DCX Links | February 9, 2025
This Week’s Big Question—Are You Thinking Big Enough?
📌🚀A CX Leader’s Guide to Organizational Buy-In
Ready to cultivate a customer-obsessed culture? A CX Leader’s Guide to Organizational Buy-In is your playbook for ensuring that every department—customer service, sales, product, tech, finance, HR, and beyond—puts customers at the center of everything it does.
Learn how to rally every department around customer obsession, click the button below to get started:
Welcome to the DCX roundup of customer experience insights!
Every CX pro wants to improve things for customers, but are you looking at the bigger picture?
This week’s focus is rethinking how we approach experience design, leadership, and even how AI fits into customer interactions.
The main takeaway is that great CX isn’t just about better service; it’s about changing how businesses work on every level. Let’s dive in and challenge some of our usual assumptions this week.
Happy reading—and stay curious, DCXers!
-Mark
This week’s must-read links:
Stop Fixing Touchpoints—Fix The Whole Journey
One Big Thing: Clearing The Air
The Jevons Paradox Enters AI
Cigna’s Making Big CX Promises—Will They Deliver?
What If Your Phone Plan Worked For You?
AI Agents Are Here—And They’re Running the Show
Stop Fixing Touchpoints—Fix The Whole Journey
The Nielsen Norman Group just dropped some gold on Journey-Centric Design (JCD)—a smarter way to approach customer experience.
Instead of obsessing over individual moments (like checkout or chatbot responses), JCD focuses on customers' entire journey. Because let’s be real—no one cares if one step is smooth if the rest of the experience is a mess.
Why this matters for CX pros
A single great moment won’t save a bad journey. Fixing one touchpoint while ignoring the rest is like putting a fresh coat of paint on a sinking ship.
Journeys expose the real problems. Customers don’t think in touchpoints—they think in frustrations and outcomes. If you only focus on what’s right in front of you, you’ll miss what’s actually broken.
Seamless beats perfect. A “good enough” journey that flows is better than a few flawless touchpoints that don’t connect well.
Lessons from Journey-Centric Design
Map the whole experience. Start-to-finish, what does the customer go through? Where do they struggle?
Break the silo mindset. Stop thinking about “your” department’s role in CX and start thinking about how all the pieces fit together.
Fix the handoffs. Have you ever contacted support only to get transferred and have to explain everything all over again? Yeah. That’s what JCD helps prevent.
CX takeaway: Think bigger
Are you solving the right problem? Or are you just making tiny fixes that don’t change the big picture?
Are transitions smooth? If customers switch between a bot, an agent, and self-service, does it feel like one conversation?
Are you tracking journeys, not just moments? A great onboarding experience doesn’t matter if customers churn two months later.
Bottom line
Your customers don’t experience your company in isolated steps—they experience the whole thing. If you’re still treating CX like a checklist of “good” touchpoints, it’s time to zoom out and design for the entire journey.
One Big Thing: Clearing The Air
Leadership Garden’s article on “Calling Out Room Dynamics” dives into the power of naming awkward energy or unspoken tension in meetings and discussions. The idea: If you notice something off—tension, frustration, or even hesitancy—it’s more productive to call it out rather than quietly hoping it disappears.
Why it matters for CX pros
Trust factor: When you acknowledge underlying currents, you show honesty and respect. This builds a foundation of trust with both colleagues and customers.
Better decisions: Unaddressed tension often derails progress. Calling it out lets your team surface real issues—and solve them faster.
Behind the tension
The author highlights that our tendency is to “push forward”—but forcing progress without addressing what’s really happening can backfire.
Recognizing and naming tension isn’t about confrontation but transparency and respect for all parties.
Try it in your next meeting
Listen first: Are people quieter than usual or dismissive of certain ideas? Point it out calmly—“I notice some hesitation here; can we talk about what’s on your mind?”
Encourage honesty: Give your team or customers permission to share concerns without judgment.
Refocus on outcomes: Once the tension’s out in the open, guide the group toward finding solutions together.
Why you’ll stand out
Customer experience is all about trust and empathy—core ingredients for productive and meaningful dialogue. By calling out room dynamics, you create an environment where customers and colleagues feel safe to speak up. That openness drives better service, deeper loyalty, and stronger business results.
Unlock Influence That Inspires Action
Your playbook for building unshakable influence for CX professionals who lead, manage, or want to be heard.
The Jevons Paradox Enters AI
A recent post by Nick Clark, a BCG Partner, in his Service Matters substack, focuses on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s recent LinkedIn mention of the Jevons Paradox, which has sparked fresh buzz in the AI world.
The paradox says that as technology makes a resource more efficient to use, overall usage of that resource actually goes up. Translation for customer service: cheaper, faster AI could mean we see even more contact volume, not less.
Why it matters to CX pros: Non-stop growth
When digital channels become easier, people use them more. Instead of trimming the number of frontline service reps, new tech often unlocks new tasks and adds complexity—meaning companies lean on human support in fresh ways.
The triple effect
Easier access, more volume: Apps and messaging channels let customers check balances or raise issues without hassle—so they reach out more often.
Cheaper operations, broader roles: When service costs drop, businesses spot new tasks for their service teams—sales, debt collection, even order fulfillment.
Greater complexity, rising contact: As AI agents multiply, so do potential snafus—from login hiccups to unexpected interactions between autonomous systems. More complexity equals more need for human help.
Coach’s Corner: Embrace the paradox
Rethink ROI: Historical data shows we rarely see pure cost savings from new tech. Instead, AI lets you scale faster and deliver better outcomes.
Invest in skills: If you’re adopting more AI tools, make sure your team has the training—and the emotional intelligence—to handle higher-level problems.
