CX News
Act now to handle BFCM surges
In 2024, $15.8 million was spent online every minute in the peak BFCM holiday hours. Scaling your support to meet customer needs is critical at this time of year. How can you do this?
- Scale your staffing - you’ll need many hands on deck to address escalated concerns that need human help
- Omnichannel support - make it easy for people to reach you on their preferred channel to keep the interactions convenient and flowing
- Self-service - make sure knowledge base resources are up to date to address concerns and mitigate support conversations from coming in in the first place
It’s tight but there’s still plenty of time to make a plan and spruce up some of these to save your team time during the holiday crunch. Get our guide with tactics to improve your brand’s self-service.
Royal Caribbean chairman banks on premium customer experiences
Royal Caribbean has rebounded powerfully since the pandemic, with shares up 450% since 2021. Despite a recent revenue miss, analysts remain bullish on its long-term prospects. Former CEO Richard Fain credits the brand’s guest experience focus—better dining, entertainment, and private destinations—as key drivers of loyalty and record occupancy through 2026.
Travel brands: explore how tooling like comprehensive AI-native CRMs can help you deliver elevated experiences for your guests.
Financial institutions - competing on customer experience, not rates
As interest rate cuts squeeze margins, community banks and credit unions face a new loyalty test. Competing on yield no longer wins, but experience does.
Younger customers prioritize digital ease, personalization, and insight over rates. Institutions that integrate AI, data aggregation, and financial wellness tools can transform from service providers into trusted financial partners.
Check out our blog on how banks can use AI to win over customers for a breakdown of tactics.
AI News
Kroger and Instacart launch expanded partnership, investing in AI to simplify the customer experience. This includes an AI Cart Assistant which will use Instacart’s AI technology. Through a personalized, embedded experience, customers can find meal inspiration, build carts faster with their favorite items, and plan meals more easily.
Walmart introduces AI tools for in-store and online holiday shopping - it’s launched an AI shopping assistant, enhanced product review summaries, a customer support assistant, AI-powered supply chain management, and augmented reality shopping experiences.
The global conversational computing platform market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.00% between 2025 and 2034 to over $107 billion - it’s thanks to demand for automated chat based customer service and voice assistants. While the data shows customers may not be ready for fully AI-powered customer support, the tide is certainly rising in that direction.
7 focus areas as AI transforms search and the customer journey in 2026 - customers are increasingly finding products and services through AI search tools and LLMs. CX leaders need to make sure their knowledge bases are up to date to provide accurate information for these tools.
Will businesses get lost in AI translation? AI can help make customer support information available in multiple languages, but still struggles with nuances in language - which can lead to negative impacts on customers and your business.
Tune In
We’re getting down to the wire - just 3 weeks before Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Make the most of each day left by optimizing what you can to save your team time and deliver smoother experiences for your customers during the rush.
Join Kustomer’s Head of Customer Success Audrey Weber and Customer Success Manager Ryan Shirk as they dig into clear tactics on how automation and AI can make a difference right now.
Wednesday, November 12
10 AM PT / 1 PM ET
(Can’t make it live? Register anyway and we’ll send you the recording!)
