The New 10 Commandments of CX
10 brutal truths CX leaders can’t ignore—unless you’re cool with churn, chaos, and getting ghosted.
Executives love to talk about how to earn customer loyalty.
But loyalty isn’t earned through dashboards, surveys, or scripts.
It’s earned in the messy, emotional, real moments—when things break, when handoffs fumble, when silence gets louder than support.
If you’re leading CX and trying to keep everyone happy, you’re already losing.
Because CX isn’t about being nice.
It’s about being real.
It’s about fixing the stuff no one wants to touch.
And doing it before customers disappear—and take your credibility with them.
So what do you actually need?
Not another tool.
Not another talk track.
You need a set of rules that don’t flinch.
So here they are.
Frame them.
Fight with them.
Use them to call BS on the next half-baked roadmap review.
1. Clicks are easy. Feelings are hard. Start there.
You fixed the bug.
You reduced the clicks.
So why is the customer still pissed?
Because your customer doesn’t remember what they did—they remember how you made them feel.
Solve for that or stay stuck in churn mode.
Gut-check: When was the last time your team optimized for emotion, not just efficiency?
💬 What it looks like: A CX team rewrites error messages based on real customer language—so even when a transaction fails, the customer feels understood.
2. Customers don’t care about your org chart. They want answers.
They don’t care who owns what.
They just want their issue solved without being passed around like bad leftovers.
Fix your damn handoffs.
Gut-check: Are your internal workflows your customer’s biggest pain point?
💬 What it looks like: A cross-functional team maps handoffs and redesigns the journey so the customer gets a single point of contact until resolution.
3. To get executive buy-in, make them feel it.
If you think another deck is gonna move the needle for execs, you’re delusional.
Let them hear the rage.
Feel the frustration.
You don’t need buy-in—you need belief.
Gut-check: When was the last time your execs heard a raw customer story?
💬 What it looks like: Start every exec meeting with a customer call recording. Result? More urgency. Faster decisions. Less “we’ll look into it.”
4. Dashboards don’t drive change. You do.
If you're swimming in insights but can’t name one decision you made this week, congrats—you’ve built a museum.
CX isn’t a reporting function.
It’s a call to action.
Gut-check: What have we actually changed because of the data?
💬 What it looks like: The CX team runs a monthly "Insight to Action" review—one insight, one decision, one action. Shared org-wide.
5. NPS isn’t a strategy. Behavior is.
High score, happy execs...but revenue’s still flat?
That’s the problem.
Track behavior, not just buzz.
Gut-check: Do your high-scoring customers actually come back and buy?
💬 What it looks like: The team links NPS responses to retention data and uses behavior trends to guide their roadmap—not vanity scores.
6. CX isn’t a team. It’s a takeover.
You can't “own” the customer experience.
You lead it by infecting every team with it.
Gut-check: Are you a CX silo—or a CX spreader?
💬 What it looks like: CX partners with product, embedding customer pain points in sprint planning—and tracking resolution together.
7. Don’t automate your chaos.
Your chatbot won’t fix broken processes.
Your CRM won’t mask a culture that doesn’t give a damn.
Stop automating dysfunction.
Gut-check: Are we using AI to scale problems or solve them?
💬 What it looks like: Before deploying the chatbot, the team fixed the top 5 broken flows and trained the model on actual customer calls.
8. A slick UI won’t hide your back-end mess.
Your product looks great.
Too bad billing’s a black hole and your agents are flying blind.
Clean up your ops—or CX is just theater.
Gut-check: Are we polishing the experience or actually fixing it?
💬 What it looks like: Billing, support, and product teams align KPIs and run joint fire drills monthly to stress-test the entire experience.
9. Close the laptop. Pick up the phone.
VOC reports don’t build empathy.
Conversations do.
Real CX leaders block time every week to hear it straight.
No excuses. No skipping.
Gut-check: When did you last speak to a customer?
💬 What it looks like: Every week, a different leader talks to two customers—and opens the next team meeting with what they learned.
10. Don’t wow me. Just work.
You want fans?
Stop screwing up.
Nobody needs sparkle.
They need it to work. Every. Single. Time.
Gut-check: Are we over-promising and under-delivering?
💬 What it looks like: The team built playbooks not for moments of wow—but for moments of repeat. They track consistency like it’s a growth metric.
Ready To Lead?
These commandments are a challenge.
A challenge to stop hiding behind tools and titles.
To stop tolerating broken processes.
To stop whispering about problems and start naming them—out loud, in the room, in front of the people who can change them.
So don’t just nod along. Do something.
Send this to your team.
Pin it to the wall in your next war room.
Pick the one that hurts the most—and fix it.
This is how you lead CX with teeth.
With truth. With results.
And if you want help turning that gap into a win, let’s talk.
✅ CX Commandment Scorecard
Run this with your team. Be honest. Check what’s true right now. Click on this link or the image below, to access a live scorecard that you can complete and print out.
Which of these commandments is your company breaking right now?
Hit reply. Let’s blow it up together.
Want The CX Playbook I Wish I Had Years Ago?
It’s coming soon—and it’s built to help you do what actually works.
You’ll get:
Templates I use with real teams
Talking points that cut through exec noise
Team prompts that create real alignment
Tools to stop chasing shiny objects
Metrics that matter when it’s time to prove impact
👉 Just reply: Send me the playbook to join the waiting list.
What Successful CX Leaders Do on Sundays
DCX Links: Six must-read picks to fuel your leadership journey delivered every Sunday morning. Dive into the latest edition now!
👋 Please Reach Out
I created this newsletter to help customer-obsessed pros like you deliver exceptional experiences and tackle challenges head-on. But honestly? The best part is connecting with awesome, like-minded people—just like you! 😊
Here’s how you can get involved:
Got feedback? Tell me what’s working, what’s not, or what you’d love to see next.
Stuck on something? Whether it’s a CX challenge, strategy question, or team issue, hit me up—I’m here to help.
Just want to say hi? Seriously, don’t be shy. I’d love to connect, share ideas, or even swap success stories.
Your input keeps this newsletter fresh and valuable. Let’s start a conversation—email me, DM me, or comment anytime. Can’t wait to hear from you!
— Mark
www.marklevy.co
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Thanks for being here. I’ll see you next Tuesday at 8:15 am ET.
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Simple yet powerful advice on CX. I hope people are listening!