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

5 Questions CX Leaders Are Asking (and What They Really Mean) by Jeannie Walters

(CMSWire) Forget dashboards and demos — the most telling moments at X4 came after the keynote, when leaders asked what’s really holding customer experience back.

My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five with a great article by Jeannie Walters, who just released the book Experience Is Everything. If you lead or are involved with anything related to CX, this article is a must-read. The five questions Walters covers are about why an investment, a change, or certain measurements aren’t performing the way you want. And even if they are, you will want to read her answers.

What Companies Can Learn from Their Biggest Fans by Marcus Buckingham

(Harvard Business Review) Your most devoted employees and customers have a lot to teach you about loyalty and performance.

My Comment: Here’s another excellent article from HBR, and the focus is on your “biggest fans.” And what makes them your biggest fans? Three words: extreme positive experiences. The article goes on to show the difference between bad, good, and extreme customer experiences, and how they make customers feel.

7 Surprising Shopper Psychology Trends to Help Grow Your Small Business by Erica Sweeney

(CO) Why do people buy what they buy and shop where they shop? These are the fundamental questions of shopper psychology. And, it’s complicated. But when small businesses understand what drives consumer behaviors and motivations, they can attract shoppers.

My Comment: This article gives us a snapshot of how consumers think about shopping. Specifically, the article identifies seven trends. The author makes the point that purchasing decisions are first driven by emotions, and then consider price, quality, value, and a need to justify their purchases.

Customer Loyalty Is Becoming More Fragile. Here’s the Leadership Mistake That’s Fueling Its Decline. by Natalie Ruiz

(Entrepreneur) Why trust and emotional connection, not speed or automation, drive lasting loyalty — and how you can use humans and technology together to keep customers coming back.

My Comment: This article isn’t about a loyalty program. It’s about misconceptions that cause bad decisions… Looking at the wrong metrics could give you the wrong impression about what’s driving loyalty. Automation is great, but it could be putting a wall between you and your customers. And removing humans from the experience can diminish its value and destroy loyalty. If any of those topics resonate with you, you’ll enjoy the article.

The Handoff Is Where CS Goes to Die by Lincoln Murphy

(Sixteen Ventures) I’ve done root cause analysis on churn at hundreds of companies. Different industries, different sizes, different products. And one thing comes up more consistently than almost anything else. The relationship was damaged before Customer Success ever touched it.

My Comment: We wrap up this week’s Top Five with a short article to remind you about something customers hate: the handoff/transfer. It destroys confidence when the first agent lacks the knowledge or isn’t empowered to make a customer-focused decision. It means the customer will most likely have to repeat their story. (Customers hate that!) And a big part of the experience becomes wasted time. I recently wrote about the top ten reasons customers leave, and several of them fall under the category of poor handoffs or transfers. While it’s impossible to never have to transfer a customer to someone else, at least do it right.

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.