Experience Action

Customer experience isn’t failing because people don’t care, it fails because teams confuse slogans with systems. Jeannie Walters is joined by Larissa Salazar from Brand Builders Group for a special CX Pulse Check to celebrate the launch of Jeannie’s book, Experience Is Everything: Making Every Moment Count In The Age Of Customer Expectations, and to talk about what it really takes for a message to break through in a noisy world. We get practical about the shift that changes everything: customer service is reactive, but customer experience must be proactive. If you only show up when something goes wrong, you’re already behind. We talk about designing the end-to-end customer journey with intention, choosing how you want customers to feel, and connecting experience design to the outcomes leaders care about. Along the way, we call out a common trap in CX leadership: treating Net Promoter Score like a strategy instead of a measurement you influence through real changes. Jeannie also shares the mindset strategy discipline framework from the book, including how a clear customer experience mission statement becomes a usable North Star across teams. Larissa pulls back the curtain on what she sees with experts and first-time authors, why your best knowledge is often the “small steps” you forget to write down, and how templates and frameworks help customer experience change agents take action fast. If you’re trying to operationalize customer-centricity, build a real CX strategy, and move from reactivity to discipline, this conversation is your push to start. If it helps, subscribe, share this with a change agent on your team, and leave a review so more leaders can find the show. About Larissa Salazar, Team Lead & Personal Brand Strategist | Brand Builders Group Salazar is a highly respected personal brand strategist and speaker at Brand Builders Group, an international personal branding firm and an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company. As one of the youngest and fastest-rising strategists in the organization, she has quickly built a reputation for helping authors and thought leaders clarify their expertise, define their message, and build brands that create lasting influence. With a strategic mindset and a deep appreciation for storytelling, Larissa has a unique ability to distill complex ideas into clear, compelling messaging. She doesn’t just help clients communicate their insights—she guides them in developing proprietary intellectual property and signature frameworks that make their teachings memorable, shareable, and scalable. Her approach ensures that thought leaders don’t just teach for the moment, but create content and concepts that spread, endure, and position them as industry authorities. Follow Larissa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larissa-ann-salazar/ Book a meeting with Larissa: https://freebrandcall.com/ls Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.c Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

Are you drowning in feedback and still struggling for progress? In this bonus episode, we're bringing you more conversations from the Qualtrics X4 Summit 2026 in Seattle. These conversations tackle the same problem from different angles: how to turn customer and patient feedback into real operational change, and how to protect trust as AI becomes part of the workflow. If you collect surveys, run a CX program, or lead a healthcare team, this one is about what happens after you hit “export.” First, we talk with leaders from Trillium Health Partners about redesigning their patient experience measurement: Kerry Kuluski, Research Chair in Patient and Family-Centered Care, and Adam Gdyczynski, Senior Corporate Lead, Patient Experience Measurement and Planning. They share how moving from paper and call-center methods to modern digital surveying helped drive an 880% increase in survey responses, plus what they did next to avoid being buried by the volume. We dig into practical tactics like shorter surveys, QR codes on after visit summaries, and using iPads to improve access in areas with lower electronic response rates. We also get into why equitable care depends on knowing who is responding, and how demographic and cultural insights can inform smarter decisions while supporting patient and family centered care. Then we shift to the trust layer with Qualtrics Chief Security Officer Assaf Keren. We unpack why trust is more than security, why shortcuts create incidents, and why transparency matters when things go wrong. We also get specific about AI governance: third-party risk, building guardrails, managing data access, and keeping a human in the loop when risk is high or confidence is low. If you want to turn insights into action without losing the human side, listen now. After you finish, subscribe, share this with a teammate, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Follow Kerry Kuluski on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-kuluski-a9791b227/ Follow Adam Gdyczynski on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-gdyczynski-mba-che-83100635/ Follow Assaf Keren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/assafkeren/ Resources Mentioned: Qualtrics -- https://www.qualtrics.com/ Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Experience Investigators -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

