Category Archives: Customer Experience

Are You Getting Your Fair Share of $860 Billion?

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Are You Getting Your Fair Share of $860 Billion?

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

According to Qualtrics, there is an estimated $860 billion worth of revenue and cost savings available for companies that figure out how to create an improved Customer Experience (CX) using AI to better understand and serve their customers. (That includes $420 billion for B2B and $440 billion for B2C.) Qualtrics recently released these figures in a report/eBook titled Unlock the Potential through AI-Enabled CX.

I had a chance to interview Isabelle Zdatny, head of thought leadership at Qualtrics Experience Management Institute, for Amazing Business Radio. She shared insights from the report, including ways in which AI is reshaping how organizations measure, understand and improve their relationships with customers. These ideas are what will help you get more customers, keep existing customers and improve your processes, giving you a share of the $860 billion that is up for grabs. Here are some of the top takeaways from our interview.

AI-Enabled CX Represents a Financial Opportunity

The way AI is used in customer experience is much more than just a way to deflect customers’ questions and complaints to an AI-fueled chatbot or other self-service solution. Qualtrics’ report findings show that the value comes through increased employee productivity, process improvement and revenue growth. Zdatny notes a gap between leadership’s recognition of AI’s potential and their readiness to lead and make a change. Early adopters will likely capture “compounding advantages,” as every customer interaction makes their systems smarter and their advantage more difficult for competitors to overcome. My response to this is that if you aren’t on board with AI for the many opportunities it creates, you’re not only going to be playing catch-up with your competitors, but also having to catch up with the market share you’re losing.

Customers Want Convenience

While overall CX quality is improving, thanks to innovation, today’s customers have less tolerance for friction and mistakes. A single bad experience can cause customers to defect. My customer experience research says an average customer will give you two chances. Zdatny says, “Customers are less tolerant of friction these days. … Deliver one bad experience, and that sends the relationship down a bad path more quickly than it used to.”

AI Takes Us Beyond Surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys can frustrate customers. AI collects the data from interactions between customers and the company and analyzes it using natural language processing and sentiment. It can predict churn and tension. It analyzes customer behavior, and while it doesn’t look at a specific customer (although it can), it is able to spot trends in problems, opportunities and more. The company that uses this information the right way can reap huge financial rewards by creating a better customer experience.

Agentic AI

Agentic AI takes customer interactions to a new level. As a customer interacts with AI-fueled self-service support, the system can do more than give customers information and analyze the interaction. It can also take appropriate action. This is a huge opportunity to make it easier on the workforce as AI processes action items that employees might otherwise handle manually. Think about the dollars saved (part of the $860 billion) by having AI support part of the process so people don’t have to.

Customer Loyalty is at Risk

To wrap this up, Zdatny and I talked about the concept of customer loyalty and how vulnerable companies are to losing their most loyal customers. According to Zdatny, a key reason is the number of options available to consumers. (While there may be fewer options in the B2B world, the concern should still be the same.) Switching brands is easy, and customers are more finicky than ever. Our CX research finds that typical customers give you a second chance before they switch. A loyal customer will give you a third chance — but to put it in baseball terms, “Three strikes and you’re out!” Manage the experience right the first time, and keep in mind that whatever interaction you’re having at that moment is the reason customers will come back—or not—to buy whatever you sell.

Image Credits: Pexels

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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Why Best Practices Fail

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Five Questions with Ellen DiResta

Why Best Practices Fail

GUEST POST from Robyn Bolton

For decades, we’ve faithfully followed innovation’s best practices. The brainstorming workshops, the customer interviews, and the validated frameworks that make innovation feel systematic and professional. Design thinking sessions, check. Lean startup methodology, check. It’s deeply satisfying, like solving a puzzle where all the pieces fit perfectly.

Problem is, we’re solving the wrong puzzle.

As Ellen Di Resta points out in this conversation, all the frameworks we worship, from brainstorming through business model mapping, are business-building tools, not idea creation tools.

Read on to learn why our failure to act on the fundamental distinction between value creation and value capture causes too  many disciplined, process-following teams to  create beautiful prototypes for products nobody wants.

Robyn: What’s the one piece of conventional wisdom about innovation that organizations need to unlearn?

Ellen: That the innovation best practices everyone’s obsessed with work for the early stages of innovation.

The early part of the innovation process is all about creating value for the customer.  What are their needs?  Why are their Jobs to be Done unsatisfied?  But very quickly we shift to coming up with an idea, prototyping it, and creating a business plan.  We shift to creating value for the business, before we assess whether or not we’ve successfully created value for the customer.

Think about all those innovation best practices. We’ve got business model canvas. That’s about how you create value for the business. Right? We’ve got the incubators, accelerators, lean, lean startup. It’s about creating the startup, which is a business, right? These tools are about creating value for the business, not the customer.

