DCX Links | June 22, 2025
CX Isn’t a Department—It’s a Mindset. Are You Ready?
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Welcome to the DCX weekly roundup of customer experience insights!
CX isn’t just about better tools or smoother flows.
It’s about showing up with the right mindset, the right moves, and a whole lot of heart.
This week’s links lineup has some serious inspiration: a self-service framework that actually helps customers (not frustrates them), a CEO who’s literally back in the driver’s seat, and teams tearing down silos to rebuild real momentum.
And I’m especially excited to share an interview with my awesome Frontier Communications colleague Charlon McIntosh, who sat down with Forrester to walk through Frontier’s CX transformation journey - fast, scrappy, and all heart.
Whether you're leading through chaos, fixing what’s broken, or just trying to get marketing, finance, and CX on the same page, there’s something here for you.
-Mark
This week’s must-read links:
Get SAASSSY About Digital Self-Service
Lyft’s CX Turnaround Starts in the Driver’s Seat
Show the Time, Win the Click
Want to Lead Through Chaos? Change Your Operating System
Time for Marketing to Make a Comeback
The Epic Transformation of Frontier Communications
Get SAASSSY About Digital Self-Service!
Gartner reports only 40% of CSRs actively promote digital self-service—but that doesn’t mean 60% more should start blurting “Have you tried online?”
The Problem: Lazy Promotion = Angry Customers
Most customers already started online. Telling them to go back feels tone-deaf, not helpful. Worse, it erodes trust and increases friction, exactly what self-service is supposed to prevent.
The Fix: The SAASSSY Framework
Nick Clark introduces SAASSSY, a 7-step guide for smart self-service conversations:
Suitable?
Able to access?
Aware of the option?
Sure how to use it?
Seasoned user?
Successful last time?
Say “Yes”?
It’s a thoughtful, diagnostic approach that respects each customer’s context, because one-size-fits-all never fits.
CX Pro Takeaway: Personalize the Push
Train agents to ask, not assume. Layer in digital behavior data to tailor suggestions. And stop chasing deflection rates—start measuring customer readiness. That’s how you shift digital from fallback to first choice.
🔗 Learn more→ Source
Lyft’s CX Turnaround Starts in the Driver’s Seat
At the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit, Lyft CEO David Risher shared how he’s reviving the rideshare brand by anchoring everything in customer obsession. From driving incognito himself to launching products like Price Lock and Women+ Connect, Risher blends lived experience with deep listening to fuel growth—and it’s working: record bookings, a 31% revenue boost, and first full-year profitability.
Falcon Mode: Fix What’s Fading
Risher’s “Falcon Mode” means zooming in fast on friction—like unpredictable pricing or driver bathroom access, and turning insight into action. His war on “enshittification” (yes, he said it) shows how service erosion happens slowly… until it’s everywhere.
CX Pro Takeaway: Obsess With Purpose
Don’t just analyze feedback—live it. Ride along. Listen hard. Track the slow fade of experience quality and fight it early. Build features that solve real problems, not just the visible ones. Obsession is only useful if it’s felt by the customer.
🔗 Read the article → Harvard Business Review
Show the Time, Win the Click
Akshat Biyani makes a strong case for something simple: adding estimated reading times to your content. Why? It helps people decide if they’ve got time—and makes them want to read. In fact, engagement jumped up to 40% when sites added this one line.
Tiny Tweak, Big Impact
Most people are already drowning in screen time—just tell them how long it’ll take.
It cuts the friction of “Do I have time for this?”
Tools like Google Page Analytics show where folks drop off. Reading time helps keep them around longer.
CX Pro Takeaway: Don’t Waste Their Time—Respect It
Add reading times to FAQs, help docs, onboarding flows—anywhere your customers are deciding whether to click. Bonus move: add a scroll progress bar to keep them going. Want to try it? Here are a few easy tools:
Read-o-meter – Paste in your text and get an instant reading time (200 words/min default).
The Read Time – Choose reading speed, paste your content, and get a precise time.
Words to Time – Converts word count to time using a 130 wpm average—good for denser content.
Or DIY with a quick formula: Word count ÷ 200 = minutes to read
🔗 Read the article → MarTech
Want to Lead Through Chaos? Change Your Operating System
Frederik Pferdt, Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist, says the key to navigating wild change isn’t a plan—it’s a mindset. In What’s Next Is Now, he calls it the future-ready mindstate—and it starts with choosing how you respond when things go sideways.
You Can’t Control the Fire—But You Can Control Your Frame
When a wildfire threatened his home, Pferdt didn’t panic—he got curious. That shift turned fear into clarity. His approach?
Don’t wait for the future—build it
Let go of control, grab hold of purpose
See every “what now?” moment as a chance to reimagine
CX Pro Takeaway: Future-Proof Your Mindset, Not Just Your Tech
Forget obsessing over the next tool. The best CX leaders ask, “What future do I want to create for my customers—and how do I start shaping it today?” Your mindset is your real edge. Keep it flexible, grounded, and human.
🔗 Read the article → Big Think
🔗 Get the book → Amazon
Time for Marketing to Make a Comeback
McKinsey’s latest research puts it plainly: too many companies have sidelined marketing—and it’s killing growth. If you want real customer-centric momentum, the CEO, CFO, and CMO need to stop working in silos and start rowing in the same direction.
How Things Went Sideways
Marketing lost its seat at the table—just 66% of Fortune 500s have CMOs reporting to the CEO
Everyone owns “growth” now, which means... no one really does
CMOs got boxed into brand and ad spend, not strategy or business impact
The Fix? Align the Power Trio
Companies with one clear customer-growth leader grow 2.3x faster
CMOs need to stop talking ROAS and start talking revenue
CFOs give marketing metrics credibility—when they partner, stuff moves
CEOs should stop thinking of marketing as a cost and start treating it like the growth engine
CX Pro Takeaway: Own the Customer, Or Someone Else Will
If you’re in CX, don’t sit back and wait for alignment—go build it. Team up with marketing. Bring finance into the room. And make sure the customer has a real voice at the table, not just in the slide deck.
🔗 Read the article → McKinsey
The Epic Transformation of Frontier Communications
When Frontier Communications came out of bankruptcy in 2021, the path forward was clear—and tough. The systems were outdated, the experience was broken, and customers were feeling it. CEO Nick Jeffery reset the vision with four priorities: build fiber, sell fiber, fix CX, and streamline operations. That’s where the real work began.
Guerilla CX, Real Impact
Working alongside Charlon McIntosh, Frontier’s Chief Customer Operations Officer, has been one of the most rewarding partnerships of my career. She’s a force, leading with heart, urgency, and what she calls “guerrilla CX”: fast, scrappy, no-excuses moves that remove friction and make life better for customers. No waiting for perfect conditions. Just real collaboration, clear priorities, and relentless follow-through.
CX Pro Takeaway: It’s People, Not Just Plans
You don’t fix CX by committee. You fix it with cross-functional grit, shared vision, and leaders like Charlon who stay obsessed with the customer. The systems will catch up, but the mindset shift starts now.
Check out this great interview for more details on how it all happened.
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.
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. I can’t wait to hear from you!
— Mark
www.marklevy.co
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