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Welcome to the DCX weekly roundup of customer experience insights!
Customer experience is evolving at every level—from how a hotel lobby smells to how your AI assistant responds. But beneath the tech and trends lies a deeper insight: memorable CX is built on moments that feel human, empowered by tools that make life easier, and strengthened by teams that grow through the hard stuff.
This week, we explore how brands are designing for the senses, rethinking automation, and embracing friction as fuel for growth. Whether you lead a contact center, design digital flows, or coach frontline teams, there’s something here to level up your CX game.
This week’s must-read links:
Hotels Are Hacking Your Senses
Do You Know Erica?
The Many Meanings of AI
Your Call Center Will Never Be the Same
Invest in Employees, Cash In on Customers
Hardship Makes Better Leaders (and Better CX)
Hotels Are Hacking Your Senses
That smell in the hotel lobby? Totally on purpose. From sandalwood in luxury resorts to cherry slushie candles at roadside chains, hotels are leaning on curated scents to trigger memories and keep guests coming back.
Why it matters for CX:
Smell is hardwired to memory. One whiff can take a guest right back to their vacation—and make them want to rebook.
Emotional recall is loyalty fuel. If the scent of your lobby makes someone feel relaxed or cared for, that’s brand equity you can’t buy with ads.
This isn’t just about hotels. Any CX leader can ask: what sensory cues are we giving customers that stick long after the interaction ends?
What’s happening:
Ritz-Carlton creates custom scents for each property. Marriott’s Edition line partnered with Le Labo for a signature aroma designed to feel “comforting and exotic.”
Many hotels now sell candles and diffusers so guests can literally take the experience home.
Even Super 8 got in on it, with road-trip candles like “gasoline” and “cherry slushie.” Quirky, but it works—nostalgia sells.
The bottom line: Sensory design creates sticky memories. If hotels can turn smells into loyalty drivers, what could your brand do with the senses at your disposal?
🔗 Read the article → Morning Brew
Do You Know Erica?
Bank of America’s Erica isn’t your typical chatbot. Since launching in 2018, it’s handled more than 3 billion customer interactions and become the centerpiece of the bank’s app. The real trick? It doesn’t try to replace humans. It knows when to help, when to hand off, and how to build trust.
Why it matters:
Most chatbots slow customers down. Erica speeds things up by either finishing the job or passing you to a person at the right time.
That balance shows up in the numbers. J.D. Power ranked Bank of America’s app highest in customer satisfaction this year.
Forrester says the app meets or beats expectations in 23 out of 25 categories. Customers aren’t just tolerating it—they’re relying on it.
What’s changing:
Erica started with around 200 tasks. Today, it handles more than 700 and more than half of its interactions are proactive—offering advice or suggestions before customers even ask.
That shift has made Erica a trusted source of financial guidance, not just a digital help desk.
Other banks have built assistants too, but Erica is still ahead on consistency, capability, and customer adoption.
The bottom line: Erica proves that a virtual assistant can be more than a gimmick. When you design it as a real product, it changes how customers engage, lifts satisfaction, and frees up humans for the moments that really count.
🔗 More Info → CX Dive
The Many Meanings of AI
Shep Hyken plays with new meanings for AI, and they cut straight to what matters in CX. Customers don’t care that AI is “artificial intelligence.” They care if it saves them time, removes hassle, and actually helps.
Why it matters:
The best AI is about avoiding inconvenience—no more long hold times or proving who you are three times before getting help.
Good AI feels always interested, showing up to help every time, without rolling its eyes or getting tired.
When AI stumbles—making up answers or missing the mark—it becomes artificial incompetence, and customers lose trust fast.
What’s happening:
AI is always improving. A year ago, bots felt robotic. Today, they sound almost human. If you’re not updating, you’re falling behind.
The amazing impact happens when AI handles the repetitive stuff, giving human agents time for the emotional, high-value conversations.
