Welcome to the DCX weekly roundup of customer experience insights!
Something’s changing in customer experience—and fast.
One moment, it’s all about frictionless design. The next? We’re realizing that too-smooth journeys might be quietly draining trust, attention, or even well-being. Meanwhile, customers—especially women, who will control $140 trillion by 2030—are shifting their loyalty not based on speed or flash, but on values: transparency, fairness, sustainability, and belonging.
This week’s stories tell a clear story:
Small design choices are creating ripple effects that go far beyond the screen.
Supervisors (yes, those unsung heroes) are turning strategy into real behavior change.
Quiet users are offering the best feedback—if we take the time to ask.
And AI? It’s not replacing your team—but it is helping them level up fast.
If you’ve been focused on efficiency, this is your nudge to zoom out. The next era of CX belongs to teams who design with depth, listen before they launch, and treat every decision like it matters—because it does.
Let’s dive into what’s changing and how to stay ahead of it.
This week’s must-read links:
Small Design Choices, Big CX Consequences
The Great Power Switch: How Women Are Rewriting the Customer Playbook
Listen First. Build Second.
The Hidden Engine of Great CX
DCX Stat of the Week: AI for Tracking? Yes. For Payments? Not So Much.
DCX Case Study of the Week: Startek’s AI Sims Turn a Flat NPS into a Fan Factory
Small Design Choices, Big CX Consequences
A scroll button, an autoplay loop, a chat pop-up—tiny design details can spark massive ripple effects. The UX Butterfly Effect by Martin Tomitsch and Steve Baty shows how small design choices can shape behavior, business outcomes, and even the planet.
Why it matters for CX:
Every design choice creates reactions—some predictable, others hidden. TikTok’s algorithm keeps users engaged but also fuels carbon emissions and mental fatigue.
In CX, “frictionless” isn’t always “harmless.” Features that boost engagement can erode trust, attention, or well-being over time.
Seeing systems clearly helps CX leaders prevent short-term wins from creating long-term pain.
What CX pros can learn:
Map the ripples. Use tools like systems maps or “impact ripple canvases” to spot where customer interactions could cause second- or third-order effects.
Design beyond the screen. Every click sits on a physical network—servers, data centers, energy grids—that shapes your brand’s sustainability footprint.
Uncover the hidden layers. Like an iceberg, most consequences hide beneath the surface—culture, incentives, and values drive the outcomes customers feel.
The CX To-Do: Before launching new features, ask: “What happens next?” If your design drives engagement, what else might it drive—exhaustion, confusion, or waste? Anticipating unintended consequences is the new customer empathy.
Go Deeper: Doc
🔗 Go Deeper:
The Great Power Switch
How Women Are Rewriting the Customer Playbook
Women are becoming the most powerful force in the global economy—expected to control $140 trillion by 2030. But this isn’t only about money. It’s about a new kind of customer: informed, connected, and driven by purpose. For CX teams, that means redesigning how we build trust, loyalty, and belonging.
Why it matters for CX:
Women now drive 80% of spending and will soon hold half of global wealth. If your brand doesn’t align with her values—transparency, fairness, sustainability—you’ll lose her loyalty fast.
She expects relationships, not transactions. Brands that feel human, helpful, and consistent win repeat business.
The traditional “mom, dad, and two kids” customer model no longer reflects reality. Most women live, work, and spend through networks—not households.
What smart brands are doing:
Financial innovators like Ellevest and Sequin tailor products around goals and confidence, not gender. CX teams can do the same: design journeys around mindset and motivation.
Community-based loyalty is the new retention strategy. Think shared causes, not points programs. Build spaces where customers see themselves reflected.
AI as empowerment tool: Women now make up 52% of ChatGPT users. They’re using it to upskill, plan, and invest—your experience should meet that same level of agency and personalization.
The CX To-Do: Audit your customer journey through a female lens.
Ask: Does it feel inclusive? Transparent? Supportive of long-term trust? The companies that answer “yes” will own the next decade of loyalty.
🔗 Go Deeper: Faith Popcorn, The Popcorn Report
Listen first. Build second.
