Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of August 4, 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.
How Customer Satisfaction Surveys Went from Helpful to ‘Intrusive’ by Brent Jabbour and Simone Del Rosario
(Straight Arrow News) Roughly 25% of customers said they’ve stopped doing business with a company because it either sent too many surveys or the survey was too long.
My Comment: We open this week’s Top Five roundup with an article about surveys. Yes, I shared some commentary, and yes, my customer service research, but this article also features excellent commentary on satisfaction surveys. And, drum roll… Fred Reichheld, the grandfather of the Net Promoter Score (NPS), shares his take on surveys. If you’re interested in the benefits and concerns about customer satisfaction surveys, you will love this article.
What Prime Day 2025 Reveals About Shipping, Returns and Customer Expectations by Greg Kihlstrom
(CMSWire) Free shipping, easy returns and Buy with Prime drove record sales for Prime Day 2025. DTC brands must now meet these CX benchmarks year-round.
My Comment: Amazon Prime Day – actually four days – is over. What can we learn from Amazon’s big sale? Quite a bit! If you want to learn what motivates people to do business with you, especially if you sell to consumers, then this is an essential article to read. Learn from one of the top (if not the top) online retailers on the planet.
“Totally, Totally Gone”: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Predicts the End of Human Customer Service by Charlie Mitchell
(CX Today) Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has warned of a future where AI will eliminate entire job categories, including customer support.
My Comment: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (ChatGPT), made a bold prediction: In the future, AI will, as the title of this article indicates, will eliminate live customer support. He goes on to state that new jobs will open up, so it’s not all gloom and doom. However, read the last part of the article, where other experts offer a rosier picture of the future of live customer service/support.
How to Avoid the Customer Experience Cliff by Jennifer Lee
(CRM) In the race to modernize customer service, many companies are sprinting toward automation and AI with great urgency. But companies that go too far in that direction at the expense of the human side of customer service risk tumbling off what I call the Customer Experience Cliff—the point where automation displaces so many human roles that the quality of the customer experience takes a nosedive.
My Comment: The “Cliff” in this article refers to the point at which companies overuse technology, eliminating human-to-human interactions. I’ve always preached the importance of finding a balance. The mistake companies make is that, as the article points out, “when efficiency becomes the sole metric that counts, something essential is lost.” The point is, you don’t want to “go over the cliff.”
9 Essential Steps to CX Maturity by Melanie Mingas
(CX Network) Customer experience (CX) maturity is the road to customer centricity. It is the result of delivering a finely-tuned organization-wide CX strategy that considers customer and company needs to deliver measurable benefits and real results, including financial results.
My Comment: Wrapping up this week’s Top Five roundup, here’s an article that breaks down nine practical steps to help any company level up its customer experience. It’s not about big budgets. It’s about leadership, alignment, and putting CX at the center of your culture. If you’re serious about creating a customer-first organization, read this article.
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.
How Customer Satisfaction Surveys Went from Helpful to ‘Intrusive’ by Brent Jabbour and Simone Del Rosario
(Straight Arrow News) Roughly 25% of customers said they’ve stopped doing business with a company because it either sent too many surveys or the survey was too long.
My Comment: We open this week’s Top Five roundup with an article about surveys. Yes, I shared some commentary, and yes, my customer service research, but this article also features excellent commentary on satisfaction surveys. And, drum roll… Fred Reichheld, the grandfather of the Net Promoter Score (NPS), shares his take on surveys. If you’re interested in the benefits and concerns about customer satisfaction surveys, you will love this article.
What Prime Day 2025 Reveals About Shipping, Returns and Customer Expectations by Greg Kihlstrom
(CMSWire) Free shipping, easy returns and Buy with Prime drove record sales for Prime Day 2025. DTC brands must now meet these CX benchmarks year-round.
My Comment: Amazon Prime Day – actually four days – is over. What can we learn from Amazon’s big sale? Quite a bit! If you want to learn what motivates people to do business with you, especially if you sell to consumers, then this is an essential article to read. Learn from one of the top (if not the top) online retailers on the planet.
“Totally, Totally Gone”: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Predicts the End of Human Customer Service by Charlie Mitchell
(CX Today) Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has warned of a future where AI will eliminate entire job categories, including customer support.
My Comment: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (ChatGPT), made a bold prediction: In the future, AI will, as the title of this article indicates, will eliminate live customer support. He goes on to state that new jobs will open up, so it’s not all gloom and doom. However, read the last part of the article, where other experts offer a rosier picture of the future of live customer service/support.
How to Avoid the Customer Experience Cliff by Jennifer Lee
(CRM) In the race to modernize customer service, many companies are sprinting toward automation and AI with great urgency. But companies that go too far in that direction at the expense of the human side of customer service risk tumbling off what I call the Customer Experience Cliff—the point where automation displaces so many human roles that the quality of the customer experience takes a nosedive.
My Comment: The “Cliff” in this article refers to the point at which companies overuse technology, eliminating human-to-human interactions. I’ve always preached the importance of finding a balance. The mistake companies make is that, as the article points out, “when efficiency becomes the sole metric that counts, something essential is lost.” The point is, you don’t want to “go over the cliff.”
9 Essential Steps to CX Maturity by Melanie Mingas
(CX Network) Customer experience (CX) maturity is the road to customer centricity. It is the result of delivering a finely-tuned organization-wide CX strategy that considers customer and company needs to deliver measurable benefits and real results, including financial results.
My Comment: Wrapping up this week’s Top Five roundup, here’s an article that breaks down nine practical steps to help any company level up its customer experience. It’s not about big budgets. It’s about leadership, alignment, and putting CX at the center of your culture. If you’re serious about creating a customer-first organization, read this article.
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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