Explore every episode of the podcast Customerland

The sale isn’t the finish line. It’s the moment you hand your relationship to shipping networks, support queues, return policies, and whatever happens when a real human has a real problem with their order. I’m joined by Andrew Schmid, Chief Product Officer at Route, to dig into why post-purchase is still the most underbuilt part of ecommerce and why it’s quickly becoming the place where profit and loyalty are decided. 

We get concrete about what “post-purchase” actually means, from package protection at checkout to order tracking, WISMO reduction, claims for lost or damaged packages, and the messy reality of returns, exchanges, and warranties. Andrew shares shopper research that reveals a scary truth: after a bad experience, many customers don’t complain loudly, they just disappear and 43% may never shop that brand again. We also challenge the idea that brands must choose between protecting margins and delivering a great customer experience, and we talk about how the right flows can create a true win-win where shoppers get what they wanted and brands keep revenue in their ecosystem. 

We also zoom out into technology and AI in retail, with a practical lens: automation that speeds up resolution, reduces support labor, and improves customer lifetime value without turning service into a ticket-closing machine. Andrew closes with a real example of optimizing a claims experience, including an A/B test that drives a 21% lift in replacement orders, showing how small changes after checkout can create big economic impact. If you care about ecommerce retention, returns management, customer trust, and post-purchase ROI, hit subscribe, share this with a CX leader, and leave a review with the most important post-purchase metric your team is tracking.

Loyalty isn’t a punch card anymore, and it definitely isn’t just repeat purchases. We’re chasing a tougher standard: loyalty of choice. That’s the kind of customer loyalty that shows up when someone sticks with you even when a competitor is cheaper, closer, faster, or simply more convenient and when they come back after you’ve had a service failure or a product miss. I’m joined by Jaclyn Wands, VP of Product and AI at Phaedon, to get concrete about what “true loyalty” looks like in 2026 and how to measure it without fooling ourselves.

We break down the difference between transactional loyalty (habit, ease, familiarity) and emotional loyalty (preference, trust, forgiveness). Jacqueline shares practical examples from travel and hospitality, including a smarter approach to airline loyalty programs: stop blasting generic promotions and start using data to solve the customer’s problem with relevance and timing. We also tackle the uncomfortable truth about personalization. If it feels like customers are being “haunted,” it’s usually because the brand is optimizing for its own KPIs, not the customer experience.

Then we go deep on AI in loyalty and marketing. AI can create massive efficiency, but it also exposes structural problems in your data ecosystem and processes because it scales whatever you already have. Jaclyn lays out a clear “human in the loop” philosophy, what AI should absolutely handle (repetitive work, zero-to-one drafts), and where humans must stay accountable. Finally, we look ahead to AI assistants as a new gatekeeper for discovery and booking, and why brands may need loyalty programs connected into AI marketplaces to stay visible and differentiated.

Subscribe for more conversations on customer experience, loyalty strategy, and AI, then share this with a teammate and leave a review. What brand has earned your loyalty of choice, and why?

A retailer can spend millions driving traffic to a website and still quietly shut out customers at the exact moment that matters most: browsing, adding to cart, and checkout. That’s the uncomfortable truth behind web accessibility, and it’s why we sat down with Imogen Wethered, CEO of EnableAll, to talk about accessibility as a real driver of conversion, loyalty, and long-term growth, not a side project or a checkbox.

We get specific about what accessible e-commerce actually means in practice: screen reader support, keyboard-only navigation, clearer labels and forms, better contrast, captions, reduced motion controls, and tools that let shoppers personalize the experience to their needs. Imogen explains why “silent revenue loss” is so common, how WCAG compliance becomes everyone’s responsibility and therefore nobody’s responsibility, and why brands often only move when enforcement or lived experience forces the issue.