Future-proof strategy: Plan how you’ll handle the uptick in customer questions as technology becomes more accessible.
Bottom line
AI is not a magic bullet for shrinking contact centers. It’s an enabler for bigger, more ambitious customer experiences. Lean in, build out your team’s capabilities, and use the efficiency gains to serve customers better—not just cheaper.
Cigna’s Making Big CX Promises—Will They Deliver?
The Cigna Group just launched a multi-year plan to shake up healthcare with bold moves on access, affordability, and transparency. They’re tying executive pay to customer satisfaction, rolling out new digital tools, and promising fewer headaches for patients dealing with the system.
Why CX pros should care
Accountability is everything: Cigna’s leaders now have their paychecks on the line for customer satisfaction—a strategy CX leaders in any industry should pay attention to.
Friction kills trust: They’re tackling pain points like prior authorizations, digital tracking, and provider communication. The lesson? Simplify, or risk losing customers.
What they’re doing
Easier access: Faster processes and expanded support for complex care (think cancer treatment).
Better tech: A new digital status tracker so patients know where they stand.
More transparency: Annual customer impact reports and clearer pharmacy pricing through Express Scripts.
Executive oversight: A new Office of Excellence and Transformation to ensure real change happens.
CX takeaway: Own the experience
Make transparency a habit: Customers don’t just want results; they want visibility into how things work.
Streamline the mess: If Cigna can simplify the healthcare maze, you can remove friction from your customer journey.
Tie success to CX: Would your leadership team make different decisions if their paychecks depended on customer happiness?
Bottom line
Cigna’s not just talking about change—they’re putting skin in the game. Whether they follow through remains to be seen, but the message is clear: customer experience isn’t a department; it’s a commitment.
What If Your Phone Plan Worked For You?
Helium Mobile is flipping the wireless industry upside down. Instead of locking customers into expensive plans, they’re offering a free plan that doesn’t just keep you connected—it pays you in Cloud Points. No contracts. No gotchas. Just rewards for using your phone like you already do.
The thinking behind it: People deserve better
Traditional telcos charge you a fortune, collect your data, and don’t give anything back. Helium Mobile is breaking that cycle. Their model is built on the idea that connectivity should be a right, not a privilege—and that customers should share in the value they create.
Why CX pros should care
Customers hate feeling trapped: Helium is winning trust by making switching easy and eliminating hidden fees.
Rewards drive engagement: Instead of squeezing customers for more money, they give back—turning loyalty into an actual benefit.
People-powered networks work: Helium uses customer data (with consent) to improve coverage where it’s needed most. The more people use it, the better the network gets.
The plans: No BS, just options
Zero Plan (Free!): 3GB of data, 300 texts, 100 minutes—no cost, plus you earn Cloud Points.
Air Plan ($15/month): 10GB of data with unlimited calls and texts.
Infinity Plan ($30/month): Unlimited everything.
How Cloud Points change the game
Your data = your rewards. Instead of selling your data behind your back, Helium lets you share anonymized info and get rewarded.
Real perks: Use Cloud Points for gift cards, streaming, travel, rideshares—things you actually want.
Earn more by engaging: Refer friends, give feedback, and stack up even more rewards.
CX takeaway: What if your customers felt this valued?
Remove friction: If Helium can make switching effortless, what’s stopping you from doing the same?
Turn engagement into rewards: Customers should feel like they’re gaining something, not just paying for a service.
Build a movement, not just a product: Helium’s model makes users feel like part of something bigger—can you do the same in your industry?
Bottom line
Helium isn’t just offering a new phone plan—they’re rethinking how customers and businesses interact. If they can break the mold in telecom, what’s stopping you from reshaping how you serve (and reward) your customers?
Source
AI Agents Are Here—And They’re Running the Show
NfX lays out a clear path: AI is moving from assisting humans to taking action on its own. We’re no longer talking about simple chatbots or co-pilots—AI agents are executing tasks, making decisions, and even hiring other AI to get things done. And, if you're not thinking about this shift, you’re already behind.
Why it matters for CX pros
Customers will expect more. AI-driven interactions will be instant, personalized, and seamless. There is no friction, no waiting—just results.
The role of CX teams is shifting. It won’t just be about providing service anymore but about orchestrating AI-driven experiences at scale.
AI-first companies are coming. We’re heading toward businesses where AI handles everything except high-level strategy. And that’s happening faster than you think.
Where we are now
Right now, AI agents are executing tasks without human oversight. The next step? AI creates solutions, innovates, and adapts. Soon, we’ll see AI-first organizations where machines run operations end-to-end.
The CX takeaway
What does this mean for CX? It's a whole new game. AI is about to handle more complex interactions, and customers will expect instant, seamless service. No friction, no waiting, just results. And that means CX teams won’t just be providing service—they’ll be orchestrating AI-powered experiences at scale.
Bottom line
According to NfX, the AI agent revolution isn’t some distant future—it’s happening right now. If you’re not adapting, you’re falling behind.
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!
👋 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? Hit me up whether it’s a CX challenge, strategy question, or team issue—I’m here to help.
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Your input keeps this newsletter fresh and valuable. Let’s start a conversation—email me, DM me, or comment anytime. I can’t wait to hear from you!
— Mark
www.marklevy.co
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📌🚀A CX Leader’s Guide to Organizational Buy-In
Ready to cultivate a customer-obsessed culture? A CX Leader’s Guide to Organizational Buy-In is your playbook for ensuring that every department—customer service, sales, product, tech, finance, HR, and beyond—puts customers at the center of everything it does.
Learn how to rally every department around customer obsession, click the button below to get started:
DCX Executive Coaching - 1:1 coaching for customer-obsessed leaders
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365 Days of Accountability - Accountability Books, Journals, and Exercises
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