101 Psychology-Backed Plays To Reduce Churn, Increase Trust, and Prove ROI
Launching September 16 - The Psychology of CX 101
Welcome to the DCX weekly roundup of customer experience insights!
This week’s stories are a wake-up call for customer experience professionals: the rules are changing—fast.
Gen Alpha is reshaping what “intuitive” means.
AI isn’t just a digital tool—it’s becoming the emotional core of shopping, service, and even our homes.
And as CX turns 30, companies are realizing it’s not just a department—it’s a mindset.
From retail to insurance to smart homes, one message rings loud and clear: your next competitive edge won’t come from better tech, but from making tech feel better.
Curious how to future-proof your experience strategy?
Let’s dive in.
This week’s must-read links:
When Kids Break Your UX Brain
CX Turns 30: From Usability to Strategy
The New CX Arms Race: Training Everyone
Walmart’s AI Super Agents Point to Retail’s Future
Google Who? AI Is Becoming the New Shopping Buddy
Samsung Wants Your Home to Feel Smarter—and More Human
When Kids Break Your UX Brain
A veteran UX designer thought his app was simple and intuitive. Then his 10-year-old nephew used it—and shattered every design rule. He skipped navigation menus, searched in natural language, thrived in chaotic layouts, and instantly wanted to remix the content instead of just consuming it. For CX pros, this isn’t just a funny story—it’s a preview of how the next generation will expect to interact with your products.
Why it matters:
Gen Alpha doesn’t think in categories. They expect search bars to act like Google—fast, conversational, and smart.
Messy, crowded interfaces don’t overwhelm them. They grew up in digital chaos and know how to filter signal from noise.
They don’t settle for passive experiences. If they can’t customize, edit, or create, they’ll move on.
State of play:
Navigation bars, tidy layouts, and step-by-step flows are already outdated for younger users.
Kids learn interfaces by poking and prodding, not reading instructions. No reaction? They call it broken.
“Creation-first” mindsets are becoming the norm—remixing and sharing is as natural as scrolling.
The bottom line:
Today’s kids are tomorrow’s customers. If their instincts already reject your “clean” UX, your products may age out before they do.
🔗 Read the article → UX Planet
CX Turns 30: From Usability to Strategy
Back in 1995, a small team at British Telecom quietly made history. They published Delivering Competitive Edge—the first strategic CX methodology that connected human factors, marketing, and business strategy. Before then, the field was mostly about usability testing and product design. This paper reframed it as something bigger: the entire customer journey. Thirty years later, we’re still building on that foundation.
Why it matters:
This was the birth of CX as strategy, not just design. It shifted focus from single interactions to the whole brand relationship.
It tied customer experience to ROI, proving that good design wasn’t just user-friendly—it was commercially powerful.
It opened the door for modern practices like journey mapping, design thinking, and customer success.
State of play:
In the early 90s, UX lived in research labs. CX connected it to marketing, product, and leadership.
BT’s methodology combined psychology, semiotics, anthropology, and marketing—showing that understanding people needs more than data alone.
Around the same time, U.S. researchers introduced “experience blueprints,” cementing CX as a lifecycle discipline.
The bottom line:
CX isn’t new. What we do today stands on the shoulders of pioneers who saw that usability was too small a lens. Thirty years later, their insight—that customer experience drives business advantage—is more relevant than ever.
🔗 Go Deeper: Simon Robinson, Medium
The New CX Arms Race: Training Everyone
AIA Singapore is taking a bold step: train everyone in customer experience, not just the frontline. In partnership with Singapore Airlines Academy, the insurer is running workshops that focus on empathy, trust, and clear communication. The message is simple—CX isn’t just about tools, it’s about people.
State of play:
Stage 1 shifts mindsets: how beliefs and behaviors shape loyalty.
Stage 2 gets tactical: frameworks for saying no respectfully or delivering a genuine apology.
AIA is also simplifying policy language, investing in digital health, and publishing a sustainability report—proving CX is bigger than call centers or apps.