AI is moving fast, but most customer experience programs still get stuck in the same place: teams chase tools, dashboards, and “shiny” promises while the real work and the real problem stay fuzzy. We wanted a grounded conversation about customer experience strategy that actually holds up inside complex organizations, especially when trust, risk, and regulation are part of daily life. Jeannie Walters is joined by Dr. Elizabeth ErkenBrack, Head of Strategy in the Office of the CEO at Qualtrics. They sat down at the Qualtrics X4 Summit 2026 in Seattle to talk about starting with the outcome you’re trying to achieve, defining who you’re designing for, and mapping the work that needs to change before you ever “plug in” AI. They get specific about where automation helps and where the human touch still matters most, particularly in vulnerable moments like healthcare, financial services, and other deeply personal journeys. They also dig into the ROI side of experience management: how to shift from CX as a cost center to CX as an investment, how to connect NPS and CSAT to action, and how to tie experience improvements to attributable revenue through churn, retention, conversion, and operational changes. A key takeaway is governance: measurement and execution often sit in different silos, and bringing them into lockstep is an executive decision. If you’re trying to make CX “count” in the C-suite, this gives you language and structure that leaders can align around. If this helped you rethink how you’re framing your next CX initiative, subscribe, share this episode with a teammate, and leave a review so more people can find it. Follow Elizabeth ErkenBrack on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-erkenbrack-phd-380b5b30/ Resources Mentioned: Qualtrics -- https://www.qualtrics.com/ Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Experience Investigators -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

Some of the biggest CX breakthroughs don’t come from bigger budgets, they come from sharper thinking about trust, value, and what people actually feel in the moment. We’re sharing a special Women’s History Month collection of insights from Dr. Amy Climer, Ovetta Sampson, Camille Kremer, Neen James, and Brooke Sellas, each bringing a different lens on customer experience leadership, innovation, and connection. We start with a future-facing question: when AI shows up on the screens inside our cars, is it there to help the driver or to sell to them? Amy challenges us to treat creativity as “novelty that is valuable,” and to judge value from the customer’s perspective, not the company’s. From there, Ovetta gets candid about generative AI, chatbot hallucinations, and why “set it and forget it” is a fast track to broken customer trust. If you’re building AI into customer support, you’ll hear why rigorous testing and ongoing oversight are now core CX operations. Camille breaks down expectation setting as the hidden equation behind loyalty: customers invest, brands deliver or don’t, and trust is the outcome. Neen reframes luxury as a mindset where experiences matter more than things, anchored in making people feel seen, heard, and valued. Brooke closes the loop for social media and content marketing: content is the vehicle, emotion is the destination, and connection beats chasing a single “big win.” If this sparked new ideas for your CX strategy, subscribe, share this with a CX leader on your team, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Experience Action Episodes Mentioned: CX Pulse Check – February 2025 CX Pulse Check – May 2025 CX Pulse Check – August 2025 CX Pulse Check – September 2025 CX Pulse Check – November 2025 Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

A lot of companies say they “listen to the customer” and they do. They survey, they track NPS, they build dashboards, they share reports. But then nothing changes. Today we respond to a sharp question from a listener about what separates organizations that embed customer insights into everyday decision making from those where Voice of the Customer stays stuck as a feedback exercise. We walk through the mindset shift that turns VoC into real customer experience strategy: using your mission and goals as the lens for what you act on, getting aligned on expectations, and defining a clear customer experience mission statement so improvements aren’t scattered across one-off complaints. When teams fix isolated issues without a unified view of the customer journey, customers feel the inconsistency and trust drops fast. Then we get practical about execution. Customer insights only matter when they influence decisions across product, operations, communication, and the partners you choose. That requires shared ownership, clear governance, and consistent processes for reporting what you’re doing about the feedback and closing the loop with customers. We also address the “shoot the messenger” trap and how CX leaders can connect the dots to business value so teams understand what’s in it for them. If you want to turn Voice of the Customer into decision infrastructure and measurable business outcomes, press play. Subscribe, share this with a CX leader on your team, and leave a rating and review so more people can find the show. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