R: You know that Jobs to be Done is a hill I will die on, so I am firmly in the camp that if it doesn’t create value for the customer, it can’t create value for the business.  So why do people rush through the process of creating ideas that create customer value?

E: We don’t really teach people how to develop ideas because our culture only values what’s tangible.  But an idea is not a tangible thing so it’s hard for people to get their minds around it.  What does it mean to work on it? What does it mean to develop it? We need to learn what motivates people’s decision-making.

Prototypes and solutions are much easier to sell to people because you have something tangible that you can show to them, explain, and answer questions about.  Then they either say yes or no, and you immediately know if you succeeded or failed.

R: Sounds like it all comes down to how quickly and accurately can I measure outcomes?   

E: Exactly.  But here’s the rub, they don’t even know they’re rushing because traditional innovation tools give them a sense of progress, even if the progress is wrong.

We’ve all been to a brainstorm session, right? Somebody calls the brainstorm session. Everybody goes. They say any idea is good. Nothing is bad. Come up with wild, crazy ideas. They plaster the walls with 300 ideas, and then everybody leaves, and they feel good and happy and creative, and the poor person who called the brainstorm is stuck.

Now what do they do? They look at these 300 ideas, and they sort them based on things they can measure like how long it’ll take to do or how much money it’ll cost to do it.  What happens?  They end up choosing the things that we already know how to do! So why have the brainstorm?”

R: This creates a real tension: leadership wants progress they can track, but the early work is inherently unmeasurable. How do you navigate that organizational reality?

E: Those tangible metrics are all about reliability. They make sure you’re doing things right. That you’re doing it the same way every time? And that’s appropriate when you know what you’re doing, know you’re creating value for the customer, and now you’re working to create value for the business.  Usually at scale

But the other side of it?  That’s where you’re creating new value and you are trying to figure things out.  You need validity metrics. Are we doing the right things? How will we know that we’re doing the right things.

R: What’s the most important insight leaders need to understand about early-stage innovation?

E: The one thing that the leader must do  is run cover. Their job is to protect the team who’s doing the actual idea development work because that work is fuzzy and doesn’t look like it’s getting anywhere until Ta-Da, it’s done!

They need to strategically communicate and make sure that the leadership hears what they need to hear, so that they know everything is in control, right? And so they’re running cover is the best way to describe it. And if you don’t have that person, it’s really hard to do the idea development work.”

But to do all of that, the leader also must really care about that problem and about understanding the customer.

We must create value for the customer before we can create value for the business. Ellen’s insight that most innovation best practices focus on the latter is devastating.  It’s also essential for all the leaders and teams who need results from their innovation investments.

Before your next innovation project touches a single framework, ask yourself Ellen’s fundamental question: “Are we at a stage where we’re creating value for the customer, or the business?” If you can’t answer that clearly, put down the canvas and start having deeper conversations with the people whose problems you think you’re solving.

To learn more about Ellen’s work, check out Pearl Partners.

To dive deeper into Ellen’s though leadership, visit her Substack – Idea Builders Guild.

To break the cycle of using the wrong idea tools, sign-up for her free one-hour workshop.

Image credit: 1 of 950+ FREE quote slides available at http://misterinnovation.com

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Don’t Make Customers Do These Seven Things They Hate

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Don't Make Customers Do These Seven Things They Hate

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Recently, I had an experience with a company and thought, “I hate this … Why do they make me do this?” This question wasn’t because of curiosity. No, I was thinking that this is something other customers must hate as well, but they make them do it anyway. So, I started a personal brainstorming session to list various processes, requirements, policies, rules, and more that cause customers to question why they continue to do business with these companies. Of course, my mind immediately went to customer service and experience issues, but there’s much more. With that in mind, here are seven practices, steps, processes, and policies that customers hate, but companies make them do it anyway.

Customers Hate:

  1. To Wait – Long hold times and long lines are frustrating and send negative messages, such as the customer’s time isn’t valued or the company is understaffed.
  2. Repeating Anything – Calling customer support and being passed around to different people, having to repeat your story again and again, isn’t fun. Nor is filling out forms that repeat the information you’ve already filled out on previous forms.
  3. Finding Hidden Fees – A stated price should be the price – with no extra fees. I recently checked into a hotel. They told me I had a $30 food and beverage credit as part of my stay – a nice surprise. Upon checking out, I noticed a $30 charge referred to as a “Destination Fee.” I asked about it, and the clerk said it was to cover the $30 food and beverage credit.
  4. Filling Out Bad Surveys – Customers are learning to dislike surveys, especially if they are long. There are right and wrong ways to do surveys. And a bad survey shouldn’t be the last thing a customer experiences when doing business with you.
  5. Listening to Complicated Phone Options – If you’ve called a company and been told to “listen to the following as our options have changed,” so you listen to the many options, and once you choose one, there are even more options … Well, I think you get the picture. There’s better technology to get the customer to the right person or the information they need.
  6. Annoying Pop-Up Windows – If you’ve been on a website and are reading information or an article and pesky pop-up windows keep interrupting you with irrelevant messages and advertising, you’re a victim of annoying pop-up windows.
  7. Anything that Requires Unnecessary Effort – Maybe you have a simple request or question. Why should it take a long time to fill out forms, answer unnecessary questions or more to get an answer?

