Doing Customer eXperience Right‬ In The AI Era | Stacy Sherman

Companies are investing more in customer experience than ever before, yet many still struggle to retain customers and win new ones. That contradiction led me to ask a simple question: What is driving customer decisions today, and how can companies gain a sustainable competitive advantage? To answer it, I commissioned new research with Jason Ten-Pow of ONR EDGE, and this special Doing CX Right® episode is its debut. We compare how companies design customer experiences today with what customers say they actually want. The gap between the two surprised us both. In this conversation, you'll discover key insights from the research, the structural changes reshaping customer expectations, how leading companies are adapting, and practical steps your company can take to improve loyalty and business performance. What You Will Learn How many positive emotional experiences it takes to rebuild customer loyalty after one negative experience What replaces price as the primary driver in customer buying decisions today Which new customer loyalty metric reveals at-risk customers before they leave, so you can intervene early (hint: not NPS or CSAT) Why AI recommends your competitors based on customer emotion data you can control but aren't managing What actionable steps to implement at your workplace immediately to boost results the right way What combination of customer feedback sources exposes the loyalty signals you're currently overlooking, and much more! Download "The Distinctive Business Advantage" research report and get a proven action plan the highest-profit companies use to build loyalty and long-term growth. Want Stacy Sherman to present these findings at your conference or company event? Schedule a call And if this episode gave you something to act on, please subscribe to the Doing CX Right℠ podcast and leave a review so more people find the show.

This podcast was previously recorded in 2022. The actionable recommendations apply even more today! Can you imagine employees and customers loving your brand so much that they'd consider or actually get a tattoo of the company logo? Hard Rock Cafe has documented cases of this happening among both staff and guests, and it is not a marketing stunt. It is the result of a specific, repeatable approach to culture and customer experience that Jim Knight breaks down on this episode of Doing CX Right with Stacy Sherman. This episode explores what he calls a tattoo-worthy brand and why that level of loyalty forms only when employees and customers feel a personal connection strong enough to mark it permanently. They also make a point directly relevant to any listener in this audience, regardless of title: "You may not be an executive, and you may or may not have direct reports. Yet, you have the power to be a major influencer of your organization's culture, lighting it up and making it rock from the inside out." The conversation that follows covers what leaders and individual employees must do day to day to build that level of connection on their own teams, including a specific method Stacy shares for measuring employee and customer satisfaction side by side. What You Will Learn How to redesign your interview process so multiple leaders ask different questions across multiple rounds instead of relying on one conversation to judge fit. Why customer experience results need an internal satisfaction score for employees, not only an external score for customers, and how to connect the two at the local office level. How to write job descriptions and performance conversations so customer experience expectations are stated up front instead of discovered later during a performance appraisal. Where to look for hiring candidates outside your own industry, including tour guides, improv actors, and people with nontraditional work backgrounds who bring adaptability to customer facing roles. Why replacing annual performance appraisals with monthly one on one conversations keeps employees clear on what they are accountable for before a survey score arrives. Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

This podcast was previously recorded in March 2023. The actionable recommendations apply even more today! Customer experience teams are deploying chatbots and AI assistants earlier in the service journey because leadership wants faster resolution and lower cost per contact. That shifts more first interactions to automated flows. Customers are encountering decision-tree prompts instead of human conversation. That produces frustration and forgettable moments instead of loyalty-building moments. This episode addresses that operating pattern with a clear alternative: design AI around emotion and memory, not just efficiency. The conversation features Brian Solis, VP of Global Innovation at Salesforce, a digital anthropologist and futurist who has advised thousands of startups and enterprise organizations on innovation and transformation. He brings a human-centered lens to AI, automation, and the future of work, and he shares how leaders can use technology to build better relationships, better experiences, and better business models without losing the human element. What You Will Learn Replace "cheap automation" with human-centered design by mapping each AI touchpoint to an intended emotional reaction and a memorable moment. Close the skills gap for the jobs of the future by investing in soft skills such as creativity, listening, critical thinking, empathy, and leadership. Use AI to reimagine the customer journey and touchpoints, not just to cut cost, so relationships deepen instead of thinning out. Protect creativity and deep work by rewiring daily habits to reduce distraction and restore flow. Run an "undercover boss" moment to feel the customer and employee experience, then adjust processes so people feel understood and valued. Have a question or thoughts to share? Leave a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/StacySherman Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

This podcast was previously recorded in Aug 2022. The actionable recommendations apply even more today! Have you heard about CX Day? Every October, people worldwide celebrate with their employees, agents, and clients. It reminds me of "Mother's Day" or "Father's Day." It's a time to intentionally celebrate and express gratitude to the people who matter in our lives. It doesn't mean we stop appreciating people on all other days of the year. It's a time to pause, reflect, and take extra purposeful action. CX Day falls in the same week as National Customer Service Week (NCSW) and has a similar meaning, yet not the same. CX Day & Customer Service Week: The Basics CX Day was established ten years ago by the Customer Experience Professionals Organization (CXPA) to empower and unite companies, CX networks, and all people around the world to come together annually on the first Tuesday of October. Though there are benefits to being a CXPA member, you are not required to be one to take part in the festivities. Customer Service Week was created in 1991. The U.S. Congress signed a proclamation in 1992 establishing Customer Service Week as a nationally recognized event. The goal is to emphasize the importance of customer satisfaction (though Stacy Sherman would say "delight," as satisfaction isn't good enough anymore) and listening to customers as critical components of building a successful business. Since then, the commemoration has spread across the United States and internationally to more than 60 countries. By the end of this podcast episode, you'll learn how to celebrate CX Day and Customer Service Week at your company with significant impact and minimal budget. Show Topics Include: What CX Day / Customer Service Week is about. How and when it all began. Debates about CX Day being one day a year. Is that enough? The link between Inclusion and CX. Why purpose-driven companies attract better talent and customers. The best leadership advice received and given. One key takeaway for companies of all sizes to apply now for better outcomes. Need help to create and launch a company-wide event at your company? Set up a free advisory call Contact Stacy Sherman now. And subscribe to the Doing CX Right®‬ newsletter for more actionable strategies to boost business results.

Most leaders assume their customers won't leave as long as the price is fair and the service works. Michelle Musgrove of Washington Gas and I agree that is a dangerous assumption. A customer with no other option is not the same as a loyal one. Confuse the two: the process keeps serving the company instead of the customer, nobody follows up directly, and the first real alternative wins them over. So what separates the companies that retain customers for years from those that lose them as soon as a competitor enters the market? This episode is for leaders in both situations: those already competing for customers, and those whose industry has never had them until now. What You Will Learn: Why adding more AI to the customer experience problem is not the answer, even when your technology budget is growing What the difference between customer experience and customer service actually means in practice, and why companies that confuse the two stay in a reactive cycle How to get CX right the first time by identifying which issues repeat, what drives them, and where the process breaks before a customer ever contacts you Why progress on first-contact resolution matters more than waiting for a perfect solution, and how to build on incremental gains How to build a business case for CX investment in a regulated environment where every dollar requires justification Why CSAT alone does not give an accurate picture of the customer experience, and what NPS open-ended responses, customer effort score, and third-party benchmarks reveal that a satisfaction score cannot How to get every employee across every role to take accountability for the customer experience, regardless of whether they interact with customers directly Where AI helps frontline teams serve customers faster by handling routine work, and where leaders are confusing automation with culture change Have a question or thoughts to share? Leave a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/StacySherman Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.