Customer experience doesn’t fall apart because people don’t care. It falls apart because the work stays fragmented, the fixes don’t connect across the customer journey, and teams end up stuck in a reactive loop of complaints, escalations, and fire drills. Jeannie Walters shares why she wrote Experience Is Everything: Making Every Moment Count in the Age of Customer Expectations and what she kept seeing after years of working with leaders who genuinely want to do right by customers and employees. She digs into the real shift that makes customer experience improvement stick: treating CX as a leadership discipline. That means aligning a shared mindset about who we are to customers, building a clear customer experience strategy tied to outcomes, and committing to the discipline that keeps it real day after day. She also read the final page of the book to underline the heart of the message: progress beats perfection. CX gets better when we act, reflect, adjust, and act again, because small intentional decisions compound over time. She also talks about the pressure of modern work: customers move faster, organizations move faster, and AI is now part of almost everything we design. Without alignment, that speed can accidentally create broken experiences at scale. If you’re the person who notices the gaps, sees the misalignment, and feels a little alone because you care, this is for you. Subscribe, share this with a fellow change agent, and leave a review so more leaders can build better experiences one moment at a time. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

When AI can move faster than your team ever could, the real question isn’t “What can we automate?” It’s “What should represent us?” In this CX Pulse Check episode, Jeannie Walters sits down with Deborah Reuben, CEO of Tomorrow Zone and author of Enter the Tomorrow Zone, to unpack how agentic commerce and automation can elevate customer experience only when purpose leads and tools follow. They dig into the messy middle of AI adoption—from trust gaps and backlash moments to why innovation driven by shiny features often scales the wrong experience. They share a practical blueprint for leaders under pressure to deliver: define a clear CX mission, align success metrics across teams, and identify the high-stakes moments where humans must stay in the loop. The conversation also explores how organizations can design AI that signals trust through capability, honesty, predictability, and care. As automation expands and bots increasingly interact with bots, they discuss how measurement must evolve beyond traditional engagement metrics to focus on outcomes like resolution confidence, perceived fairness, and clarity of next steps. If this sparks ideas for your roadmap or raises thorny questions about where humans should stay in the loop, we want to hear from you. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with your team, and leave a review. About Deborah Reuben, CLFP Author | Innovation Strategist | CEO & Founder, TomorrowZone® Deborah Reuben is an innovation strategist, advisor, and the CEO & Founder of TomorrowZone®. She works with senior leaders across finance and technology to help them navigate complexity, gain clarity, and design future-ready systems. Her work is grounded in firsthand experience leading and advising complex, large-scale transformation efforts. Deborah is known for helping leaders see patterns they’re too close to notice, and for reframing innovation as a human, systemic practice rather than a technology initiative. She is the author of Enter the TomorrowZone, which examines why capable leaders get trapped in constant reaction, and how stepping back creates clarity to design what’s next. Follow Deborah on LinkedIn. Learn more about Enter the TomorrowZone and Deborah’s work at tomorrowzone.io. To find out more about the book, visit EnterTheTomorrowZone.com. Articles Mentioned: - Own the agentic commerce experience (National Retail Federation) -- https://nrf.com/research/own-the-agentic-commerce-experience - The 2026 Braze Customer Engagement Review: AI Innovation Meets the Trust Plateau (CMSWire) -- https://www.cmswire.com/the-wire/the-2026-braze-customer-engagement-review-ai-innovation-meets-the-trust-plateau/ - AI Backlash and Public Perception: How AI Strategy Shapes Customer Trust (SupportNinja) -- https://www.supportninja.com/articles/ai-backlash-public-perception-ai-strategy-shapes-customer-trust Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

