Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of April 28, 2025

Each week, I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comments about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Valuable Experience by William Grobel

(Deloitte) CX is a significant influence on revenue and 87 per cent of business leaders say it’s their top growth driver. It’s the sum of your interactions with customers – the advertising viewed, the receipts and invoices received, the ease of transaction, the performance of your website, your social presence, customer service and product performance – all shape how your customers feel about your brand.

My Comment: We kick off this week’s top five with an interesting article that comes from the private equity world. In short, PE firms are very careful about the companies they invest in. They scrutinize every part of the business. Measurement of everything helps drive their investment decisions. This Deloitte article confirms the importance of CX to the current and future revenue of the company. In this article, you’ll find lots of numbers and concepts about why CX can be one of the most important success criteria for any type of business.

How Smart Onboarding Turns New Customers into Lifelong Fans by Alexander Procter

(Okoone) High-impact onboarding cuts churn, accelerates product adoption, and drives real ROI. When teams align and optimize around the customer journey, friction drops, and retention rises. Most companies miss this. The ones that don’t are pulling ahead fast.

My Comment: Most businesses have an opportunity to “onboard” customers. This could be for a first purchase or when they purchase something new that requires some special attention. This is the perfect opportunity to confirm in the customer’s mind that they made the right decision to buy from you versus a competitor. If you haven’t already done so, create an onboarding program; a powerful part of the CX.

Video Experiences That Create Loyalty, Engagement, and Conversions by Michael Stelzner

(Social Media Examiner) Struggling to turn viewers into loyal fans or paying customers? Wondering what type of video content actually builds trust and drives conversions in 2025?

My Comment: This excellent article is about creating videos that are more about an experience than just information. I’ve written about Dollar Shave Club’s videos in the past. They are memorable and funny—as in laugh-out-loud and want to share them with friends funny. The experience helped propel their success. The title sums up what the article is all about.

Most Consumers Will Pay 25% More for Their Favorite Brands, Survey Finds by Michael Brady

(Marketing Dive) Positive customer experiences, consistent product quality and long-term brand familiarity drive greater loyalty, a UserTesting study found.

My Comment: My annual customer service and CX research found that 59% of customers are willing to pay more for a good experience. But how much more? According to this article, most consumers will pay 25% more for their favorite brands. And what makes them a favorite brand? Positive customer experiences, product quality, and long-term brand familiarity drive loyalty that makes price less relevant.

Customers Want Relationships, Not Just Easy Experiences by Rob Markey, Phil Sager, Cassy Reichert, Eduardo Roma, Joanna Zhou, and Sophia Rodawig

(Bain & Company) The gap between what executives believe about their customer experience (CX) and what customers actually feel has never been wider. While C-suite leaders speak confidently about being “customer-first” and “experience-led,” their own teams confessed to a reality of dashboard overload, survey fatigue, and tools that gather dust rather than insights.

My Comment: Did I save the best for last? I love this article, which includes five trends/ideas from the good people at Bain & Company. Let’s start with the idea that no matter how easy you make it for your customers, they still want a relationship where the company knows and recognizes them for their past business. The second trend regarding surveys is pricelessness. Surveys still have a place, when done well, but there are more effective ways to find out how customers are thinking about you. I’ll let you read the article to learn about the other three.

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.