DCX Links | September 14, 2025
Big wins in CX don’t start with big moves—they start with small ones
Only 2 More Days Until The Psychology of CX 101 Launches
It’s Already #1 on the Amazon New Releases Charts!
Nir Eyal, Bestselling Author of Hooked Endorses The Psychology of CX 101
Featured on the latest edition of Be Customer Led with Marbue Brown
Welcome to the DCX weekly roundup of customer experience insights!
This week’s stories are a reminder that progress in customer experience isn’t always flashy. Sometimes, it looks like fixing one broken touchpoint. Or turning a refund into a moment of delight. Or making a chatbot feel more like a helpful friend than a search bar.
From Ralph Lauren’s AI stylist to Japan’s grocery delivery evolution, the common thread is clear: it’s not the tech itself—it’s how that tech makes people feel. Inspired. Heard. Safe.
We’re also seeing a shift in how CX proves its value. Leaders aren’t just chasing survey scores anymore—they’re connecting the dots between experience and business results. Because when CX drives revenue, cuts fraud, or builds trust at scale, it becomes impossible to ignore.
So if your roadmap feels stuck or your AI dreams feel out of reach, take this as your cue: start small, stay human, and move forward.
This week’s must-read links:
The Simple Step That Breaks the Stalemate
Japan’s Online Grocery Boom: CX Is the Real Battleground
When AI Becomes Your Stylist
The Experience Performance Era Has Arrived
0% of Fortune 500 Companies Will Fully Eliminate Human Customer Service by 2028
How Airbnb Cut Fraud by 40% and Fortified User Trust
The Simple Step That Breaks the Stalemate
We’ve all stared down a monster project. The kind that looks too big, too complex, and too risky to even start. Sahil Bloom calls out the trap: the longer we stare, the scarier it gets. Anxiety loves that pause. Momentum dies in it.
Why it matters:
Big goals in CX—like fixing churn or rolling out AI—rarely collapse from one fatal flaw. They stall because nobody takes the first step.
Teams wait for perfect plans, and customers wait while nothing changes.
Forward progress doesn’t come from grand strategies; it comes from small, concrete actions.
Ancient wisdom, modern work:
Hercules didn’t slay the Hydra by attacking all its heads at once—he focused on one.
Hemingway didn’t beat writer’s block with a whole novel—he wrote one true sentence.
Same principle in CX: stop obsessing over the end state, start with one piece you can move today.
The CX lens:
Send one follow-up to a customer who churned.
Fix one broken touchpoint in the journey.
Test one script change in the call center.
These aren’t small—they’re proof points that unlock bigger wins.
The CX To-Do: Ask yourself (and your team): What’s the simplest action we can take today that moves us closer to solving this? Then act.
🔗 Go Deeper: Sahil Bloom, Learning & Growth
Japan’s Online Grocery Boom: CX Is the Real Battleground
Five years ago, online grocery in Japan felt like a side hustle. Today, it’s a $40B industry projected to hit $271B by 2033. The surprise? It’s not the tech or the speed that decides who wins. It’s the experience.
Why it matters:
Giants like Amazon, Rakuten, Uber Eats, and Aeon are all in the mix. But in Japan, loyalty sticks when service feels precise and reliable.
Speed alone isn’t enough—shoppers want trust, habit, and little recovery moments that turn mistakes into loyalty.
One customer got the wrong order. Instead of just a refund, the grocer delivered the missing item too. That simple gesture created a fan.
How shoppers changed:
People aren’t stocking up once a week—they’re ordering smaller “micro-baskets” more often.
Cashless is now the norm, thanks to PayPay and mobile wallets.
Freshness, punctuality, and packaging? Customers treat them as non-negotiable.
The CX takeaway:
Metrics like NPS and automation rates only tell part of the story. Real progress comes when you fix root causes, not just deflect tickets.
AI personalization and loyalty ecosystems (like Rakuten Points) are setting new expectations.
Even delivery robots—rolling out in Tokyo—will live or die by whether they show up on time, with the right order, in the right way.
The CX To-Do: Don’t get dazzled by new tech. Focus on eliminating the friction your customers actually feel.
