Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of July 14, 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.
A Million Customer Conversations with AI Agents Yielded This Surprising Lesson by Vala Afshar
(ZDNET) Salesforce began with a restricted rollout and targeted content, allowing us to learn quickly, iterate, and enhance the system. Today, these AI agents provide consistent, multilingual service at scale, leveraging a diverse set of reliable data.
My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five roundup with an article from the amazing Vala Afshar, the Chief Digital Evangelist for Salesforce. The subject is AI, and I like this deep dive into his three best practices recommendations. While Salesforce is a huge company, that doesn’t mean the strategies and tactics that Vala shares don’t apply to small and medium-sized businesses. They do. Whether you are currently using or thinking of using AI for customer service and CX, you will want to read this article.
Dear Bosses, Please Stop Calling It “the Year of the Customer” by Hope Horner
(Inc. Magazine) There’s nothing wrong with wanting to put more emphasis on the customer. That instinct is a good one. But enough with the slogans! If it’s really about the customer, prove it.
My Comment: I’ve preached from the very beginning of my career that a focus on the customer is an all-the-time effort. I’ve been to many company conferences and worked with clients who say something similar to “This is the year of the customer.” This article does an amazing job of pointing a few things out. In the author’s words, “…if you have to declare it the ‘year of the customer,’ it’s because the customer hasn’t been a consistent priority.” Paying attention to customer service and customer experience (CX) shouldn’t be a theme for a year. It should be forever.
Everyone Talks CX. Almost No One Delivers by Businesswire
(Martech Cube) Harvard Business Review Analytic Services study in association with Infobip reveals the AI gap undermining customer experience.
My Comment: This very short article is about the disconnect leaders have in thinking their AI and CX are meeting their customers’ expectations. The follow-up to the title of this article (which is a quote from Ben Lewis, VP Marketing and Growth at Infobip) is, “When brands can’t deliver meaningful, human-like conversations, they don’t just lose efficiency – they lose trust.” There’s a report you can download, but consider what I’ve been preaching about AI. There must be a balance between AI-fueled customer support and live/human support. There’s only so much AI or chatbots can do. Don’t put your company at risk of losing customers because you’re out of balance and not meeting customer expectations.
Why Prime Day Works—And What You Can Learn From It by Brittany Hodak
(Brittany Hodak) You don’t need to sell millions of products a minute to borrow from Amazon’s playbook. You just need to think like a fan-centric brand. Here are three ways to elevate your impact regardless of your industry or size.
My Comment: You don’t have to be Amazon (or be the size of Amazon) to learn from them and take advantage of those lessons. Brittany Hodak, fellow CX expert, gives us an overview of the Amazon Prime Day (week) sale and why it works. The shares three actionable steps to create a sale that will endear you even more to your “superfan” customers. There’s a lot packed into this short article.
Minibar Math Is So Wild, a $130 Tiny Vodka Makes Restaurant Cocktails Feel Like a Steal by Darron Cardosa
(Food & Wine) Going out to dinner is a costly outing and it almost feels like you need to take out a second mortgage or skip a month of rent to do it. But I have found a way to make it feel like it’s not that expensive and all I have to say are six little words: At least it’s not the minibar.
My Comment: In my book, The Convenience Revolution, I use the hotel minibar as a perfect example of convenience. A premium price is often charged for taking a drink or snack from the minibar. This entertaining article will leave you surprised at just how much of a premium price customers will pay. For example, a Snickers bar in a drug store is less than $2.00, but at this author’s hotel minibar, it was $10. That’s about $2.00 a bite. But customers are willing to pay these prices. Why? Convenience! The takeaway from this article shouldn’t be about high minibar prices. It should be something I’ve been preaching for years. The experience – and in this case, it’s a convenient experience – makes price less relevant.
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.
A Million Customer Conversations with AI Agents Yielded This Surprising Lesson by Vala Afshar
(ZDNET) Salesforce began with a restricted rollout and targeted content, allowing us to learn quickly, iterate, and enhance the system. Today, these AI agents provide consistent, multilingual service at scale, leveraging a diverse set of reliable data.
My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five roundup with an article from the amazing Vala Afshar, the Chief Digital Evangelist for Salesforce. The subject is AI, and I like this deep dive into his three best practices recommendations. While Salesforce is a huge company, that doesn’t mean the strategies and tactics that Vala shares don’t apply to small and medium-sized businesses. They do. Whether you are currently using or thinking of using AI for customer service and CX, you will want to read this article.
Dear Bosses, Please Stop Calling It “the Year of the Customer” by Hope Horner
(Inc. Magazine) There’s nothing wrong with wanting to put more emphasis on the customer. That instinct is a good one. But enough with the slogans! If it’s really about the customer, prove it.
My Comment: I’ve preached from the very beginning of my career that a focus on the customer is an all-the-time effort. I’ve been to many company conferences and worked with clients who say something similar to “This is the year of the customer.” This article does an amazing job of pointing a few things out. In the author’s words, “…if you have to declare it the ‘year of the customer,’ it’s because the customer hasn’t been a consistent priority.” Paying attention to customer service and customer experience (CX) shouldn’t be a theme for a year. It should be forever.
Everyone Talks CX. Almost No One Delivers by Businesswire
(Martech Cube) Harvard Business Review Analytic Services study in association with Infobip reveals the AI gap undermining customer experience.
My Comment: This very short article is about the disconnect leaders have in thinking their AI and CX are meeting their customers’ expectations. The follow-up to the title of this article (which is a quote from Ben Lewis, VP Marketing and Growth at Infobip) is, “When brands can’t deliver meaningful, human-like conversations, they don’t just lose efficiency – they lose trust.” There’s a report you can download, but consider what I’ve been preaching about AI. There must be a balance between AI-fueled customer support and live/human support. There’s only so much AI or chatbots can do. Don’t put your company at risk of losing customers because you’re out of balance and not meeting customer expectations.
Why Prime Day Works—And What You Can Learn From It by Brittany Hodak
(Brittany Hodak) You don’t need to sell millions of products a minute to borrow from Amazon’s playbook. You just need to think like a fan-centric brand. Here are three ways to elevate your impact regardless of your industry or size.
My Comment: You don’t have to be Amazon (or be the size of Amazon) to learn from them and take advantage of those lessons. Brittany Hodak, fellow CX expert, gives us an overview of the Amazon Prime Day (week) sale and why it works. The shares three actionable steps to create a sale that will endear you even more to your “superfan” customers. There’s a lot packed into this short article.
Minibar Math Is So Wild, a $130 Tiny Vodka Makes Restaurant Cocktails Feel Like a Steal by Darron Cardosa
(Food & Wine) Going out to dinner is a costly outing and it almost feels like you need to take out a second mortgage or skip a month of rent to do it. But I have found a way to make it feel like it’s not that expensive and all I have to say are six little words: At least it’s not the minibar.
My Comment: In my book, The Convenience Revolution, I use the hotel minibar as a perfect example of convenience. A premium price is often charged for taking a drink or snack from the minibar. This entertaining article will leave you surprised at just how much of a premium price customers will pay. For example, a Snickers bar in a drug store is less than $2.00, but at this author’s hotel minibar, it was $10. That’s about $2.00 a bite. But customers are willing to pay these prices. Why? Convenience! The takeaway from this article shouldn’t be about high minibar prices. It should be something I’ve been preaching for years. The experience – and in this case, it’s a convenient experience – makes price less relevant.
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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