The smartest brands aren’t chasing full automation. They’re balancing machine speed with human empathy.
The bottom line: AI is only as good as how you use it. The winners use it to make life easier and more human, not more frustrating.
🔗 More → Shep Hyken
Your Call Center Will Never Be the Same
OpenAI’s new gpt-realtime release is more than a tech update. It’s a clear signal that the contact center model is about to flip. The days of phone trees and clunky IVRs are numbered, and that changes the game for CX leaders.
Why it matters:
Customers expect fast, human-like conversations. If your call center still makes them press through menus, you’re training them to leave.
With voice AI that actually sounds natural, handles accents, and follows instructions, routine calls can be automated without losing empathy.
This shift doesn’t replace human agents—it frees them. Your people can focus on the emotional, high-stakes moments where loyalty is won or lost.
What’s changing:
Phone calls stop being a cost sink. Smarter automation means shorter wait times, fewer mistakes, and more satisfied customers.
Metrics like handle time, first-call resolution, and CSAT will see real impact as AI takes the low-value volume off the board.
Training and coaching priorities evolve. Instead of scripts for common questions, agents need skills for complex problem-solving and building trust.
The bottom line: The contact center is moving from menu-driven frustration to conversation-driven service. Leaders who keep clinging to IVRs will fall behind. Leaders who lean into this change will cut costs, keep customers, and unlock new capacity for their teams.
🔗 Learn more→ OpenAI
Invest in Employees, Cash In on Customers
Leaders love to say “CX drives growth.” True, but here’s the part many skip: it all starts with employees. Annette Franz makes the case that employee experience (EX) is the hidden multiplier. When people feel supported with the right culture, tools, and training, every customer outcome—loyalty, referrals, spend—gets a lift.
Why it matters:
EX isn’t about free snacks or fun perks. It’s about whether people feel engaged, equipped, and trusted to do their jobs.
When employees are set up to succeed, the ripple effect hits customers directly: smoother service, more loyalty, stronger revenue.
Skip EX, and you’ll pay for it in churn, high recruiting costs, and frustrated customers.
What’s happening:
Gallup says highly engaged teams drive 21% higher profitability. That’s real money tied to engagement.
OC Tanner found great onboarding makes employees 69% more likely to stick around for three years, keeping customers happy with experienced teams.
MIT Sloan reports companies with top EX see 25% higher profitability and double the innovation. Happier employees don’t just perform better, they create the future.
The bottom line: CX starts with EX. Fix the culture, clear the roadblocks, give people the tools they need, and watch customer outcomes multiply.
🔗 Go Deeper: Annette Franz
Hardship Makes Better Leaders (and Better CX)
Seneca had it right: comfort makes us soft, challenges make us strong. That’s not just a life lesson—it’s a CX lesson too. When you spend your days firefighting customer issues or fixing messy processes, it’s easy to wish things were smoother. But those hard moments? They’re where the real growth happens.
Why it matters:
Customers don’t care how “comfortable” your team feels—they care about results. Tough problems force you to raise your game.
Teams that only handle easy wins fall apart when a real disruption hits. Resilient teams lean into challenges and come out stronger.
The loyalty customers feel often comes from the times you fought through friction and made things better.
What’s happening:
Resilience is now one of the top skills companies look for in CX leaders. The ability to stumble, get back up, and keep moving is a competitive edge.
High-performing CX teams don’t dodge the big problems—they see them as training. Every broken process fixed is a rep in the gym.
Comfort is a trap. Relying on shortcuts or easy fixes dulls the edge you need to innovate.
The CX To-Do: Treat tough challenges like training. Frame them as reps that make your team sharper, stronger, and better equipped to deliver.
🔗 More: Darius Foroux
Thank you!
I hope you found value in this week’s links. See you next Sunday at 8:15 am ET!
If this edition sparked ideas, share it with a colleague or team member. Let’s grow the DCX community together!
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