We also dig into the business case with numbers that should wake up any marketing, product, or CX leader. Disabled consumers represent massive purchasing power, and the opportunity online is often invisible because most analytics platforms never flag the customers who bounce due to barriers. We compare adoption to the early GDPR era, unpack the differences between ADA enforcement in the US and the European Accessibility Act, and discuss what it takes to win support from marketing, CTOs, and CFOs, including site speed concerns and ROI storytelling. We close with a challenge: as agentic shopping and AI accelerate experiences, accessibility becomes even more critical because speed exposes weaknesses fast.

If this conversation changes how you think about your website and your customers, subscribe, share it with a teammate, and leave a review so more builders and leaders find it.

“Deflection is dead” is a bold claim, but after this conversation it’s hard to argue. I’m joined by Pasquale DeMaio, VP of Amazon Connect Customer at AWS, to talk about why the future of customer service isn’t a shinier contact center dashboard. It’s customer AI that improves outcomes for the customer and also for the humans doing the work, from agents to managers to the business leaders responsible for performance.

We dig into the idea of a human-to-AI continuum: some moments should be fully automated because speed is the kindest thing you can do, while other moments demand empathy and a real person. Pasquale explains how Amazon Connect thinks about using AI for routing, agent assist, recommendations, and automatic summaries so agents stop spending their day on wrap-up codes and busywork. The thread running through it all is simple: make the technology recede so the human can focus on the customer, not the tools.

Then we tackle agentic AI and the practical reality of deploying it safely. The takeaway is not “let the agent invent everything,” but combine agentic capabilities with deterministic workflows for critical steps like payments, identity, and security. We also explore trust, security, and reliability as the foundation for any AI-driven customer experience, plus why disconnected vendors create local improvements but fail to deliver an end-to-end customer journey.

If you care about CX strategy, customer engagement, contact center modernization, and AI in customer service, this one will sharpen your thinking. Subscribe, share this with a CX leader who needs to hear it, and leave a review with your biggest question about agentic AI.

Your next grocery “deal” might not be a discount at the register and that’s exactly why it works. We sat down with Sean Turner, co-founder and CTO of Swiftly, to unpack the real mechanics behind digital promotions that change behavior in brick-and-mortar grocery and convenience stores, from customer acquisition to retail media monetization.

We get specific about how retailers can find and bring back shoppers using one-to-one targeting across digital channels like social, open web, connected TV, and location-based screens, then convert that attention into app downloads and repeat trips. Sean explains why the mobile app has become the default digital home for loyalty programs, personalized offers, and a smoother shopping experience, and why that same app is the most practical place to build a retail media business without needing a massive content team.

Then we go deeper into measurement and incentives: how to prove incremental ROAS for in-store retail media, how alcohol rebate compliance shapes offer design, and why cashback can create a bigger basket lift than instant redemption. The details matter, from clear qualification reminders to making payout fast and trustworthy so shoppers actually feel the value.

We close by zooming out to the modern grocery technology stack and the next wave of change. Personalization is no longer optional when attention spans are shrinking, and AI agents are starting to influence meal planning and product discovery. If your store inventory and pricing aren’t connected to the wider digital ecosystem, you risk being invisible when shoppers ask for recommendations.

If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a retail leader, and leave a review so more grocery and retail media teams can find the show.

What if AI could design your business in minutes—and still pass audit? We sit down with Pega CEO Alan Trefler to unpack how Blueprint uses generative AI to reimagine complex processes while preserving the predictability enterprises demand. Instead of asking models to improvise outcomes at run time, Blueprint captures objectives, proposes stages and data flows, and feeds a best-in-class workflow and decisioning engine that’s built for change.

We get into the core challenge every leader faces: turning AI hype into production reality. Alan breaks down three kinds of AI that matter in the enterprise—statistical next best action, generative features that assist workers, and generative process design that rethinks how the business should run. The twist is timing. Let the model be expansive at design time, then lock the logic, policies, and decision frameworks before go-live. That keeps outcomes consistent, explainable, and ready for regulators and auditors.

You’ll hear how this approach reshapes sales and consulting. With just a few inputs and a client’s website, a first meeting can produce a tailored blueprint that feels shockingly complete. Consulting partners can now embed their proprietary IP via partner-branded blueprints, marrying their best practices with Pega’s runtime to deliver four to five times faster. We also cover trust guardrails—data isolation, no training on client data, transparency into decisions—and why predictable AI will separate pilots that stall from systems that scale.

