DCX Links | July 20, 2025
The Real Future of CX Isn’t Artificial—It’s Intentional
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Welcome to the DCX weekly roundup of customer experience insights!
The Real Future of CX Isn’t Artificial. It’s Intentional
There’s a shift happening beneath the surface of customer experience. It’s not just about adopting AI, personalizing journeys, or rewriting scripts. It’s about rethinking what customers value and what teams need to deliver it.
The most forward-thinking CX leaders aren’t chasing the latest tools. They’re asking better questions:
Are we building trust or just shaving seconds off interactions?
Do our agents feel empowered or replaceable?
Are we treating loyalty as an asset or an afterthought?
As budgets tighten and expectations rise, the margin for error is shrinking, but so is the distance between good and great. Customers can now tell the difference between brands that understand them and those that just automate around them.
This isn’t about doing more with less. It’s about doing right with what matters.
In this edition, we explore how CX pros can recalibrate around human-centered AI, emotional loyalty, intentional design, and real trust. Because in a world full of noise, the brands that will win are those that make every moment, every ping, every policy, every story actually count.
-Mark
This week’s must-read links:
What Workers Actually Want from AI
2025 CX Trendsetters Are All In on Human-Centered AI
Consumers Are Pulling Back
Stop Ignoring Your Best Customers
Smarter Notifications Start With Respect
The One Customer Story Your Brand Needs to Find
What Workers Actually Want from AI
Stanford’s new research reveals a telling gap between what AI can do and what workers actually want it to do. For customer experience leaders, the message is clear: successful AI integration isn’t about replacing humans—it’s about enhancing them. Workers want support, not surrender. Ignore that, and you risk losing both trust and talent.
Why it matters to CX
You can’t deliver great customer experiences if your team resents the tools they’re asked to use.
69% of workers welcome AI that removes repetitive busywork, freeing them to focus on meaningful, high-touch interactions.
But 45% say they don’t trust the accuracy of AI tools, and 23% fear job loss.
In CX, that fear translates to disengaged agents and generic service. Human-AI collaboration must feel like empowerment, not surveillance.
The real mismatch
Companies are often automating the wrong tasks.
41% of current AI usage targets low-desire or low-feasibility areas, like creative writing or customer-facing conversations.
Meanwhile, high-desire but underdeveloped tasks, like real-time budget tracking or proactive issue detection, go ignored.
CX teams should map automation plans against both employee needs and customer friction points, not just what tech vendors promise.
Skills that will outlast the hype
The most valuable CX pros won’t be those who write perfect reports, they’ll be the ones who can lead with empathy and think on their feet.
Stanford found declining demand for data analysis and process monitoring.
In contrast, skills like prioritizing work, training teammates, and communicating clearly are gaining value.
These “human touch” skills are the heartbeat of excellent customer experience. And AI isn’t close to replicating them.
The CX To-Do:
Treat your agents like co-pilots, not passengers. Before rolling out new AI tools, ask: Does this help them show up better for customers or just shave seconds off the clock?
🔗 Read the article → Stanford HAI
2025 CX Trendsetters Are All In on Human-Centered AI
Customer Success Collective and Zendesk’s annual CX Trends report confirms what many CX leaders already feel: AI is separating the leaders from the laggards.
Early adopters—dubbed “CX Trendsetters”—are using human-centric AI to unlock faster service, happier agents, and more loyal customers. The rest are falling behind—and fast.
Why it matters
Customers and employees can now tell who gets AI and who’s faking it.
70% of consumers say there’s a noticeable gap between brands that use AI well and those that don’t.
CX Trendsetters are nearly 4x more likely to deploy key AI tools like copilots, sentiment analysis, and intent detection.
Agents at Trendsetter orgs are 20% more empowered and far less likely to resort to risky “shadow AI” to get their jobs done.
Personalization, redefined
AI is no longer just about speed. It’s about tailoring the experience in ways that feel personal and smart.
61% of customers now expect personalized service from AI.
Trendsetters are doubling down on loyalty metrics: retention, FCR, IQS, powered by personalization at scale.
Brands like Lush and Siemens are leading with AI that feels empathetic, not robotic.
The CX shift: from agent-first to assistant-first
Zendesk sees a future where AI assistants don’t just support service, they lead it.
67% of consumers already use personal AI tools and want the same from brands.
By 2027, nearly 90% of CX Trendsetters plan to integrate assistant-first journeys, from scheduling to self-service.
Voice AI is surging too, with 74% of consumers wanting bots that understand and respond naturally.
The CX To-Do:
Benchmark your AI maturity: Are you still deploying bots or designing autonomous journeys? Catching up requires bold bets on copilots, human-like agents, and customer-led design.
🔗 Get the full report for free → Customer Success Collective
Consumers Are Pulling Back
Gartner’s new research shows 70% of U.S. consumers are spending less and saving more triggering recession-style habits.
Big-ticket items are out. Smaller packages and budget brands are in. For CX and marketing leaders, this isn’t just a sales slowdown, it’s a moment to re-earn trust and loyalty through relevance and empathy.
Why it matters to CX
Your customer’s mindset has changed—and your messaging better follow.
People are cooking at home, skipping upgrades, and trading down on everyday goods.
This isn’t just price sensitivity, it’s a shift in priorities: less flash, more value.
Customers still want to buy but they need a reason they can justify.
Empathy is your edge
Customers aren’t blaming brands this time. That’s a door wide open for connection.
Unlike inflation cycles, economic downturns make consumers more open to brand support.
Gartner recommends revisiting recession playbooks from 2008–2010: be useful, be human, and stop pretending it’s business as usual.