You don’t need a big title to drive meaningful customer experience change. This episode shows how real CX leadership starts in the middle by turning customer friction into business outcomes executives can’t ignore. We break down how to connect issues like confusing onboarding or stalled conversions to metrics that matter, including call volume, cost to serve, cancellations, and retention, and how to present that story so leaders say yes. You’ll learn a practical approach you can use immediately: choose one high-impact friction point, build a simple business case with clear baselines, deliver a focused fix, and share the results. These visible micro wins build momentum, credibility, and influence. We also cover how to lead across and up by partnering with metric owners, framing ideas around shared goals, and communicating in the language of outcomes. If you’re ready to grow your impact and your career, this conversation gives you the tools to lead without a title. If you found this valuable, follow the show, leave a quick review, and share it with a teammate ready for their next win. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

The most practical CX breakthroughs are happening in day-to-day choices by leaders who meet their organizations where they are. From the Medallia Experience 2026 conference in Las Vegas, we pull together no-fluff lessons on turning insights into impact, leading with intent, and using AI to accelerate change—without overpromising. Jeannie talks with Experience Transformation Award winner Paloma Paraja, Customer Experience Manager at Santalucía Seguros, about breaking down silos in a 100-year-old insurer by unifying Voice of Customer, empowering internal champions, and turning feedback into stories teams can act on. She also reconnects with Camille Kremer, Senior Director of Customer Experience at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, for a masterclass in prioritization—using driver modeling and smart experiments to separate noise from real impact, and applying AI to speed service and personalization without eroding trust. Plus, we chat about an Experience Is Everything book club with Deborah Bearden, Enterprise Customer Experience Manager at Simmons Bank. The theme: progress over perfection. Choose high-impact actions. Test, measure, and scale what works. Let AI amplify a strategy you’ve already defined. Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the show, share it with a CX friend, and leave a quick review to help more leaders find it. Have a question or story to add? Leave me a voicemail at askjeannie.vip. Follow our guests on LinkedIn: Paloma Paraja -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/paloma-paraja/ Camille Kremer -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillekremer/ Deborah Bearden -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-bearden/ Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

Stressed arrivals, missed promises, and long check-in lines aren’t surprises. They’re predictable flashpoints in hospitality. In this episode, we answer a listener’s question about training frontline teams for high-emotion moments and share a practical framework for turning tension into trust without burning out your people. We start by redefining success. Instead of aiming to “make every guest happy,” we focus on a sustainable goal: guide the guest to a better moment than the one they’re in. From there, we identify the biggest hot spots in the journey and outline how proactive planning, clear recovery thresholds, and consistent standards across properties create a reliable brand experience. Then we get tactical with language that defuses tension, micro-habits for staying calm under pressure, and playbooks that remove hesitation when speed matters. We also explore empowerment tools like room moves, credits, and late checkout, plus the well-being practices that keep teams strong through demanding shifts. If you lead a hotel, resort, or any high-contact service, this episode delivers actionable steps to strengthen service recovery, customer experience, and employee resilience. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything --experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- CXIMembership.com Experience Investigators Website -- experienceinvestigators.com Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact. Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

What if the fastest answer isn’t the right one? We unpack the tension between speed and resolution in customer experience, exploring why AI bots can erode trust when they chase efficiency instead of fixing the real problem. With guest co-host Jennie Lewis of Airship, we dig into pragmatic ways to use AI as an amplifier for empathy. We also step into hospitality, where automation has raced ahead with mobile keys, kiosks, and virtual front desks. Convenience is great—until an empty lobby at midnight changes how safe a guest feels. From solo travel realities to on-the-ground service design, we discuss how to widen the journey map beyond “check-in to room” and include the edge cases that define trust. Then we tackle dynamic pricing. There’s a world of difference between rewarding loyalty and playing whack-a-mole with rates. We call out practices that feel predatory, highlight proactive offers that build goodwill, and suggest clear guardrails that prevent sticker shock. If you care about CX that feels human and scales gracefully, this conversation will sharpen your playbook. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review. About Jennie Lewis: Sr Manager, Customer Insights at Airship Jennie Lewis is a value-focused researcher who transforms complex data into revenue-driving narratives. An expert in quantifying CX ROI, she began as a self-taught coder automating emails for GM before leading agency teams that supported iconic brands like Marriott, Chase, and Marvel. She bridges the gap between technical data and business strategy, managing a portfolio of research results that achieve increased influenced revenue. Certified by Northwestern, eCornell, and Google, Jennie is a recognized thought leader and mentor dedicated to proving that great customer experience is a measurable driver of growth. Follow Jennie on... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennie-lewis/ Articles Mentioned: - Customer service AI bots not ready for prime time, survey suggests (Consumer Affairs) - Ireckonu- 2025 year in review: What had happenend in the hospitality technology industry? (Breaking Travel News) - Asda’s unhappy shoppers give boss food for thought (The Times) Resources Mentioned: Women In CX Community Order your copy of Experience Is Everything Experience Investigators Website Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