There is a theme to this list. All of these imply the company doesn’t respect the customer’s time, energy, and effort. The goal should be the opposite: to respect and value your customer’s time, energy, and effort. Don’t create friction and put customers through anything more than necessary to get them what they want. In short, have a goal to be the easiest company to do business with. If you’re serious about it, you’ll find ways to eliminate and mitigate friction. And this list is far from complete. There are many, many other things customers hate doing.

So, here’s your assignment. Sit down with your team and brainstorm all the things they hate to do when doing business with any company. Then, ask what they think customers might hate about doing business with you. This can be processes, steps, policies, and more. Once you have the list, you know what to do. Eliminate all that makes doing business with you painful – or at least make some of the less painful. Don’t make your customers do things they hate doing!

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pixabay

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The Secret to Endless Customers

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The Secret to Endless Customers

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Marcus Sheridan owns a pool and spa manufacturing company in Virginia — not a very sexy business, unless you consider the final product, which is often surrounded by beautiful people. What he did to stand out in a marketplace filled with competition is a masterclass in how to get noticed and, more importantly, get business. His most recent book, Endless Customers, is a follow-up to his bestselling book They Ask, You Answer, with updated information and new ideas that will help you build a business that has, as the title implies, endless customers.

Sheridan’s journey began in 2001 when he started a pool company with two friends. When the 2008 market collapse hit, they were on the verge of losing everything. This crisis forced them to think differently about how to reach customers. Sheridan realized that potential buyers were searching for answers to their questions, so he decided his company would become “the Wikipedia of fiberglass swimming pools.”

By brainstorming every question he’d ever received as a pool salesperson and addressing them through content online, his company’s website became the most trafficked swimming pool website in the world within just a couple of years. This approach transformed his business and became the foundation for his business philosophy.

In our interview on Amazing Business Radio, Sheridan shared what he believes is the most important strategy that businesses can use to get and keep customers, and that is to become a known and trusted brand. They must immerse themselves in what he calls the Four Pillars of a Known and Trusted Brand.

  1. Say What Others Aren’t Willing to Say: The No. 1 reason people leave websites is because they can’t find what they’re looking for — and the top information they seek is pricing. Sheridan emphasizes that businesses should openly discuss costs and pricing on their websites. While you don’t need to list exact prices, you should educate consumers about what drives costs up or down in your industry. Sheridan suggests creating a comprehensive pricing page that teaches potential customers how to buy in your industry. According to him, 90% of industries still avoid this conversation, even though it’s what customers want most.
  2. Show What Others Aren’t Willing to Show: When Sheridan’s company was manufacturing fiberglass swimming pools, it became the first to show its entire manufacturing process from start to finish through a series of videos. They were so complete that someone could literally learn how to start their own manufacturing company by watching these videos. Sheridan recognized that sharing the “secret sauce” was a level of transparency that built trust, helping to make his company the obvious choice for many customers.
  3. Sell in Ways Others Aren’t Willing to Sell: According to Sheridan, 75% of today’s buyers prefer a “seller-free sales experience.” He says, “That doesn’t mean we hate salespeople. We just don’t want to talk to them until we’re very, very, ready.” Sheridan suggests meeting customers where they are by offering self-service options on your website. For his pool and spa business, that included a price estimator solution that helped potential customers determine how much they could afford — without the pressure of talking to a salesperson.
  4. Be More Human than Others Are Willing to Be: In a world that is becoming dominated by AI and technology, showing the human side of a business is critical to a trusting business relationship. Sheridan suggests putting leaders and employees on camera. They are truly the “face of the brand.” It’s okay to use AI, just find the balance that helps you stay human in a technology-dominated world.

As we wrapped up the interview, I asked Sheridan to share his most powerful idea, and the answer goes back to a word he used several times throughout the interview: Trust. “In a time of change, we need, as businesses, constants that won’t change,” Sheridan explained. “One thing I can assure you is that in 10 years, you’re going to be in a battle for trust. It’s the one thing that binds all of us. It’s the great currency that is not going to go away. So, become that voice of trust. If you do, your organization is going to be built to last.”

And that, according to Sheridan, is how you create “endless customers.”

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of September 2025

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of September 2025Drum roll please…

At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?

