Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of August 17, 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.

“It’s company policy!” by Matthew Bowman

(LinkedIn) Every policy was created by someone to solve a problem. That means every policy can also be questioned, improved, or changed when it no longer serves the customer. Maybe the next time we’re tempted to say, “it’s company policy,” we should instead ask whether the policy itself is still worthy of defending.

My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five roundup with an article about something I refer to as a “Loyalty Killer,” a phrase that turns customers off so much that they might consider switching to a competitor. In this article, that phrase is “It’s company policy” (which ranks right up there with “It’s not my department”).

Customer Immersion Program: What It Is – And Why Your Company Needs One by Annette Franz

(CustomerThink) In far too many organizations, decisions are made in boardrooms, far removed from the reality of the customer. Metrics are dissected. Dashboards are studied. Yet somehow, the real customer experience gets lost in translation.

My Comment: Annette Franz is not a stranger to this weekly column of great customer service and CX articles. Here, she covers a concept she calls a Customer Immersion Program. The gist is that far too many CX decisions are made in a boardroom, far removed from frontline interactions between customers and the company. Her idea is to get closer to the customer and see firsthand how good or bad the CX efforts are paying off.

How CAVA, Alexis Bittar, and JCPenney Are Engaging Customers With Bite-Sized, Episodic Content That Keeps Them Coming Back for More by Deborah Lynn Blumberg

(CO— by U.S. Chamber of Commerce) The food chain, jewelry brand, and department store are winning customer loyalty with bingeable short-form social content—from a reality dating show to a micronovela to a mockumentary. Execs share how.

My Comment: If CX is really marketing (and it is), then this article makes sense. This article focuses on providing customers with content (videos, articles, messages, etc.) that keeps customers coming back for more. Part of CX is anything that gets the customer to come back, whether it’s in your store, on your website, or even to your “bingeable short-form social content.”

Expectation vs. Reality: How to Align CX Automation with Real Processes by Foundever®

(Foundever®) CX automation can reduce costs, improve consistency and free your people to do their most valuable work. However, the technology will only deliver against expectations if it’s built on mapped customer journeys, repeatable processes and a clear understanding of its limits.

My Comment: When you get CX automation (often fueled by AI self-service options) right, magic happens. Automation isn’t about deflecting customers to cheaper ways of serving them. It’s about making simple customer service issues easy via self-service and giving human agents the opportunity to handle more important issues that require judgment and empathy. This is a theme I’ve been pushing for a long time, and it’s worth repeating, which means this article is worth reading.

Loyalty Lessons Learned from Olive Garden’s Pasta Pass by Bryan Wassel

(CX Dive) Exclusive promotions and loyalty rewards can keep customers engaged. But Olive Garden will need to execute on experience to engender brand loyalty, experts say.

My Comment: I love pasta, so when I saw this article about Olive Garden’s “Pasta Pass,” I was intrigued. The program allowed 10,000 customers to buy three months of unlimited pasta for $100. This isn’t a loyalty program. It’s an incentive program to get customers into their restaurants. Then it’s up to the CX, which includes the experience of great pasta and hospitable service, to get people back beyond the three months. Any company trying to attract new customers could consider a similar incentive program. Here’s my summary: The right incentive can create a returning customer who might become a loyal customer.

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.