If you’re evaluating AI for process transformation, customer engagement, or operational excellence, this conversation will give you a practical framework for choosing the right AI for the right job—and a playbook for moving from idea to production with confidence. Subscribe, share with a colleague who owns transformation, and leave a review with the one process you’d redesign first.

Want proof that churn isn’t the end of the story? We sit down with Recurly’s Chief Product Officer, Priya Lakshminarayanan, to explore how pause states, micro subscriptions, and one‑click plan changes are rewriting the rules of subscriber loyalty. Drawing on network‑wide data from millions of users, Priya explains why nearly one in four new subscriptions comes from a former customer and how 75% of paused users eventually return when brands make exits humane and re‑entry effortless.

We dig into the rise of micro subscriptions—short passes that replace bloated free trials—and why they convert around 13% of users into ongoing plans. From there, we map the journey that grows revenue: compress time to value in the first 90 days, use context‑aware prompts to surface upgrades when benefits are felt, and lean on annual plans that generate 50–60% more revenue than monthly without sacrificing trust. Priya shows how Recurly’s engagement tools turn helpful nudges into one‑click actions tied directly to billing, so a downgrade, pause, or tailored discount happens in the moment a user needs relief, not days later.

We also tackle the loyalty stack that matters now: transparent billing, excellent support, and a sharper focus on data privacy that’s moved to the forefront of subscriber decisions. Flexibility to pause or switch plans emerges as a true customer‑first signal, while ethical and sustainable practices vary in weight by vertical and demographic. Finally, Priya previews an AI retention agent designed to detect churn type in real time, select the right save tactic within budget, and keep growth on autopilot.

If you care about retention, ARPU, and building real trust, this conversation offers practical, data‑backed steps you can put to work today. Listen, share with a teammate who owns subscriptions, and leave a quick review to tell us which tactic you’ll test first.

Customers don’t churn all at once—they leave through a thousand small cuts. We sit down with Katie Costanzo, President of CX at CSG, to unpack how leading brands are closing those gaps with real-time decisioning, smarter use of billing and journey data, and disciplined deployment of agentic AI. If clarity, empathy, and credibility feel scarce in your customer experience, this conversation offers a practical reset and an action plan.

Katie breaks down what CSG Xponent actually does across the journey, from onboarding to service, billing, and support. We explore how billing intelligence can predict confusion, trigger proactive help, and even offer tailored payment plans that preserve trust. Instead of blasting more messages, we talk about cutting the noise by timing communications to intent and choosing the right channel for action. The result: fewer dead ends, fewer escalations, and a measurable lift in customer loyalty.

We also dive into the tension around agentic AI. With 56% of consumers still wary of letting AI act on their behalf, how do you unlock the efficiency without losing hearts and minds? Katie’s take: onboard AI like an employee. Define responsibilities, set guardrails, build transparent governance, and always provide human on-ramps. Start small, solve specific pains, prove value, and scale. As switching costs approach zero, brands that move at the speed of experience—decisions in milliseconds, improvements in weeks—will win the market.

If you’re a CX, product, or operations leader looking to turn data into trust and trust into growth, this episode is your field guide. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to tell us which micro friction you’ll fix first.

What if the antidote to career burnout isn’t a new job, but a new structure? We sit down with Ruth Stevens - B2B marketing veteran, educator, and globe-trotting “academic tourist” - to unpack how a portfolio career can turn chaotic consulting into a resilient, joyful life. Ruth walks us through the system she built: teaching that provides rhythm and community, paid writing and research that monetize curiosity, and board work that expands perspective and credibility. Each lane feeds the others, creating a flywheel where ideas sharpen and opportunities compound.

