Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of July 27, 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.

Loyalty Points and a Widow’s Interaction with Customer Service: What Happens When a Company Forgets the Human Behind the Account by H. Dennis Beaver, Esq.

(Kiplinger) A widow was blocked from using her late husband’s loyalty points by a company that prioritized rigid, heartless bureaucracy over basic human compassion and common sense. What businesses can learn about customer service from her story.

My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five with an article that calls for empowering customer service reps to use their common sense when something reasonable falls outside of company policy. Ironically, just last week, I wrote an article about this exact type of situation, suggesting that every company needs a reasonable department to handle these types of issues.

Data Transparency Is a Tool to Win Back Customer Loyalty by Bryan Wassel

(CX Dive) Three in five consumers say they are more loyal to brands that clearly explain their privacy practices, a Sogolytics survey found.

My Comment: No doubt that trust drives repeat business and loyalty. This short article emphasizes the need for transparency in how a customer’s information is used. Why? It builds trust. Tell customers how you will use their information and promise them it won’t be abused. Julie Geller, research director at Info-Tech Research Group, is quoted as saying, “Transparency doesn’t have to feel rigid or interrupt the experience. It can be part of the brand’s personality and part of the brand promise.”

When Personalisation Feels like Surveillance and What to Do About It by Andre Prins

(LinkedIn Pulse) Personalisation, done well, is one of the most generous things an organisation can do for its customers. It says: we were paying attention, we remembered, and we used what we know to make this easier for you. Done badly, it says something very different. It says: we were watching.

My Comment: This is a perfect follow-up to the previous article. When you personalize the customer experience (correctly), it makes customers feel connected and want to return. When it goes beyond that, you lose trust and business. The one section in the article sums it up when the author explains: “The difference between being known and being tracked.”

Stop Hand-Holding Your Agents – Just Like This! by Megan Jones

(Call Centre Helper) When leaders hand-hold their agents too much, it creates a culture of dependency, compounding into what some refer to as “Baby Bird Syndrome”, where lack of confidence combines with a habit to always ask for the answers rather than to be self-reliant – ultimately draining time and creating a lose–lose situation for all involved.

My Comment: Here’s another article that emphasizes empowering agents to do what’s reasonable. Our friends at CallCentreHelper.com asked several CX experts about how to give contact center agents permission to use common sense and do what’s right for the customer and the company. The article wraps up with a comment: Empowerment isn’t a leap. It’s a process, and it starts with training that helps explain boundaries that empower decision-making.

Stop Mistaking a Viral Deal for a Loyalty Program by Diane Le

(SmartBrief) PAR Technology’s Diane Le explains how to build a robust loyalty program to ensure restaurant brands earn repeat customers, rather than relying on moment-based deals.

My Comment: Let’s close this week’s roundup with an article that emphasizes something that I’ve been preaching for years: Most loyalty programs are marketing programs that drive repeat business, but not true loyalty. There’s nothing wrong with repeat business, but you must know the difference. When your loyalty program offers points, perks, discounts, and coupons, that is marketing. As the article clearly points out, there is a difference between a coupon and a loyalty program.

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.