What if the fastest way to beat your competitors isn’t a new feature, but a better feeling at every step of the journey? In this episode, we explore how experiential innovation—improving how customers move, decide, and feel—outperforms price wars, builds trust, and turns small moments into big wins. Using the CXI Navigator, we break down how leaders align clear intent, cultural commitment, and real customer behavior to reduce friction and increase reassurance. From Uber and Netflix to B2B organizations like Vanguard, the pattern is consistent: spot hesitation, simplify paths, and guide people forward with confidence. With data showing customers will abandon even beloved brands after a single bad experience, the stakes are clear. This conversation shares practical ways to design calmer, clearer journeys that drive loyalty, speed, and long-term growth. Subscribe for more practical experience strategies, share this with a teammate who owns a part of the customer journey, and leave a review. Resources Mentioned: Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- CXIMembership.com Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

Ever feel like your journey map leaves teams on the sidelines? In this episode, we explore a practical way to make customer journey mapping more inclusive without losing the customer’s voice. We reframe journey mapping as a verb—one that engages cross-functional partners, incorporates frontline insight, and is grounded in customer data—while keeping the focus on real customer moments like triggers, actions, emotions, and outcomes (not org chart debates). From there, we introduce service blueprinting as the execution layer that turns insight into action. You’ll hear how blueprinting clarifies what happens front stage and backstage, and how people, processes, systems, and tools support—or hinder—the experience you’re trying to deliver. Along the way, we share practical tips for building alignment and shared ownership: inviting stakeholders who felt left out, defining goals that cut across teams, and tying internal decisions to customer outcomes. We also discuss the constraints and gaps that surface when teams blueprint together, plus the kinds of measurable improvements you can expect. Whether you’re refreshing an existing map or pairing it with your first blueprint, this conversation offers grounded guidance for creating clarity, momentum, and more connected CX work. Have a question you want us to tackle next? Leave it at askjeannie.vip, explore more tools inside our CXI Membership, and pre‑order Experience Is Everything to deepen your practice. If this conversation helped, follow the show, share it with a teammate, and leave a quick review to support the community. Resources Mentioned: Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Customer​​ Service Blueprinting [LinkedIn Learning Course] -- https://bit.ly/lilblueprint Customer Experience: Journey Mapping [LinkedIn Learning Course] -- https://bit.ly/liljourneymap Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

B2B relationships are rarely simple. Behind every account are buyers, end users, operators, and executives—each with different goals, pressures, and definitions of success. In this episode, we unpack how to design for roles, not just accounts, and how to anchor decisions to a shared definition of success everyone agrees on up front. We walk through a practical approach to role-based journey mapping, showing how to surface friction, clarify what success looks like for each role, and navigate competing priorities without politics. You’ll hear how to spot misaligned incentives, rebalance when one team bears the cost while another captures the value, and use a clear North Star to make smarter trade-offs. We also get tactical on role-based communication—what executives, buyers, end users, and operators actually need to hear—and why your most important job is acting as a translator between metrics, outcomes, and real business impact. If you’re juggling competing priorities inside complex B2B relationships, this conversation gives you a repeatable framework for alignment, decision-making, and momentum. Resources Mentioned: Take the CXI Compass® assessment -- CXICompass.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- CXIMembership.com Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