🔗 Go Deeper: CX Japan
When AI Becomes Your Stylist
Ralph Lauren just dropped Ask Ralph—an AI-powered shopping assistant built with Microsoft that feels less like a chatbot and more like a personal stylist. Instead of scrolling through endless product grids, shoppers type in, “What should I wear to a concert?” and get full Polo Ralph Lauren outfits—styled, shoppable, and ready to go.
Why it matters:
Customers don’t crave more choice, they crave better guidance.
Ralph Lauren turned AI into a human-feeling guide, not just a product search. That shift—helping customers feel inspired, not overwhelmed—is where real loyalty grows.
For CX pros, it’s a reminder: technology should create confidence, not confusion.
What’s new here:
Shoppers can refine looks with follow-up questions, just like talking to a store associate.
Outfits are presented visually, head-to-toe, making it easy to shop the whole look or just one piece.
The tool will expand to more brands and markets, learning from every interaction.
What CX pros should steal:
Think less about features, more about flow. How can AI smooth the journey so customers feel guided?
Borrow the “in-store associate” mindset—translate it to your app, your call center, your chatbot.
Use AI to inspire action, not just answer questions.
The CX To-Do: Reframe your AI strategy: it’s not about replacing humans, it’s about scaling human-like guidance.
🔗 More → Ralph Lauren
The Experience Performance Era Has Arrived
Zack Hamilton is calling out the elephant in the CX room: executives don’t care about survey scores. They care about revenue, cost, and churn. That’s why he built the Experience Performance System™ (EPS)—an operating system designed to turn friction into financial outcomes leaders can’t ignore.
Why it matters:
Too many CX teams get stuck reporting NPS while competitors are already quantifying pain in dollars.
EPS flips the script: CX isn’t a side project, it’s a driver of the P&L.
The risk of staying in the old model? Being sidelined when real strategy gets decided.
How EPS changes the game:
Capture reality: Go beyond surveys—use customer and employee signals to see the full picture.
Translate friction: Show the cost of a bad checkout flow or support delay in lost revenue, churn, or extra expense.
Execute fast: Small pods focus on fixing what matters most, then scale the wins.
Close the loop: Feed results back into the system so CX keeps proving its value.
The CX takeaway: Zack’s passion here is clear—stop chasing points, start stacking wins. If you can’t tie CX to business performance, you won’t get the funding or influence to make real change.
The CX To-Do: Review your dashboard. How much of it tells a story in executive language—revenue, cost, risk—versus survey language?
🔗 Get the Book→ Amazon.com
🔗 Learn More→ The Experience Performance System
NEW: DCX Stat of the Week
0% of Fortune 500 companies will have fully eliminated human customer service by 2028.
Takeaway: While CX leaders chase AI automation dreams, Gartner's reality check reveals the agentless future is a myth. The winning strategy isn't human replacement—it's strategic human-AI collaboration that leverages technology for efficiency while preserving human expertise for complex, high-value interactions that drive growth.
🔗 Go Deeper: Gartner
🔗 MORE: Daily Stats published on Substack Notes
NEW: DCX Case Study of the Week
How Airbnb Cut Fraud by 40% and Fortified User Trust
Company/Org Name: Airbnb
CX Challenge: As a global platform, Airbnb faced persistent fraud threats that eroded user trust. Its manual detection methods were too slow and couldn't scale to protect its community, leaving both guests and hosts vulnerable.
Action Taken: In 2024, the company launched an AI-powered fraud detection system. The model analyzes real-time user behavior, transaction details, and account data to assign risk scores, proactively flagging or blocking suspicious activity before it can impact a user.
Result: The system reduced fraudulent bookings by a remarkable 40% in its first year. By stopping bad actors, Airbnb didn't just secure transactions—it reinforced the integrity and safety of its community, making the platform more trustworthy for millions.
Lesson for CX Pros: Proactive security is a core CX investment, not just an operational task. Investing in behind-the-scenes AI to prevent problems builds the foundational safety required for confident customer engagement and long-term loyalty.
🔗 Further Reading: How Airbnb is Using AI to Transform Travel in 2025 (Everite Solutions)
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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