CX Insights
Upselling can drive buyer’s remorse
Academics say that consumers can tell when they’re being upsold - and it can backfire. NYU Professor Jared Watson notes that upselling can make consumers think of the brand as a competitor rather than a partner or tool, and it can increase the chances they regret their purchase.
Part of buyer’s remorse is on consumers; they don’t have to take upsell or cross-sell offers. But either way, it’s a brand association you want to avoid instilling.
Ultimately it all comes back to robust customer data - if you know your customer you can make relevant recommendations that feel helpful. Being strategic with upsell offers is a long-term play, but will pay off when you land the right balance of higher average order value with customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction with retail improves
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI®) Retail and Consumer Shipping Study 2026 has found slight improvements with customer satisfaction with general and specialty retailers. Amazon, Nordstrom, and Chewy tie for the top spot, with Nordstrom improving 5%. The study found that consumers are highly focused on value - not a surprise given macroeconomic conditions - and discount retailers are holding stable in their customer satisfaction ratings while also earning the spend of new consumers shopping with them to stretch their budgets.
Pepsi lowers prices in response to affordability concerns
Your snacks may be going down in price soon: to fight sluggish sales, and in response to consumer concerns about affordability, PepsiCo will be rolling back prices up to 15% on popular products like Doritos, Lay’s, Tostito’s, and Cheetos. Executives said that savings from productivity will offset the lower prices.
This is a lesson for consumer goods companies: value and price are so intertwined, and customers only have so far they can go price-wise. Organizations that become more profitable thanks to productivity gains have more options regarding pricing that they can flex to shape the customer experience.
Rebound in car-buying customer experience
Automotive industry analysts report that in January 2026, U.S. consumers find it easier and smoother to purchase vehicles compared to the all-time low in November 2025. Dealers had more vehicles in stock, with 57% of car buyers finding the car they wanted, a jump from 31% the month before. Plus, consumers are leaving dealerships with their new cars faster than they expected, in stark contrast to December reports that a majority of buyers thought the process took too long.
AI Headlines
Gartner Predicts GenAI Cost Per Resolution for Customer Service Will Exceed Offshore Human Agent Costs by 2030 - This is why human-in-the-loop is the way to go. An interview with CX Today revealed part of this cost comes from hiring team members to manage the AI, along with AI providers subsidizing the cost now to boost adoption. AI augmenting your human staff and automating some routine work is a smart move to get started and scale from there while keeping costs manageable.
California’s Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act has taken effect - The first state-level law in the US mandates that AI developers publish a written framework about how they apply standards to AI model development, inform local authorities about safety risks with frontier models, and provide protections for those who disclose risks.
Snowflake and OpenAI Forge $200 Million Partnership - Snowflake and OpenAI are teaming up to allow enterprise-level companies to unlock more value and insights from their internal data thanks to AI. Bringing AI into the cloud-based data platform directly will allow for greater security.
Fedex + parcelLab use AI to answer last-mile questions - AI tracking tools directly integrated with logistics companies can help provide increased shipment visibility and in turn build trust with customers.