But enough delay, here are September’s ten most popular innovation posts:

  1. McKinsey is Wrong That 80% Companies Fail to Generate AI ROI — by Robyn Bolton
  2. Back to Basics for Leaders and Managers — by Robyn Bolton
  3. Growth is Not the Answer — by Mike Shipulski
  4. The Most Challenging Obstacles to Achieving Artificial General Intelligence — by Art Inteligencia
  5. Charlie Kirk and Innovation — by Art Inteligencia
  6. You Just Got Starbucked — by Braden Kelley
  7. Metaphysics Philosophy — by Geoffrey Moore
  8. Invention Through Co-Creation — by Janet Sernack
  9. Sometimes Ancient Wisdom Needs to be Left Behind — by Greg Satell
  10. The Crisis Innovation Trap — by Braden Kelley and Art Inteligencia

BONUS – Here are five more strong articles published in August that continue to resonate with people:

If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!

Build a Common Language of Innovation on your team

Have something to contribute?

Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.

P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:

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Four Keys to a World-Class Customer Experience

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Four Keys to a World-Class Customer Experience

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I’m going to start this article with a theme I’ve preached for years: When it comes to customer service and experience, our customers no longer compare us just to our competitors. Their mental benchmark, whether they know it or not, comes from the best experience they have had from any company or brand. It’s companies like Amazon, Apple, Costco, Chick-fil-A, and others that excel in providing an experience that gets customers to come back, that become our customers’ standard for service. When they have anything other than a positive experience, they may say something like, “Why can’t they be as good as _____?” (Fill in the blank with their favorite company.)

With that in mind, I’d like to offer up the idea that if we focus on creating an experience based on trying to be better than a competitor, and that may mean you are the best in your industry, it still may not meet a customer’s expectations. All you are is the best dog in a horse race.

Being best in your industry means best in class, but as I just mentioned, it may not be enough. What you want to do is start comparing yourself – as in your company – to the obvious customer experience leaders. No, you may not be able to do what Amazon or Apple do, but using them as a model can help you move from best in class to world class.

Best in Class Shep Hyken Cartoon

So, how can you make this shift? Start by identifying what makes world-class companies so appealing to their customers. In my annual customer service and customer experience (CX) research, we find the best companies and brands share certain traits:

  1. Consistency – Customers can predict their experience every time. It’s not great one time and the next time just average. Consistency creates predictability, and if the consistent experience is what customers want and know they will get, they come back.
  2. Quick Response – Whether it’s Amazon’s instant confirmation emails or a faster-than-expected returned phone call or email, customers love it when the companies they do business with are fast in their communication.
  3. Empowered Employees – Your customers are frustrated when they are dealing with employees who aren’t allowed to make decisions. If you hire good people and train them well, let them do their job. Not only will customers be happy, but your employees will appreciate the company they work for even more.
  4. Friction-Free – I wrote an entire book on this topic, The Convenience Revolution. Find ways to be easy to do business with. Eliminate anything that is a hassle or has friction associated with it.

Here’s why I love these ideas. You don’t have to be Amazon or Apple to implement any of these. Any company, regardless of size or industry, can do this. You don’t need a technology budget to respond to customers quickly or empower your team.

Look at your customer journey and ask: What would world-class companies, such as Amazon, do at this touch point?” Or, “How would Apple handle this situation?” This exercise can reveal the opportunities you might miss when you’re only comparing yourself to your direct competitors.

Image Credits: Pixabay

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You Just Got Starbucked

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Layoffs, Store Closures & What It Means for Customer Service

LAST UPDATED: September 25, 2025 at 10:58PM
You Just Got Starbucked - Layoffs, Store Closures & What It Means for Customer Service

Exclusive Interview with Mario Matulich

In a world where corporate decisions often prioritize efficiency, the human element can be the first to suffer. The recent layoffs and restructuring at Starbucks, a brand synonymous with a unique, human-centered “third place” experience, have sent a tremor through the industry. In a wide-ranging interview, we will unpack the strategic and operational implications of these changes. Together, we will explore the difficult balance between trimming corporate fat and maintaining a brand built on emotional connection, diving into how these decisions could affect everything from in-store morale to the long-term loyalty of its customers. Central to the conversation is the following strategic question:

How can a company that has undergone significant corporate restructuring and layoffs maintain and restore a premium, human-centered customer experience?

Mario MatulichToday we will explore this question, along with its various aspects with our special guest Mario Matulich, a practice lead at the Customer Management Practice with a diverse commercial understanding in a variety of industry verticals across the customer management sector. He is well versed in market research, product development, sales, marketing, and operations in addition to cross functional management and leadership development.

Without further ado, here is the Q&A I had with Mario on a range of topics regarding the recent Starbucks’ store closures and layoffs and their implications:

The Strategic Context of the Layoffs

Q: Starbucks’ leadership framed the recent restructuring as a necessary step for efficiency and a return to their core mission. From your perspective in customer management, how do these internal changes directly affect the external customer experience in the short and long term?
A: In the short term, layoffs, especially in corporate roles, can create gaps in innovation, brand narrative, and strategic support for store-level teams. Employees on the front lines may feel increased pressure, which can impact morale and the human connection customers expect. In the long term, if these gaps aren’t addressed, the result can be a more transactional experience that erodes both loyalty and trust.