Losing a customer hurts—but missing what their exit can teach you hurts more. In this episode, we unpack a two-phase offboarding feedback strategy that captures the truth twice: immediately after churn and again once customers have settled with a new provider. You’ll learn how to ask hard questions without defensiveness, why timing changes insight quality, and how to turn churn into actionable CX signals. We cover the exact questions that surface breaking points, broken promises, and hidden process gaps—then show how to translate those patterns into leadership language around risk, speed, and results. Plus, why AI can support workflows but can’t replace trust, adoption, or accountability. If you’re ready to move from CX heroics to consistent, scalable experience design, this conversation gives you the framing, timing, and questions to start. Please subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review to help other CX leaders find the show. Resources Mentioned: Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

Start the year with clarity instead of clutter. We’re sharing five decisive questions that help you cut noise, design automation that still feels human, and align your customer experience strategy with outcomes your executives and your customers actually care about. If AI, tight budgets, and shaky trust are pulling you in every direction, this conversation gives you a practical way to choose what matters and let the rest go. We dig into where value is truly created across your journey and where activity masquerades as progress. You’ll learn how to build a balance between fast, scalable automation and the empathy customers crave when stakes are high. We talk through using a CX mission and a success blueprint to connect initiatives to revenue, retention, cost to serve, and risk reduction—without resorting to vanity metrics. Along the way, we share how to craft human-centered stories that move leaders, and how to build guardrails so AI augments your team instead of eroding trust. Customer expectations have shifted, so your insights need to as well. We outline practical methods for refreshing journey maps with real behavior, analytics, and interviews, and we show how co-creating with customers accelerates clarity. Finally, we turn the mission from a poster into an operating system: a tool for prioritizing roadmaps, guiding trade-offs, and running quick post-launch reviews that keep experience quality high. Call this the year of intention—simplify, align, and keep showing up with respect and consistency. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a teammate who’s buried in dashboards, and leave a quick review to tell us which question you’ll tackle first. Your feedback helps more leaders find the tools to build trust and deliver results. Resources Mentioned: CX Mission Statement Workbook -- https://bit.ly/cx-mission-workbook CX Success Statement Workbook -- https://bit.ly/cx-success-workbook Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

Clicking “buy now” shouldn’t feel like shouting into the void. In this episode, we explore how digital retail can feel more human by pairing smart personalization with trust-building micromoments. Instead of proving what we know, we focus on what customers need next: clear fit guidance, delivery transparency, and friction-removing policies that build confidence before checkout. We share practical moves you can use this week—from confirmations that speak to the shopper (not the order number) to shipping updates in plain language, short stylist videos, and behind-the-scenes warehouse moments. We also cover how to use chat well: being upfront about bots, designing warm handoffs to humans, and giving AI a role that feels helpful, not blocking. Reassurance is the real conversion multiplier. We talk about sizing honesty, responsible return signals, clear expectations on duties and timelines, and how to keep the warmth going after checkout. The simple test we return to again and again: would this message feel kind and useful if you sent it to a friend? If these ideas help, subscribe for more customer experience strategies, share this episode with your team, and leave a quick review so others can find us. Your feedback shapes what we explore next. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

What if customer experience stopped living in customer service and started living in the core of your business? We tackle a listener’s challenge and turn it into a practical playbook: define a shared mindset, build a success blueprint tied to revenue and cost, and practice the daily discipline that makes change stick. Along the way, we share the one-line definition leaders can use to rally teams: customer experience is the system we build to deliver on the promises we make. We start by stripping away the fuzziness around CX. Instead of ten different definitions across the company, we push you to craft a clear CX mission statement that guides choices in sales, product, marketing, operations, and HR. From there, we elevate CX from reactive troubleshooting to proactive design—fixing upstream processes that create downstream tickets, refunds, and churn. The message to skeptics is grounded and simple: fewer service issues, lower cost-to-serve, stronger retention, and more referrals. Then we map CX to executive priorities with a customer experience success blueprint. We talk through how to align with the CFO’s bottom line, show the CMO how advocacy can lower paid media spend, and help product and operations choose fixes that move the needle. You’ll hear how to translate friction into financial levers, set a tight measurement set that includes outcome, perception, and behavior metrics, and build governance that runs like any other business function. Finally, we offer storytelling tips to earn buy-in, celebrate small wins, and keep momentum through the long, non–light switch journey of change. If this resonates, share it with a colleague who still thinks CX is a department. Subscribe for more practical plays, leave a quick review to help others find the show, and send us your questions—your challenges fuel the next conversation. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

