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. Why the Customer Isn’t Always Right by S.L. Fuller (CX Dive) When the phrase, “the […]
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.
(CX Dive) When the phrase, “the customer is always right,” was put into print about 120 years ago, it was a paradigm-shifting tenet of good business. Over the last century, that sentiment has changed, and companies acknowledge that, of course, customers can be “wrong.” Even academics in service fields are calling it out.
My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five with an article about a topic I’m passionate about. I’ve written numerous articles about how the customer is NOT always right (but they are always the customer). This article expands on the concept that customers aren’t always right and that policies that assume they always are won’t work.
(CX Network) Every defense of Net Promoter Score eventually lands in the same place: “NPS is fine. You just can’t use it on its own.” With arguments, results, charts, metaphors, caveats, and healthy debate, CX appears to agree on this one thing: NPS cannot stand alone.
My Comment: The great debate about NPS (Net Promotor Score) continues. Personally, I’m a big fan because of its simplicity. True, it doesn’t give you the entire picture of the customer experience, and part of that is, as the article points out, because sometimes it’s used the wrong way. But it was never meant to entire picture, just a big picture. It’s just one question, and when someone answers a survey with the NPS question, it makes sense to drill down for more info. I enjoyed this article, and if you’re into CX metrics, you will, too!
(Media Update) 2025 brought a new level of intensity to customer experience (CX) and consumer behaviour. In 2025 AI went mainstream, but customers stayed stubbornly human, says Liezel Jonkheid, Director and Founder of the Consumer Psychology Lab.
My Comment: This is a fascinating article that links consumer behavior with customer experience. It offers insights on convenience, less forgiving expectations, AI efficiency, and more. At the beginning of the article, the author states, “They (customers) don’t reward a brand for technology. They reward brands for solving their problems quickly, fairly, and with empathy.” My take on this is that customers don’t care that you have technology. They care about their experience, regardless of technology. To create the optimal CX, you must understand how customers think and behave.
(CX Dive) A focus on transparency and automation, with live support for stressful situations, can help craft a great returns experience, experts say.
My Comment: If you’re a retailer, you know that what follows the “holiday season” is the “return season.” This article shares data on how customers view return policies and offers best practices for managing returns and addressing the stress associated with returning items.
(CX Today) Capgemini has released its 2026 Consumer Report, detailing how consumer value has now shifted toward fairness, transparency, and emotional connection.
My Comment: We wrap up this week’s Top Five with a summary of a consumer research report about the shift in a customer’s priorities around fairness, transparency, and emotional connection. There are several insights around these priorities that almost any business should consider. While some customers put a low price as the priority, there are many customers willing to pay extra for the brands that make doing business with them easy and safe.
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.
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