Q: In many companies, layoffs are a last resort. Do you believe this restructuring reflects a failure of previous strategies, or is it a forward-thinking move to adapt to a changing market? What specific market trends do you think are driving these decisions?
A: I don’t view this restructuring as purely a failure of previous strategies, but rather as an attempt to adapt to a changing market. That said, Starbucks’ bigger challenge is restoring its customer experience. Trends such as rising demand for personalized, convenient, and high-value experiences, along with increased competition in the premium coffee market, make it clear that customers are evaluating Starbucks not just on price, but on the overall experience delivered.

Q: The layoffs primarily targeted corporate roles in marketing, technology, and creative. How does the loss of talent in these specific areas impact the company’s ability to innovate and maintain its brand narrative?
A: These areas are critical for innovation, storytelling, and digital experiences that connect customers to the brand. Losing talent here makes it more challenging to maintain a consistent, differentiated experience and risks further disengagement from customers.

Impact on the Human-Centered Experience

Q: Starbucks has long prided itself on the “third place” concept. How does restructuring and potential employee demoralization affect the in-store experience and the emotional connection customers have with the brand?
A: The “third place” experience relies on motivated and supported employees. Restructuring can disrupt this, as uncertainty and low morale may trickle down to in-store interactions. Customers may perceive a decline in warmth, attentiveness, and consistency, which can undermine the emotional connection.

Q: With fewer people in corporate roles, who now owns the responsibility for a seamless customer journey? Does this push more responsibility onto store-level partners, and if so, are they equipped to handle it?
A: While partners remain at the front line, the burden shouldn’t fall solely on them. Leadership must provide tools, guidance, and support to ensure a seamless experience, even as corporate teams shrink.

Q: Customer management is about building long-term loyalty. Do you believe this restructuring risks eroding the trust and loyalty of both employees and customers, and what would your practice recommend to mitigate that risk?
A: Yes, there’s definitely a risk. The key is to go back to the basics and make the experience personal, easy, and fast. Nail those, and customers’ trust and loyalty will .,¬./come back, and the layoffs won’t linger in their minds.

Measuring and Recovering from the Impact

Q: How would you advise Starbucks to measure the real-time impact of these changes on customer satisfaction? Beyond traditional metrics like NPS, what holistic experience measures should they be tracking?
A: Starbucks should look beyond NPS to measure speed of service, personalization, emotional connection, and overall experience consistency. These metrics provide a more comprehensive view of the customer journey and help identify gaps that layoffs may create.

Q: Layoffs can create a perception of instability. What is the most effective way for a company to communicate its recovery plan and rebuild confidence with its customer base after such a significant change?
A: Clear communication focused on restoring the core pillars of customer experience, personalization, ease, and speed, is key. Customers respond when they see tangible improvements in the experience they receive every day.

Q: In your experience, what is the typical timeline for a company to recover from the brand and cultural damage that can follow widespread layoffs? What are the critical milestones they should be focused on achieving?
A: Recovery timelines vary, but visible improvements in customer experience can begin within months if executed strategically. Critical milestones include reestablishing operational consistency, restoring employee morale, and relaunching key brand initiatives that reinforce the premium experience promise.

Future-Proofing for Long-Term Growth

Q: Looking ahead, how can Starbucks utilize this moment of disruption to adopt a more resilient and human-centered organizational model? What key lesson should other companies learn from their experience to avoid similar pitfalls?
A: Starbucks has a chance here to get back to what really made it successful: combining innovative, tech-forward solutions with a human touch, every time. The bigger lesson for any company is clear. Growth and cost-cutting shouldn’t come at the expense of the customer experience. People are willing to pay a premium, but only if the experience feels worth it.

Q: What message does it send that the popular Starbucks Roastery location in Capitol Hill in Seattle is being closed as part of this layoff and restructuring initiative? Why do you think they chose to do it?
A: Closing the Roastery signals a prioritization of efficiency over experiential destinations. While it may make financial sense in the short term, it also serves as a cautionary reminder that iconic, high-touch experiences are critical to maintaining brand differentiation and customer loyalty.

Conclusion

Thank you for the great conversation Mario!

Ultimately, the Starbucks case study is a powerful lesson for every organization. As Matulich’s insights make clear, the pursuit of efficiency and growth cannot come at the expense of the human experience that defines your brand. The true measure of a company’s resilience is not in its stock price, but in the trust it has built with its employees and customers. A single-minded focus on traditional metrics is insufficient; a holistic approach that values emotional connection and employee morale is the only path to sustainable growth. The greatest challenge for Starbucks now is to move beyond reacting to a difficult market and begin proactively shaping its future—not just through cost-cutting, but by recommitting to the core narrative that made it a cultural institution in the first place. The future of any business is not found in a spreadsheet; it’s built on a foundation of human connection, one interaction at a time.