The most dangerous number in customer experience isn’t low—it’s shiny. In this CX Pulse Check, we unpack why a single score can seduce teams into storytelling that investors love and customers don’t feel, and we make a case for the harder, more honest work of proving value creation by cohort, not by kudos. With Rob Markey of Bain & Company and Harvard Business School, we discuss whether customer metrics predict growth or distract from it, and we separate real loyalty from repeat purchase. We go straight at the NPS debate: what the score can predict, where it fails, and how it becomes powerful only as part of a system that links feedback to actions that change renewal, cross-sell, referrals, and cost-to-serve. We talk airlines, captive markets, and the language games behind “loyalty” programs that purchase repetition without building emotional commitment. Then we get practical. You’ll hear a little about how to read interaction telemetry for risk signals, and build models that translate service performance—wait times, abandon rates, repeat contacts—into forward revenue forecasts your CFO will respect. This is a great listen for leaders who want both heart and proof: real-time feedback to understand emotion and expectation shifts, behavioral data to see what customers actually do, and investor-ready visuals like tenure curves and revenue per customer by acquisition year. If you’ve ever wondered how to tell a CX story that earns budget because it earns returns, tune in to this conversation. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with your team, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Then send in a question you want us to tackle next at askJeannie.vip. About Rob Markey Advisory Partner, Bain & Company Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School Rob Markey (https://robmarkey.com) is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and an advisory partner at Bain & Company. The creator of the Net Promoter System, he has spent more than three decades helping companies grow by earning customer loyalty and increasing the value of their customer relationships. He teaches Managing Service Operations in the MBA program at HBS and hosts the Customer Confidential podcast, where he speaks with leaders building customer-centric businesses. He is the co-author of The Ultimate Question 2.0 and a leading voice in the movement toward Customer Capitalism. Follow Rob on... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robmarkey/ Articles Mentioned: - The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI): Quarter 3, 2025 - A Threat Potentially More Damaging Than the Great Recession (American Customer Satisfaction Index) -- https://theacsi.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/2025/11/13/press-release-national-acsi-q3-2025/ - CoStar (CSGP) Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript (The Motley Fool) -- https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2025/10/28/costar-csgp-q3-2025-earnings-call-transcript/ Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

What if the next 90–180 days could lock in measurable customer loyalty? In this episode, we break down a practical, no-fluff playbook for building a retention strategy that customers actually value—whether you’re serving consumers or complex B2B accounts. We focus on intentional success and segmentation, identifying high-value customers and the signals that predict renewal, frequency, and advocacy. Then we narrow in on the KPIs that matter most and design loyalty mechanics that make sense: points, tiers, access, bonuses, and earned surprise moments. You’ll learn why swag rarely drives loyalty, how to reduce early friction with smart onboarding, and where re-engagement triggers fit when momentum slows. We compare B2C and B2B loyalty without clichés. For B2C, convenience, delight, and timely nudges win. For B2B, loyalty must support the whole account through shared benefits like premium support, admin training, success reviews, and milestone-based usage credits. Throughout, we lean on behavioral analytics, automation that enhances relevance, and a communication cadence that drives action without fatigue. To keep programs fresh, we champion co-creation and experiential innovation—inviting customers into pilots, iterating on perks, and retiring low-impact rewards fast. Ask the Disruption Day question: what will customers need tomorrow, and how can you start building it today? This mindset turns loyalty from a cost center into a growth engine. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a quick review. Resources Mentioned: Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)