Messaging should say: “We see you. We’ve got your back.”
Build a 'permission to buy' strategy
Recession-mode customers want deals that feel smart not indulgent.
Give people a rationale that fits their financial mindset; savings, utility, or peace of mind.
Highlight flexible payment options, smaller sizes, bundles, or value guarantees.
Train your frontline teams to reinforce these cues in service interactions, not just ads.
The CX To-Do:
Update your journey maps: Are you still selling to the customer you had last year or the one tightening their belt today?
🔗 Source → Gartner
Stop Ignoring Your Best Customers
Jens Stark makes a case that’s painfully obvious, yet often ignored: when launching a new product or promo, your existing customers shouldn’t be an afterthought.
Too often, companies chase net-new revenue while leaving loyal customers feeling forgotten, frustrated, or even ripped off.
Why it matters to CX
When you exclude existing customers from offers, you erode trust and that trust is hard to win back.
A loyal customer sees a better deal offered to "Dear Occupier" and wonders: Why am I paying more?
When they call to ask for the same deal and are told no, that “loyalty” starts slipping into churn risk.
CX teams are left cleaning up the mess, handling complaints, escalations, and cancellation threats that were completely avoidable.
The hidden cost of ‘new only’ offers
Trying to avoid revenue cannibalization? You might be feeding churn instead.
Offering a cheaper or better version of a product to new customers without an upgrade path for current ones is short-sighted.
Businesses fear losing $20/month in revenue but overlook the longer-term value of loyalty, retention, and brand advocacy.
Stark’s advice: don’t let Mr. Cash knock out Mr. Customer Value in the first round.
A smarter launch playbook
Make existing customers part of the plan from day one.
Assume they’ll see the new offer and plan for their reaction.
Loop in your service, sales, and retention teams early to map the impact.
Build flexible upgrade paths or at least a manual workaround, so agents aren’t stuck saying “no” with no backup.
The CX To-Do:
Next time you launch a campaign, start with this question: How will this feel to our current customers? If the answer is “like a slap in the face,” pause and rethink.
🔗 Learn more→ Scaling Customer Value
Smarter Notifications Start With Respect
Vitaly Friedman delivers a UX wake-up call: most apps are over-notifying—and users are tuning out.
Whether it's push, in-app, or email, bad notification design is killing engagement and creating frustration. CX leaders, take note: this isn't just a design issue it’s a trust issue.
Why it matters to CX
Notifications are part of the experience. If they’re broken, your experience feels broken.
Users mute or ignore most messages because they’re irrelevant, mistimed, or too frequent.
People value messages from humans not automated nudges, promo spam, or random alerts.
Every ding, buzz, and banner shapes how customers feel about your brand.
Design for attention, not addiction
Vitaly breaks notifications into three levels: high, medium, low and says design should follow suit.
High = urgent alerts, critical errors, confirmations.
Medium = success messages, acknowledgments.
Low = passive info, badges, status updates.
Tailor tone, timing, and delivery to match the urgency, not just the content.
The golden rule: Less, better, personalized
More isn’t better. Better is better.
Facebook found that reducing notifications improved long-term engagement.
Offer notification “modes” like calm, regular, or power-user don’t make users build their preferences from scratch.
Let users snooze, pause, or switch channels (from push to digest email) based on their context.
The CX To-Do:
Audit your notification strategy. Are you informing, helping, or just interrupting? If it’s the last one, rethink your customer’s attention is not a resource to burn.
🔗 Read the full article → Smashing Magazine
The One Customer Story Your Brand Needs to Find
Shep Hyken reminds us that legendary CX isn’t built on policies, it’s built on moments worth retelling.
The Nordstrom tire return story (where an employee refunded a customer for tires the store never sold) still lives on 50 years later. Why? Because it captures the spirit of customer-first service in a single, unforgettable act.
Why it matters to CX
Stories shape culture in ways policies never will.
Legendary stories like Ritz-Carlton’s “Joshie the Giraffe” aren’t PR stunts, they’re internal lighthouses for behavior.
Employees at Ritz are empowered to spend up to $2,000 to fix guest issues no manager approval needed.
One housekeeper even hand-delivered a laptop from California to Hawaii. She wasn’t punished, she was applauded, then coached.
Empowerment drives storytelling
You don’t get hero stories without giving people room to act.
If your agents fear “breaking a rule,” they’ll never go above and beyond.
When employees are trusted to do the right thing, amazing things happen and those moments become teachable legends.
Culture is built in the everyday, not the exceptions.
Make story-hunting a habit
Don’t wait for magic—go find it.
Hyken’s advice: make it a formal effort. Look for great customer moments, collect them, and share them everywhere, onboarding, team huddles, all-hands.
These stories become your brand’s true north. They show new hires what “great” looks like—and remind seasoned teams why it matters.
The CX To-Do:
Start collecting your own Nordstrom stories. One unforgettable moment can teach more than a 20-slide deck ever will.
🔗 Read the article → Shep Hyken
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!
👋 Let’s connect—your voice shapes this community.
Got feedback? Drop me a quick note about what’s working, what’s missing, or what you want to see next. I read every message.
Wrestling with a CX challenge, strategy roadblock, or team hurdle? Send it my way. I’ll weigh in directly or crowdsource advice from the DCX network.
Just want to say hi or swap a story? I’m all for it. Every conversation sparks new ideas.
Your questions and insights keep this newsletter sharp and relevant. Comment, email, or DM me anytime. And if you’ve got a CX win, let’s celebrate it together.
— Mark
www.marklevy.co
Follow me on Linkedin
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