Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of June 16, 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.
NiCE Research Reveals Customer Service Happiness Is Rising by Contact Centres
(Contact Centres) NiCE’s 2025 Global Happiness Index reveals that consumers are now experiencing the benefits of AI in CX, and 69% trust AI-powered companies as much, or even more, than those without it.
My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five Roundup with a reminder to check out the NiCE research about customer service happiness. This is what I found interesting. Global happiness (not related to customer service or CX) has dropped by 10 points to 58% from last year. However, happiness related to customer service increased by 5%.
Attract New Customers Without Alienating Your Old Ones by Ryan Hamilton and Annie Wilson
(Harvard Business Review) In the pursuit of growth, companies often strive to attract new kinds of customers. But if those new segments have needs, values, and preferences that differ from current buyers’, that approach can backfire spectacularly, driving away a firm’s loyal base and shrinking revenues.
My Comment: The gist of this article is to understand that pursuing new customers, if not done the right way, can potentially cause a loss of existing customers. At first, I thought this article would be about offering discounts to new customers and upsetting existing customers by not offering something of similar value. I was pleasantly surprised when the article went into examples of brands chasing a new customer segment and unintentionally alienating existing customers.
Is My Feedback *Really* Important to You? by Nicholas Zeisler
(CustomerThink) Customer Support, Customer Service, and Customer Care (whichever you call it) tends to be a predominantly transactional existence: Customer has a problem, question, issue, etc.; Customer contacts brand; brand helps Customer (ideally); Customer goes on about life. And on and on.
My Comment:
My Comment: Too many companies claim customer feedback is important, but then treat it like a checkbox exercise. Customers know this. My annual customer experience research found 62% of customers assume the company won’t make any changes based on their feedback. This article captures the difference between companies that genuinely want feedback versus those that go through the motions. The author, a customer service expert, offered to give feedback to two different brands. One brand eagerly embraced a 30-minute feedback call, and the other treated it as a burden.
Do Consumers Really Want, or Value, AI for Customer Service? by Beth Schultz
(nojitter) “Whom you often long to speak to during a customer service call.” This clue from a recent New York Times mini crossword puzzle gave me nary a pause, thanks to the CX analyst in me. I knew “human” had to be the answer … despite the industry’s best efforts to insert AI agents into customer interactions.
My Comment: There’s a disconnect between what businesses think about AI in customer service and what customers actually experience. According to the article, while 75.9% of businesses believe AI has improved their customer service, only 35.6% of consumers agree. Furthermore, the research shared that 41.1% of customers anticipate AI’s impact will be negative, yet businesses continue pushing AI solutions. (My take on this is that even if AI can do something, it doesn’t mean the company should use it for customer support.) This article reminds us that using AI requires understanding consumer preferences, not just operational efficiency.
3 CX Lessons from X4 2025 that Leaders Can’t Ignore by Jeannie Walters
(CX Network) CX leaders have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to guide their organizations through this evolution. With the right mindset, strategy and commitment to action, the impact absolutely will be transformative.
My Comment: We wrap up this week’s Top Five roundup with an excellent article by fellow CX expert, Jeannie Walters. She shares three ideas, and the first two summarize ideas from other articles in this week’s roundup. AI is moving from automation to human-centric augmentation. In other words, AI helps but doesn’t replace humans. The second idea focuses on listening to customers and how they only create value when action is taken. While the third idea doesn’t relate to the other articles this week, it’s still a good one, mentioning Danny Meyer’s idea that “The employee is our first customer.”
BONUS
Time For A Mid-Year Customer Experience Reset by Brittany Hodak
(Brittany Hodak) It’s hard to believe, but 2025 will be halfway gone before you know it. July 2nd marks the exact midpoint of the year—and that makes this your 3-week heads-up to pause and ask: Are you keeping the customer experience commitments you made in January?
My Comment: You’ve seen Brittany Hodak’s articles in my Top Five Roundup before. What you may not know is that we co-host The SUPER AMAZING Show and feature a short customer service/CX tip every week. Brittany’s recent article suggests a “mid-year CX Reset” to ensure you are keeping the commitments you made in January. She also suggests a quick customer survey, checking in with top clients, and getting feedback from your team.
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.
