Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of June 30, 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.

New Strategies: Switch the Focus within Your Business to the Customer by Steven Van Belleghem

(Jeweller Magazine) It’s time to lead by example within your store! Steven Van Belleghem reveals powerful strategies to improve customer experience within your business.

My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five with an article written by my friend and fellow CX expert, Steven Van Belleghem. This article is not about jewelry stores. It’s about some of the highest priorities you can give to creating a great experience for your customers. The article includes tips on hiring, training, creating a story worthy of repeating, leadership, and more.

The Power of a Customer-First Strategy by Melissa Puls

(Fast Company) When you remain centered on prioritizing customer needs and experiences, you create a foundation of trust and understanding that fosters long-term loyalty.

My Comment: This is an article on some foundational principles and basics tied to creating customer loyalty. For companies that are diving into digital self-service customer care with or without AI, the author emphasizes the balance between the digital and human-to-human.

How To Create Raving Fans, Not Just Customers: 5 Strategies Enterprises Must Embrace To Win Customer Loyalty by Sal Rehmetullah

(Forbes) Do you remember the last time you were so thrilled with a product or service that you told a friend, left a five-star review or became a walking billboard for the brand? Chances are, it wasn’t because the company had the flashiest website or the cheapest price. It was because they did something remarkable, something that made you feel seen, heard, and valued.

My Comment: As long as we’re on the subject of loyalty, here’s an article with five ideas on creating an experience that gets customers to come back. I especially like numbers two and five, which are to make the first five minutes (of using your product) magical and to create an experience that customers want to share. The author makes the point that you must design the experience with the idea that customers will want to share it.

Research Finds ‘Attractiveness Advantage’ in Customer Experience by Jordan Karnbach

(Ole Miss) Have you ever found yourself thinking a server, salesperson or customer service employee was especially attractive, and wondered if that changed the way you felt about the interaction or even the outcome?

My Comment: If you’ve ever called customer support and talked to someone who seemed intelligent, helpful, and enthusiastic about solving your issue, you probably have higher confidence in your result versus a person who is less than enthusiastic and seems to be reading from a script. Well, at least according to this article, you may have a similar experience in person if the employee is good-looking (attractive). According to this study, looks count. However, want to state for the record (my personal opinion) that it may not be physical looks as much as how “put together” the employee is, along with their attitude, rather than how good-looking they are. Still, I found this article interesting and intriguing.

The Three Pillars of Customer Loyalty: Why, Who, and How by Siba Padhy

(Solutions Review) Companies recognize that they need to take loyalty more seriously—the problem is that they don’t know where to start. This article explores how customer data platforms (CDPs), AI agents, and machine learning (ML) tools can solve this challenge.

My Comment: It seems we’re heavy on articles about customer loyalty, but is there a more important concept to why we work so hard to create a great customer experience? After all, we want our customers to come back. We close out this week’s Top Five with a very thoughtful piece on loyalty, discussing why we want loyalty, understanding who our customers are, and some ideas on how to go about getting the customer to say, “I’ll be back!”

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.