Image credits: Pexels, Mario Matulich

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You Need to Know What Your Customers Think of AI

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You Need to Know What Your Customers Think of AI

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Ten years ago, only the most technologically advanced companies used AI — although it barely resembled what companies use today when communicating with customers — and it was very, very expensive. But not anymore. Today, any company can implement an AI strategy using ChatGPT-type technologies, often creating experiences that give customers what they want. But not always, which is why the information below is important.

The 2025 Findings

My annual customer service and customer experience (CX) research study surveys more than 1,000 U.S. consumers weighted to the population’s demographics of age, gender, ethnicity and geography. It included an entire group of questions focused on how customers react to and accept (or don’t accept) AI options to ask questions, resolve problems and communicate with a company or brand. Consider the following findings:

  • AI Success: Half of U.S. customers (50%) said they have successfully resolved a customer service issue using AI or ChatGPT-type technologies without needing human assistance. In 2024, only three out of 10 customers (32%) did so. That’s great news, but it’s important to point out that age makes a difference. Six out of 10 Gen-Z customers (61%) successfully used AI support versus just 32% of Boomers.
  • AI Is Far From Perfect: Half of U.S. customers (51%) said they received incorrect information from an AI self-service bot. Even with incredible improvement in AI’s capabilities, it still serves up wrong information. That destroys trust, not only in the company but also in the technology as a whole. A few bad answers and customers will be reluctant, at least in the near term, to choose self-service over the traditional mode of communication, the phone.
  • Still, Customers Believe: Four out of 10 customers (42%) believe AI and ChatGPT can handle complex customer service inquiries as effectively as humans. Even with the mistakes, customers believe AI solutions work. However, 86% of customers think companies using AI should always provide an option to speak or text with a real person.
  • The Phone Still Rules: It’s still too early to throw away phone support. My prediction is that it will be years, if ever, that human-to-human interactions completely disappear, which was proven when we asked, “When you have a problem or issue with a company, which solution do you prefer to use: phone or digital self-service?” The answer is that 68% of customers will still choose the phone over digital self-service. That number is highly influenced by the 82% of Baby Boomers who choose to call a company over any other type of digital support.
  • The Future Looks Strong For AI Customer Support: Six out of 10 customers (63%) expect AI-fueled technologies to become the primary mode of customer support. We asked the same question in 2021, and only 21% of customers felt this way.

The Strategy Behind Using AI For CX

  • Age Matters: As you can see from some of the above findings, there is a big generational gap between younger and older customers. Gen-Z customers are more comfortable, have had more success, and want more digital/AI interactions compared to older customers. Know your customer demographics and provide the appropriate support and communication options based on their age. Recognize you may need to provide different support options if your customer base is “everyone.”
  • Trust Is a Factor: Seven out of 10 customers (70%) have concerns about privacy and security when interacting with AI. Once again, age makes a difference. Trust and confidence with AI consistently decrease with age.

The Future of AI

As AI continues to evolve, especially in the customer service and experience world, companies and brands must find a balance between technology and the human touch. While customers are becoming more comfortable and finding success with AI, we can’t become so enamored with it that we abandon what many of our customers expect. The future of AI isn’t a choice between technology and humans. It’s about creating a blended experience that plays to the technology’s strengths and still gives customers the choice.

Furthermore, if every business had a 100% digital experience, what would be a competitive differentiator? Unless you are the only company that sells a specific product, everything becomes a commodity. Again, I emphasize that there must be a balance. I’ll close with something I’ve written before, but bears repeating:

The greatest technology in the world can’t replace the ultimate relationship-building tool between a customer and a business: the human touch.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Image Credits: Google Gemini

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Journeying Through the Technology Adoption Lifecycle

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Journeying Through the Technology Adoption Lifecycle

GUEST POST from Geoffrey A. Moore

Like everything else in this Darwinian world of ours, customer journeys evolve with changes in the environment. Ever since the advent of the semiconductor, a compelling source of such changes has been disruptive digital technology. Although we are all eager to embrace its benefits, markets must first work through their adoption life cycles, during which different buying personas come to the fore at different stages, with each one on a very different kind of journey. So, if you plan to catch the next wave and sell the next big thing, you’re going to need to adjust your customer journey playbook as you go along. Here’s a recap of what is in store for you.

Customer Journeys in the Early Market

The early market buying personas are the visionary and the technology enthusiast, the former eager to leverage disruption to gain first-mover competitive advantage, the latter excited to participate in the latest and greatest thing. Both are on a journey of discovery.

Technology enthusiasts need to get as close to the product as possible, seeing demos and alpha-testing prototypes as soon as they are released. They are not looking to be sold (for one thing, they have no money)—they are looking to educate themselves in order to be a reliable advisor to their visionary colleague. The key is to garner them privileged access to the technical whizzes in your own enterprise and, once under NDA, to share with them the wondrous roadmap you have in mind.

