CX News

Loyalty program customers taken for granted?

Some customers are growing wary of loyalty apps after reports of fewer deals for frequent users sparked concerns about “surveillance pricing.” Loyalty experts say companies shouldn’t—and typically don’t—penalize loyal customers, but note personalization requires balance. Predatory pricing erodes trust, while budget-driven promo strategies can create perception issues. To stand out in a “sea of sameness,” programs must deliver real value, act transparently with data, and never take loyal customers for granted.

Costco’s focus on enhanced experiences


Costco’s latest earnings call highlights some notable CX enhancements:

  • Its scan and go pilot improved checkout speed by up to 20%
  • It has updated digital personalization capabilities to provide more relevant product recommendations
  • It extended warehouse hours for executive memberships but spaced out store traffic benefits all customers

Costco CEO Ron Vachris said, “This isn’t about technology for technology’s sake,” showing thoughtful implementation in a way that is oriented around what works best for its members.

Singaporean regulator fines telecommunications company for lack of CX access


Singtel was fined SGD$1M (about $775k USD) after a virtualized firewall failure disrupted fixed-line voice services for 500,000 users, blocking access to emergency lines, government agencies, and customer service centers. IMDA ruled the outage was preventable and highlights how infrastructure design directly impacts CX.

Regulations will vary from country to country, but it’s an important reminder for CX leaders brands who are subject to such regulation, especially in the era of AI rollouts. Taking a crawl, walk, run approach with a strategic rollout can help you adopt this new technology with successful implementation.

 

NFL Player undergoes customer service training with Special Olympics ambassadors

Washington Commanders player Sam Cosmi learned from Special Olympics athletes how to navigate providing customer service for United Airlines at Dulles International Airport. The offensive lineman said learning the layout of the airport was harder than learning an NFL playbook. Maybe when he’s ready to retire from football he can take on a new career in CX!

What to leave behind in 2026

Image says retention resolutions marketing strategies to leave behind in 2025 with image of two people sitting on the floor looking at a magazine and tablet

2025 wraps up in a few weeks. What are you leaving behind when we flip the calendars?

We teamed up with our friends at Stamped, Aftership, PostPilot, and more to compile the marketing strategies to leave behind in 2025 so your brand can achieve greater results next year. Hint: CX is part of it!

Get the guide here and hit your growth goals.

AI Headlines

  1. The great AI hype correction of 2025 - MIT Technology Review offers some ways to think about AI as the pendulum swings back from pure AI hype: LLMs are not everything, AI is not a quick fix to all problems, and ChatGPT was not the beginning of AI and won’t be the end. A great read as you plan AI projects for 2026.

  2. Consumer Reports: Instacart’s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill - The investigation found that some grocery prices differed by as much as 23% per item from one Instacart customer to the next, thanks to AI-enabled experiments. Consumers are catching on to algorithmic pricing and it can destroy trust.

  3. Shoppers will turn to AI in 2026 - 70% of consumers have used AI to assist their shopping journey, but just 12% currently trust AI to actually make a purchase on their behalf. 

  4. What Harvard researchers learned about use of AI in white-collar work at top companies - AI is most effective when enabling whole teams rather than just individuals using it in their own work, and humans still have learning to do to be effective managing teams of AI agents.