B on how fast things should be going, which decreases our trust in the overall product.

Customer Support

Support quality is make-or-break variable

Support execution is the top frustration among CPQ customers — and one of the top positive surprises when done well. Vendors investing in premium support see direct returns in satisfaction and upselling.

We've had every vendor you can think of, and no one can touch Workday in terms of quality and responsiveness of support.

— CPQ Customer Reference

Top Positive Surprises

1. Improved Quote Accuracy

Beyond faster quote creation, CPQ standardizes the sales process by decreasing pricing errors, reducing manual checks, and increasing customer satisfaction.

2. Outsized Business Impact

Customers cite measurable benefits including reduced quote times, improved productivity, increased user adoption, and margin improvements driven by better pricing discipline.

3. Customer Support Quality

Vendors (and customers) investing in ultra-premium support are rewarded. Customer support is directly tied to satisfaction, often leading to higher upsell rates.

Top Negative Surprises

1. Customer Support Gaps

Support execution is the top frustration, particularly around response times, escalation processes, and geographic limitations. This reiterates the need for onshore support teams.

2. Product Rigidity

Despite promises during the sales cycle, customers are frequently disappointed by the reality of rigid workflows, more manual workarounds, and slow system performance.

3. Integration Challenges

ERP and CRM Integration issues is another common pain point many customers find as a notable operational burden, reducing the anticipated efficiency gains.

★★★★☆

8.1 / 10

Average Customer Support Rating — but context matters. While 8.1 seems high, these are vendor-supplied references. Multiple vendors received a 5 or 6 score on Customer Support from their “best references,” who note major lags in responsiveness and quality of support.

Direct quotes from customer references

We didn't realize how much estimating was going on in our pricing until Tacton started digging in. Our margin accuracy and ability to forecast business is 100x better.

Customer support isn't available on weekends. They do updates on Fridays and then you can't reach support on the weekend and it affects our sales.

I feel like I was on the phone with Vendor C's developers 2 hours per day just keeping CPQ up and running.

We were maintaining 35 spreadsheets and got rid of all of them. We've restructured our teams and reduced our team's size by 20% because of servicePath.

AI in CPQ

Interest is high. Adoption and willingness to pay are not.

Nearly all CPQ customers (93%) are not using their vendor's AI — but 79% want to. The challenge is not demand. It is product maturity and proven value. Vendors will struggle to monetize AI unless they can clearly demonstrate labor savings or accuracy gains.

Are you using your vendor's AI?

Yes7.1%

No14.3%

Not yet, but want to78.6%

93% are not using their CPQ vendor's AI — but demand exists. The gap is product maturity, not appetite.

Willing to pay more for AI?

Yes33.3%

Maybe25.0%

No41.7%

58% are open to paying if ROI is clear. Vendors must demonstrate labor savings or accuracy gains first.

We want AI to do two things. At a bare minimum, it should reduce or eliminate admin work. In a dream world, we want it to navigate complex product configurations, pricing rules, and quoting decisions that currently require significant expertise.

— CPQ Customer Reference

Direct quotes from customer references

Vendor D is charging extra licenses for its agent force. For what we're doing, AI is still a bit far away and not worth the extra cost.

I like Vendor E's conversational AI. You can ask for a quote and then it tells you if there is information missing, and then you get a quote created and sent out.

If AI modules cost money, I won't pay for it. I don't see any ROI.

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35 Vendors Covered 20 MGI 360 Ratings™ Confidential Customer Intelligence AI Impact Analysis

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What are you looking for?

When CPQ works, the results are measurable

Why buyers go looking for a new CPQ

Customer Takeaways

Vendor Takeaways

Support quality is make-or-break variable

Top Positive Surprises

Top Negative Surprises

Interest is high. Adoption and willingness to pay are not.

Get the Full CPQ Buyer's Guide

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