Visionaries are on a different path. They want to get as clear an understanding as possible of what makes the disruptive technology so different, to see whether such a difference could be a game changer in their circumstances. This is an exercise in imagineering. It will involve discussing hypothetical use cases, and applying first principles, which means you need to bring the smartest people in your company to the table, people who can not only communicate the magic of what you have but who can also keep up with the visionary’s vision as well.

Once this journey is started, you need to guide it toward a project, not a product sale. It is simply too early to make any kind of product promise that you can reliably keep. Not only is the paint not yet dry on your own offer, but also the partner ecosystem is as yet non-existent, so the only way a whole product can be delivered is via a dedicated project team. To up the stakes even further, visionaries aren’t interested in any normal productivity improvements, they are looking to leapfrog the competition with something astounding, so a huge amount of custom work will be required. This is all well and good provided you have a project-centric contract that doesn’t leave you on the hook for all the extra labor involved.

Customer Journeys to Cross the Chasm

The buying personas on the other side of the chasm are neither visionaries nor technology enthusiasts. Rather, they are pragmatists, and to be really specific, they are pragmatists in pain. Unlike early market customers, they are not trying to get ahead, they are trying to get themselves out of a jam. In such a state, they could care less about your product, and they do not want to meet your engineers or engage in any pie-in-the-sky discussions of what the future may hold. All they want to do is find a way out of their pain.

This is a journey of diagnosis and prescription. They have a problem which, given conventional remedies, is not really solvable. They are making do with patchwork solutions, but the overall situation is deteriorating, and they know they need help. Sadly, their incumbent vendors are not able to provide it, so despite their normal pragmatist hesitation about committing to a vendor they don’t know and a solution that has yet to be proven, they are willing to take a chance—provided, that is, that:

  • you demonstrate that you understand their problem in sufficient depth to be credible as a solution provider, and
  • that you commit to bringing the entire solution to the table, even when it involves orchestrating with partners to do so.

To do so, your first job is to engage with the owner of the problem process in a dialog about what is going on. During these conversations, you demonstrate your credibility by anticipating the prospective customer’s issues and referencing other customers who have faced similar challenges. Once prospects have assured themselves that you appreciate the magnitude of their problem and that you have expertise to address its challenges, then (and only then) will they want to hear about your products and services.

As the vendor, therefore, you are differentiating on experience and domain expertise, ideally by bringing someone to the table who has worked in the target market segment and walked in your prospective customer’s shoes. Once you have established credibility by so doing, then you must show how you have positioned the full force of your disruptive product to address the very problem that besets your target market. Of course, you know that your product is far more capable than this, and you also know you have promised your investors global domination, not a niche market solution. But for right now, to cross the chasm, you forsake all that and become laser-focused on demolishing the problem at hand. Do that for the first customer, and they will tell others. Do that for the next, and they will tell more. By the time you have done this four or five times, your phone will start ringing. But to get to this point, you need to be customer-led, not product-led.

Customer Journeys Inside the Tornado

The tornado is that point in the technology adoption life cycle when the pragmatist community shifts from fear of going too soon to fear of missing out. As a consequence, they all rush to catch up. Even without a compelling first use case, they commit resources to the new category. Thus, for the first time in the history of the category, prospective customers have budget allocated before the salesperson calls. (In the early market, there was no budget at all—the visionary had to create it. In the chasm-crossing scenario, there is budget, but it is being spent on patchwork fixes with legacy solutions and needs to get reallocated before a deal can be closed.)

Budget is allocated to the department that will purchase and support the new offer, not the ones who will actually use it (although they will no doubt get chargebacks at some point). That means for IT offerings the target customer is the technical buyer and the CIO, the former who will make the product decision, the latter who will make the vendor decision. Ideally, the two will coincide, but when they don’t, the vendor choice usually prevails.

Now, one thing we know about budgets is that once they have been allocated they will get spent. These customers are on a buying mission journey. They produce RFPs to let them compare products and vet companies, and they don’t want any vendor to get too close to them during the process. Sales cycles are super-competitive, and product bake-offs are not uncommon. This means you need to bring your best systems engineers to the table, armed with killer demos, supported by sales teams, armed with battle cards that highlight competitor strengths and weaknesses and how to cope with the former and exploit the latter. There is no customer intimacy involved.

What is at stake, instead, is simply winning the deal. Here account mapping can make a big difference. Who is the decision maker really? Who are the influencers? Who has the inside track? You need a champion on the inside who can give you the real scoop. And at the end of the sales cycle, you can expect a major objection to your proposal, a real potential showstopper, where you will have to find some very creative way to close the deal and get it off the table. That is how market share battles are won.