The story
Sirolli tried to help people by bringing his own ideas. The projects failed. Why? No one asked locals what they needed. In one town, tomatoes grew big and red. Then hippos ate them. Locals said, “That’s why we don’t farm there.” No one had asked.
Sirolli changed his approach. He met people one on one, in simple places like a cafe. He listened first. Then he helped them find the skills and partners to make their own ideas real. That method worked.
Why CX teams should care
Customer pull beats internal push. If you build features people never asked for, you waste time.
Quiet users have gold. Big surveys miss the people who do real work. Talk to them in private.
No one can do it all. Great results need three parts: build the thing, explain the value, measure the impact. Assign clear owners.
Respect creates truth. Private, safe spaces lead to honest feedback. Honest feedback leads to better products.
Actions you can take
1) Ten quiet calls
Pick customers who renew early or grow with you but rarely post online. Ask only three questions:
What are you trying to do with our product?
Where do we slow you down?
What workaround do you use when we fail you?
2) Hippo check
List five recent feature bets. For each, write the exact customer request and who pays for it. If you cannot name both, pause that work and talk to customers.
3) Three hats
For your top journey, name one owner for each hat:
Build
Tell the story
Measure outcomes
If one person wears two hats, find a partner before the next sprint.
4) Small private beta
Skip the big webinar. Do eight one-on-one walkthroughs. Take notes with permission. Ship only what shows up again and again.
One last note
People rarely share their best ideas in public meetings. Treat customers like founders with a new prototype. Give them privacy. Show respect. Be direct. Then build what they pull.
The Hidden Engine of Great CX
Everyone wants to talk about AI, automation, and self-service. But Nick Clark reminds us the real power in customer service sits one level up from the front line: the Supervisor. They’re the bridge between leadership’s big ideas and what actually happens on the floor.
Why it matters for CX:
Supervisors turn strategy into behavior. They explain why change is happening and make sure it sticks through coaching and feedback.
In one company, AI adoption varied by 30 points between teams—depending on how engaged the Supervisor was.
They’re also the calm in the escalation storm. Customers often accept a message from a Supervisor they refused from a rep minutes earlier.
What CX leaders should do:
Bring them into the room early. Add Supervisors to transformation teams. It builds ownership and surfaces real-world blockers fast.
Give them the context before the comms. When Supervisors understand the why, they lead with confidence, not confusion.
Lighten their load. Automate reports, scheduling, and admin—so they can focus on people, not paperwork.
The CX To-Do: Stop treating Supervisors as middle managers. Treat them as multipliers. Every change program succeeds—or fails—through them.
🔗Go Deeper: Nick Clark - Service Matters
DCX Stat of the Week
AI for tracking? Yes. For payments? Not so much.
49% of consumers say they’d use AI to track an order or delivery status — but only 29% would use AI to make a payment.
Takeaway: Don’t force AI into high-stakes moments. Start with low-risk, high-utility tasks (order status, FAQs), then offer fast human handoff for money moves and sensitive actions.
🔗 Go Deeper: PwC — 2025 Customer Experience Survey (Sept 29, 2025)
🔗 MORE STATS: Daily Stats on Substack Notes
DCX Case Study of the Week
Startek’s AI sims turn a flat NPS into a fan factory
CX Challenge: NPS was stuck at 5.26—a red flag for churn and shaky agent confidence. Traditional training wasn’t moving the needle.
Action Taken: Swapped slide-deck training for AI coaching simulations that mirror real calls, score performance, and coach agents on exactly where they struggled.
Result: Crushed the target NPS of 45 and landed at 73.35—a 68-point swing—while boosting agent confidence.
Lesson for CX Pros: Make practice the product. Start with your highest-volume, high-friction scenarios; build a reusable sim library; review proficiency weekly; and iterate based on error patterns. You’ll speed ramp, standardize quality, and see loyalty metrics move fast.
Quote: “In the first week, we witnessed tangible performance improvements.” — Glorie Estacio, Sr. Manager, Learning & Performance Impact, Startek.
🔗 Further Reading: SymTrain x Startek case study
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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— Mark
www.marklevy.co
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