Why it matters:
Treating CX training as a business priority, not a side project, shows how central service culture has become.
Singapore even tied it to its national reskilling push, which signals governments see CX skills as part of future-proofing workforces.
Borrowing lessons from the airline industry makes it clear—great service principles travel across sectors.
The bottom line:
We’re likely to see more companies make CX training a company-wide strategy. If service excellence can be taught, it can be scaled—and that’s a competitive edge.
🔗 More → Insurance Business Magazine
Walmart’s AI Super Agents Point to Retail’s Future
Walmart is going all-in on AI to change the way people shop. Think “super agents” like its assistant Marty, or digital twins that let the company test store layouts and promotions virtually before rolling them out in real life. The goal? Save time for shoppers and employees while squeezing more efficiency out of thin retail margins.
What’s happening:
Walmart is blending digital and physical by showcasing marketplace sellers right in its aisles.
Digital twins let them optimize promotions and labor before spending real dollars.
Partnerships with companies like Klarna show Walmart is acting more like a platform than a traditional retailer.
Why it matters:
In retail, small wins—like faster setups or better inventory picks—can mean big money.
Amazon’s 3,300% spike in AI use during Prime Day shows this isn’t hype; customer-facing AI is scaling fast.
The real shift is that AI isn’t just online—it’s now shaping what happens in physical stores too.
The bottom line:
Shopping is moving beyond apps and checkout counters. The next decade of retail will be defined by how well companies blend AI into both digital and physical experiences.
🔗 Learn more→ PYMNTS
Google Who? AI Is Becoming the New Shopping Buddy
Remember when online shopping was simple—search, click, buy? Those days are over. According to Omnisend’s survey of 4,000 consumers, 57% of Americans now lean on AI tools like ChatGPT to research products, hunt for deals, and get personalized recommendations. For many, it’s faster, less stressful, and in some cases even more helpful than Google.
Why it matters:
This isn’t niche anymore. AI shopping has gone mainstream, at least in the U.S.
Consumers say AI reduces overwhelm—28% feel it makes the whole process easier to handle.
For CX pros, this means customers are expecting conversations, not catalogs.
What’s happening:
U.S. shoppers are ahead (57%), while Canada, the UK, and Australia hover closer to one-third.
Trust is still shaky—85% worry about privacy or irrelevant results. Brands will need to be transparent about why a recommendation shows up.
Comfort with “AI buying on your behalf” is rising fast. Reluctance dropped from 66% to 32% in just six months.
The bottom line:
AI is shifting shopping from clicks to conversations. The brands that thrive will design assistants that feel trustworthy and human—clear, customizable, and always ready to explain themselves.
🔗 Go Deeper: Jacob Nielsen
Samsung Wants Your Home to Feel Smarter—and More Human
Samsung is rolling out a big new campaign at IFA 2025, showing off what it calls the “AI Home.” Through its SmartThings platform, the company is pitching a future where your house quietly takes care of itself—adjusting lights, cooling the room, running appliances, even checking on your pets—so you can spend more time with family or just relax.
Why it matters:
We’ve seen AI transform shopping (Walmart, Omnisend). Now it’s moving into the home, promising to handle the mental load of daily life.
The pitch is emotional, not technical: less about gadgets, more about comfort, trust, and peace of mind.
If customers buy into “AI Home,” it sets a new baseline for every connected device experience.
What’s happening:
SmartThings is positioned as the hub that ties Samsung and third-party devices into one ecosystem.
Features like Routines and Pet Care aren’t just functions—they’re framed as quality-of-life upgrades.
The campaign is global, with ads splashing across Times Square and Piccadilly Circus.
The bottom line:
Just like AI is reshaping shopping, it’s also starting to redefine what “home” feels like. For CX pros, the signal is clear: the next wave of competition won’t be about tech specs—it’ll be about who makes AI feel most human.
🔗 More: Samsung
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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