Customer Journeys on Main Street

On Main Street, you are either the incumbent or a challenger. If the latter, your best bet is to follow a variation on the chasm-crossing playbook, searching out a use case where the incumbent is not well positioned and the process owner is getting frustrated—as discussed above. For incumbents, on the other hand, it is a completely different playbook.

The persona that matters most on Main Street is the end user, regardless of whether they have budget or buying authority. Increasing their productivity is what creates the ROI that justifies any additional purchases, not to mention retaining the current subscription. This calls for a journey of continuous improvement.

Such a journey rewards two value disciplines on the vendor’s part—customer intimacy and operational excellence. The first is much aided by the advent of telemetry which can track product usage by user and identify opportunities for improvement. Telemetric data can feed a customer health score which allows the support team to see where additional attention is most needed. Supplying the attention requires operational excellence, and once again technology innovation is changing the game, this time through product-led prompts, now amplified by generative AI commentary. Finally, sitting atop such infrastructure is the increasingly powerful customer success function whose role is to connect with the middle management in charge, discuss with them current health score issues and their remediation, and explore opportunities for adding users, incorporating product extensions, and automating adjacent use cases.

Summing Up

The whole point of customer journeys done right is to start with the customer, not with the sales plan. That said, where the customer is in their adoption life cycle defines the kind of journey they are most likely to be on. One size does not fit all, so it behooves the account team to place its bets as best it can and then course correct from there.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

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Customer Experience is Changing

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If You Don’t Like Change, You’re Going to Hate Extinction

Customer Experience is Changing

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Depending on which studies and articles you read, customer service and customer experience (CX) are getting better … or they’re getting worse. Our customer service and CX research found that 60% of consumers had better customer service experiences than last year, and in general, 82% are happy with the customer service they receive from the companies and brands with which they do business.

Yet, some studies claim customer service is worse than ever. Regardless, more companies than ever are investing in improving CX. Some nail it, but even with an investment, some still struggle. Another telling stat is the growing number of companies attending CX conferences.

Last month, more than 5,000 people representing 1,382 companies attended and participated in Contact Center Week (CCW), the world’s largest conference dedicated to customer service and customer experience. This was the largest attendance to date, representing a 25% growth over last year.

Many recognized brands and CX leaders attended and shared their wisdom from the main stage and breakout rooms. The expo hall featured demonstrations of the latest and greatest solutions to create more effective customer support experiences.

The primary reason I attend conferences like CCW is to stay current with the latest advancements and solutions in CX and to gain insight into how industry leaders think. AI took center stage for most of the presentations. No doubt, it continues to improve and gain acceptance. With that in mind, here are some of my favorite takeaways with my commentary from the sessions I attended:

AI for Training

Becky Ploeger, global head of reservations and customer care at Hilton, uses AI to create micro-lessons for employee training. Hilton is using Centrical’s platform to take various topics and turn them into coaching modules. Employees participate in simulations that replicate customer issues.

Can We Trust AI?

As excited as Ploeger is about AI (and agentic AI), there is still trepidation. CX leaders must recognize that AI is not yet perfect and will occasionally provide inaccurate information. Ploeger said, “We have years and years of experience with agents. We only have six months of experience with agentic AI.”

Wrong Information from AI Costs a Company Money—or Does it?

Gadi Shamia, CEO of Replicant, an AI voice technology company, commented about the mistakes AI makes. In general, CX leaders are complaining that going digital is costing the company money because of the bad information customers receive. Shamia asks, “How much are you losing?” While bad information can cause a customer to defect to a competitor, so does a bad experience with a live customer service rep. So, how often does AI provide incorrect information? How many of those customers leave versus trying to connect with an agent? The metrics you choose to define success with a digital self-service experience need to include more than measuring bad experiences. Mark Killick, SVP of experiential operations at Shipt, weighed in on this topic, saying, “If we don’t fix the problems of providing bad information, we’ll just deliver bad information faster.”

Making the Case to Invest in AI

Mariano Tan, president and CEO of Prosodica says, “Nothing gets funded without a clear business case.” The person in charge of the budget for customer service and CX initiatives (typically the CFO in larger companies) won’t “open the wallet” without proof that the expenditure will yield a return on investment (ROI). People in charge of budgets like numbers, so when you create your “clear business case,” be sure to include the numbers that make a compelling reason to invest in CX. Simply saying, “We’ll reduce churn,” isn’t enough. How much churn—that’s a number. How much does it mean to the bottom line—another number. Numbers sell!

Final Words: Love Change, or Else

Neil Gibson, SVP of CX at FedEx, was part of a panel and shared a quote that is the perfect way to end the article. AI is rapidly changing the way we do business. We must keep up, or else. Gibson quoted Fred Smith, the first CEO and founder of FedEx, who said, “If you don’t like change, you’re going to hate extinction.” In other words, keep up or watch your competition blow past you.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Image Credits: Pixabay

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