Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of December 25, 2023

Each week, I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comments about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Teeing up Employee Experience to Enhance Customer Experience by Dom Nicastro

(CMSWire) This intimate knowledge, combined with his experience in various operational roles within the golf industry, equipped him with a unique perspective on what it takes to elevate a golf club’s overall experience. His appointment as the chief experience officer coincided with the company’s strategic rebranding to Bobby Jones Links, signifying a commitment to a culture that prioritizes both employee and customer experiences. This rebranding was a deliberate effort to differentiate the company from its competitors by focusing on exceptional service and human interactions, rooted in a deep understanding of the golf industry.

My Comment: If you’ve been following my work, then you know I’m a huge fan of the employee experience driving the customer experience, which is what this article is about. On top of that, it also brings the idea of a hospitality mentality that any business (B2C and B2B) can adopt. We’ll learn from the CXO of Bobby Jones Links (golf company) about employee empowerment and personalized customer experiences.

AI Will ‘Dominate Customer Experience in 2024’ by Moshe Beauford

(Channel Futures) Jon Heaps is co-founder and managing partner at Ascent Business Partners, a company that helps the channel understand how artificial intelligence (AI) might benefit it and its customers. He maintains that AI will “dominate customer experience (CX) in 2024.”

My Comment: Will AI really dominate customer experience in 2024? Jon Heaps makes a compelling argument. Let me modify his prediction and state that AI will dominate the discussions about customer experience in 2024. For many companies, they are still talking about how to best use AI. Some jumped in head first, while others are “dipping their toe in the water” before investing in the technology. That said, I agree with much of what Heaps has to say about the topic of AI and how we plan to use the technology in the near future.

Do You Want a Better Customer Experience in 2024? Why Leading with Humans Is Best for AI by Colin Shaw

(MyCustomer.com) In discussing a recent suggestion from the ‘None of us are as clever as all of us’ section of his podcast, Colin Shaw unpacks the interface between AI and human employees, and why leading with humans creates a better AI strategy.

My Comment: And then there is the other side of the coin! While our second article in this week’s roundup made you think AI is going to dominate CX in 2024, along comes a great article by my friend and fellow CX expert, Colin Shaw, who believes we must lead with the human-to-human experience. Shaw shares some best-use AI scenarios that are important to consider and also makes the case for having an AI strategy. However, it looks like he’s putting his money on humans over AI – at least for now.

15 Customer Experience Predictions For 2024 by Adrian Swinscoe

(Forbes) In total, this year, I received 263 different predictions. While sifting through all of these predictions has proved to be quite an undertaking, it has also been a great learning experience and incredibly rewarding, and I would like to thank all of the people who sent me their predictions, particularly those that I have not been able to include in this piece.

My Comment: At this time of year, many experts in many different areas weigh in with their predictions. My friend, Adrian Swinscoe, has shared 15, but interestingly, they are not his predictions. Instead, he gathered predictions from more than 140 people, many of whom submitted more than one, and has compiled his list from those. I like the variety!

Employee Experience + Customer Experience = Exceptional Total Experience by Nick Parmar

(The Fast Mode) It’s a simple equation, one that has been studied and substantiated over the past couple of decades or more: A happy and engaged employee = improved customer service, higher productivity, lower turnover = better business and financial outcomes for the organization.

My Comment: We started this roundup with an article about how an employee experience (EX) drives the customer experience (CX). Let’s come full circle with an article that refers to the combination of both the EX and CX creating the TX, as in total experience. As the author states about his company, “We like to take a holistic view that we call total experience, one that encompasses all stakeholders from the employee to the partner, the customer, and the end user.” The goal is to provide a great experience for all involved.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.