CX Insights
Online shopping: convenient, but not fun
Consumers find online shopping functional, but predictable and lacking magic. Some notable data points from a new study of over 6,000 consumers:
- Almost 4 in 5 report that online shopping is lonely and overwhelming with too many product choices
- 41% of consumers “feel excited” when reading third party reviews or forum posts
- 43% of consumers expect brands to use data to craft personalized experiences
- Only 18% of consumers mark major life milestones with online shopping purchases
A while back I reported that the majority of Gen Z likes shopping in store for the experience - and it seems like they’re not alone.
For CX leaders, the buying journey is one and the same with the customer experience. Especially if your brand has overindexed on ecommerce reconsider what those in-person and digital touchpoints could look like. Bring some of the magic back into the shopping experience by making it less lonely.
Restaurants: selling ambience, not just food
A food writer discusses how restaurants these days are all about branding. A new focus is on restaurant spaces being “Instagrammable” and how they make patrons feel, rather than just the quality of the food and beverage. When everything is a commodity and there are dozens of pizza restaurants for every 100,000 residents in a city, brands need to stand out somehow.
Ambience and attention to detail can be what clinches someone’s dollars. Echoing the story above, experience in the real world is a key differentiator for brands. It’s a helpful reminder that no matter what you’re selling, you have to think holistically about how your customers interact with it - because your competition is.
American Airlines to make Wi-Fi free on most of its fleet in 2026
Lots of shakeup in the airline industry as carriers look to differentiate themselves: American Airlines will begin offering free Wi-Fi in January for AAdvantage loyalty members, joining a growing list of carriers making complimentary internet standard. This move follows JetBlue and Delta’s lead, while United is rolling out free Wi-Fi via Starlink.
Generally, features that once set brands apart—like free Wi-Fi on airplanes—eventually become baseline expectations. Staying ahead and delivering a stellar customer experience means constantly innovating.
AI Headlines
Enhanced human-in-the-loop with handoffs to AI Agents
Kustomer has launched critical enhancements to unlock the true potential of human-in-the-loop automated customer service. Read more.
Why Agentforce Adoption Is Slower Than Expected – And What Salesforce Needs to Do
A good followup from last week’s story calling out how CEO Marc Benioff called AI his “Co-CEO”. Salesforce Ben breaks down the state of Agentforce and product readiness vs. marketing hype. Keep reading.
How third-party conversational AI could upend customer service
AI assistants like Siri and Alexa will have a big impact on customer service as we know it. However, the Head of Thought Leadership at Qualtrics XM Institute discusses how in 2025, businesses are still doing important groundwork. See why that’s so important.
Golden Nuggets
Jeff Bezos explains why he called Amazon customer service mid-meeting in seriously awkward moment
