😩 The Top 7 CX Gripes of 2025 (so far)
Seven frustrations that are driving you nuts and action plans to help you save the day. (and your sanity!)
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CX in 2025: Why Does It Still Feel This Hard?
If you’ve spent any time in the trenches of customer experience, you already know—there’s a fine line between progress and frustration.
Every year, new tools, new trends, and new strategies promise to make things better.
Yet somehow, the same headaches keep showing up, just dressed in fancier tech and buzzier jargon.
Customers expect effortless experiences.
Leaders claim CX is a priority.
But things fall apart when it’s time to invest, fix what’s broken, or actually listen to customers.
Sound familiar?
It’s not that companies don’t care.
It’s that execution keeps missing the mark.
The gap between what customers need and what they get is still too wide, and CX pros are stuck trying to bridge it with limited resources, unrealistic expectations, and a whole lot of duct tape.
But here’s the thing—venting isn’t going to solve the issues.
The real work is to identify the problems and fix them.
That’s exactly what we’re doing here.
These are the seven biggest CX gripes of 2025 (so far), straight from the trenches—gathered from conversations with clients, colleagues, and leaders who live this every day.
Check them out and let me know your thoughts.
Because great CX isn’t just about knowing what’s wrong. It’s about fixing it.
Here we go.
1. AI Overload, Human Touch Underfunded
The Gripe: AI is everywhere—chatbots, automated workflows, sentiment analysis. But when customers actually need a human to fix a problem? Good luck finding one.
Example: Your company rolled out a new AI-powered support bot to handle routine inquiries. It works… until it doesn’t. And when customers try to escalate, they hit a dead end—looping endlessly through robotic responses. By the time they reach a human, the agent is drowning in tickets and barely functional.
Action Plan:
Advocate for a balanced AI-human strategy. Use AI to enhance service, not replace it.
Push for better agent training and support—if AI handles the easy stuff, humans need to be experts at solving real problems.
Create a CX Safety Net – Implement a trigger system to escalate repeat callers or unresolved issues to a human representative.
2. Metrics That Don’t Tell the Whole Story
The Gripe: Execs treat NPS like a high score while ignoring the angry mob in the stands. They obsess over feel-good metrics while missing the bigger picture.
Example: The exec team is celebrating a 2-point NPS increase while ignoring the fact that churn is up 15% and complaints on social media have doubled. But hey, that post-survey thumbs-up counts, right?
Action Plan:
Introduce behavioral metrics (repeat purchases, support escalations, retention) to paint a clearer picture.
Correlate CX metrics with revenue. Show that great experiences don’t just feel good—they drive real results.
Develop a CX Health Index. Combine qualitative insights (customer stories, sentiment analysis) with hard data (retention rates, churn) into a single, trackable score.
3. More Tech, Less Training
The Gripe: Companies are dumping money into new CX technology but forgetting to train the people who actually use it.
Example: Your company just spent millions upgrading to a fancy new CRM. But no one bothered to train the customer service team, so they’re still taking notes on sticky pads while customers sit on hold.
Action Plan:
Make training non-negotiable. If the budget covers the tech, it needs to cover the training.
Create CX boot camps so employees can actually learn new tools instead of being thrown in blind.
Introduce CX Certifications. Allow employees to earn internal CX credentials by completing training modules, ensuring competency across the organization.
4. Executive ‘Support’ That’s All Talk
The Gripe: Execs will swear CX is the company’s heartbeat—until it needs funding. Then, suddenly, it’s optional.
Example: The CEO posts a LinkedIn essay about the importance of customer experience but refuses to allocate any real budget to improve it. Meanwhile, marketing gets another $10M for a campaign that no one will remember in three months.
Action Plan:
Tie CX investments to business outcomes. Show them how great experiences drive loyalty, referrals, and revenue.
Use customer stories. Data alone won’t win. A real customer horror story? That might.
Create an Executive Customer Experience Day. Make leaders handle real customer interactions for a day to gain firsthand insights into CX struggles.
5. The ‘Let’s Copy Amazon’ Obsession
The Gripe: Every company wants to “be like Amazon” without actually investing like Amazon.
Example: Leadership is demanding one-click checkouts, ultra-personalized experiences, and same-day delivery—without increasing budget, improving infrastructure, or hiring the right talent.
Action Plan:
Educate leadership on what makes companies like Amazon successful (hint: It’s years of investment, not shortcuts).
