Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of April 13, 2026

Every week, I read dozens of articles on customer service and customer experience from a wide range of sources. Below are my top five picks from last week, along with my takeaways. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.

Experience for Everyone by Sivaguru Kumar

(TATA Consultancy Services) In today’s experience economy, where memorable and engaging experiences have distinct economic value, the experience for everyone is the guiding principle around which all customer engagements revolve. But what exactly does experience for everyone mean, and why does it matter?

My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five with an article about using AI to help personalize the customer experience. This article has a breakdown of the advantages for both customers and employees. There is some great information overall, but my favorite part is the simple graphic that summarizes these benefits.

Customer Experience: Are Brands Using This Sleeping Giant? by Tom Primrose

(Shots) The quest for cut-through is at boiling point. Hyper-competitive markets and always-on lifestyles have created a world where every brand is shouting to be heard. But the noise has consequences.

My Comment: This is a great read on why CX is one of the most underutilized tools in a brand’s strategy in getting customers to come back. The author emphasizes how even small, intentional moments can turn ordinary touchpoints into memorable brand experiences. The concept of flipping “pain points” into “gain points” is worth the read.

The First 5 Minutes Define How Customers Will Treat You by Colleen Lonsberry

(CMSWire) We like to think of customer behavior as something inherent. That some customers are “good” and others are “difficult.” That some are loyal while others are transactional. But what if behavior is, at least in part, a response to the environment we create? In other words, customers rise or fall to meet the expectations set by the brand.

My Comment: Here’s an interesting concept. The title of the article is a set-up for an important premise: The first five minutes a customer experiences in your business will determine how they act (and treat you). The author uses an example of a child eating at a meal at The Four Seasons rather than at a fast-food restaurant. She behaved very differently based on how she was treated and what she observed in her environment. If I had to come up with a term to describe this, it would be “Customer Behavior Design.”

Customer Experience Horror Stories and How Better Connection Prevents Them by Lisa Orford

(Retail Customer Experience) Most customer experience “horror stories” don’t start with bad intentions. They start with good people working hard, but in disconnected systems.

My Comment: I recently wrote an article about how it’s not customer service that’s broken. It’s the system. In short, that’s what this article is about. There’s a reason customers have to repeat their stories or call back multiple times for the same issues. It’s a broken system, and this article points out the four most common system failures and what to do about them (and more).

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.