Set realistic benchmarks. Amazon is Amazon. You can be great on your own terms without trying to copy a trillion-dollar behemoth.
Push for sustainable CX improvements, not gimmicky quick fixes.
6. Customers Stuck in the Self-Service Maze
The Gripe: Companies are pushing self-service hard—but when it fails, customers get trapped with no easy way to get real help.
Example: A customer tries to cancel their subscription online. The chatbot loops them back to a generic FAQ. The phone support queue is 45 minutes long. They’re now rage-posting on Twitter.
Action Plan:
Implement a Rage Test. Have internal teams attempt to resolve issues using only self-service tools and document every pain point they encounter.
Make live support easy to find. Not every issue can be solved by a chatbot.
Use real customer journeys to test and improve escalation paths.
7. The Death of Ownership
The Gripe: No one wants to own customer problems anymore. Support blames Product. Product blames IT. IT blames “process.” Meanwhile, the customer just wants a solution.
Example: A customer has a billing issue. Support says they can’t fix it and “someone” from another department will reach out. That never happens. The customer leaves—and takes their business with them.
Action Plan:
Assign clear accountability. If a team owns a process, they need to own the customer experience tied to it.
Reduce hand-offs. The more times a customer gets bounced, the worse their experience.
Give customer-facing teams real power to fix problems instead of just passing them along.
Final Thought: You’re Not Crazy, CX is Hard
If you’re nodding along, you’re not alone.
The CX struggle is real, and 2025 has brought new challenges. But here’s the good news:
The work you do matters.
Every battle—whether for better tech, more budget, or just a little common sense—gets your company one step closer to putting customers first.
So, keep pushing.
Keep advocating.
Keep calling out the nonsense when you see it.
Because one day, when CX finally gets the respect it deserves, you’ll be the one who made it happen.
Where to Start: Take Action Today
Feeling overwhelmed?
Let's break it down into something tangible.
If you’re not sure where to start, here’s a quick way to analyze your CX gaps and get clarity fast.
Step 1: Identify Your Biggest CX Bottleneck
Ask yourself: Where are customers getting stuck the most? Use this prompt to get some quick insights:
'Act as a CX expert and analyze my biggest customer experience bottlenecks. Based on common pain points in AI integration, metrics, tech adoption, leadership buy-in, competitive positioning, self-service, and accountability, what is likely holding back my company's CX success? Provide practical steps to address it.'
Step 2: Map the Quick Wins vs. Long-Term Fixes
Now that you’ve identified the major problem areas, categorize them:
Quick Wins: Fixes you can implement in under 30 days.
Long-Term Fixes: Structural issues that need a strategic approach.
Try this prompt:
'Based on my biggest CX pain points, create a table of quick wins (small, fast-impact fixes) vs. long-term solutions (bigger investments that take time). Prioritize based on customer impact and ease of implementation.'
Step 3: Get Leadership Buy-In
Once you have a roadmap, the next challenge is getting buy-in. Use this prompt to craft a compelling pitch:
'Write a persuasive case for CX investment to present to executives. Make it data-driven, tie it to revenue impact, and include an emotional customer story to make it hit home.'
Now, go take action. No more waiting for permission—start fixing what’s broken and driving real change.
What Successful CX Leaders Do on Sundays
DCX Links: Six must-read picks to fuel your leadership journey delivered every Sunday morning. Dive into the latest edition now!
👋 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? Whether it’s a CX challenge, strategy question, or team issue, hit me up—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. Can’t wait to hear from you!
— Mark
www.marklevy.co
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Thanks for being here. I’ll see you next Tuesday at 8:15 am ET.
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📌🚀 Get Your Free CX Leader’s Playbook for Winning Buy-In
Ready to cultivate a customer-obsessed culture? A CX Leader’s Guide to Organizational Buy-In is your playbook for ensuring that every department—customer service, sales, product, tech, finance, HR, and beyond—puts customers at the center of everything it does.
Learn how to rally every department around customer obsession, click the button below to get started:
Join the global community of 1,100+ CX trailblazers who receive the DCX Newsletter first—packed with fresh insights, inspiration, and tools to elevate your customer experience game. Don’t miss out—join the movement today!
Hey Marc, I totally loved the compilation of the very real CX issues , from leadership ‘say-do’, to tech minus training, to hyped AI, to benchmark with Everest, to ownerships and empowerments and metrics that talk to revenue !!! I can share examples when these issues have been real for me. So good to connect with you !