Then we pivot into the AI frontier with clear eyes. We talk about using large language models as thought partners rather than ghostwriters, why unedited outputs are risky in classrooms and courtrooms, and how brand voice can erode when teams lean on generic prose. We dig into the tough questions: who owns the data, what do energy-hungry data centers mean for communities, and can policymakers keep pace with deepfakes and model misuse? You’ll hear a chilling simulation anecdote that illustrates why safety work and governance matter - and how product teams can test, monitor, and document AI responsibly.

It’s not all doom. We spotlight hopeful applications like accessible productivity tools and low-cost therapeutic support, and we outline a practical approach: automate drudgery, keep humans on judgment and narrative, and build lightweight guardrails before regulation lands. If you’re a solo practitioner, marketer, or leader trying to navigate AI while designing a career you actually want, this conversation offers a map and a push. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset, and tell us: which part of Ruth’s playbook will you try first?

Shoppers aren’t average anymore—and our stores shouldn’t be either. We dig into why treating each location as a living ecosystem beats blanket strategies, especially when consumer signals are split between cautious and confident spending. With Justine Melman, CMO at Optimum Retailing, we explore how connected data and AI-powered planograms turn messy, stressful environments into calm, intuitive spaces that invite discovery and drive conversion.

Across the conversation, we unpack the tension between shopper stress and in-store enjoyment, revealing why cluttered shelves and noisy signage push people away while clear wayfinding and focused merchandising pull them in. We talk through the rise of impulse purchases as a form of self-care, and how retailers can enable those moments without overwhelming the senses. Justine shares how localized insights—traffic patterns, heatmaps, weather, and nearby events—feed dynamic planograms that adapt assortments, facings, and features to each store’s real shoppers, not theoretical personas.

You’ll hear concrete examples, including a telco that used Realogram to generate automated, store-specific planograms and saw up to a 17% lift in sales—proof that dynamic beats static when executed at scale. We also tackle the category gap: grocery and health are resilient, while apparel, electronics, and restaurants fight for discretionary dollars. The unlock is emotional relevance. By framing “nonessential” items through practicality and personal impact, brands can turn nice-to-have into must-have in ways that feel authentic and local.

If you’re a retail leader ready to replace averages with precision, this is your playbook: use data to sense, AI to decide, and simple design to soothe. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review with one change you’ll make to localize your stores this quarter.

Forget churning out more content; the real advantage now is coaching intelligent systems to deliver work that still feels unmistakably human. We sit down with Johann Wrede, CMO of UserTesting, to unpack why the modern marketing leader must operate like a business generalist, not a channel specialist—and how AI raises the floor on execution while threatening to flatten differentiation.

Johann traces an unconventional path from engineering to sales to marketing to the C-suite, revealing why integrated thinking beats siloed teams and how curiosity has been the throughline in every step. We dig into the shift from outputs to outcomes, the growing responsibility CMOs have across finance, talent, and culture, and the practical ways to build teams that prompt for critique, pressure-test assumptions, and use AI as a typist and analyst while protecting the origin of ideas.

The conversation gets tactical: how to detect and avoid “common denominator” content, when to bet on in-person experiences to earn authentic digital lift, and why brand voice matters even more when a bot handles the first touch. Johan shares lessons from UserTesting customers who test tone, empathy, and clarity before deploying AI into apps and contact centers, aiming for helpful, on-brand interactions without pretending the machine is human. If you’re rethinking your marketing operating model—designing briefs for agents, calibrating prompts for better judgment, and building tight research loops with real people—this one maps the path.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a teammate who’s retooling their workflow, and leave a quick review telling us how you’re coaching AI for better outcomes.

The excitement around agentic AI is loud, but the real story starts where hype meets accountability. We sit down with Eric Karofsky, CEO of Vector HX, to separate narrow task agents from agentic systems that plan, reason, and negotiate across steps—and to ask the uncomfortable question: who do you trust when your agent starts talking to someone else’s agent?

Eric walks us through the gaps leaders often miss. It’s easy to mandate AI from the top; it’s harder to redesign the workflows that make measurable impact. We explore why trust breaks down when autonomy spreads across tools, teams, and vendors, how hallucinations become career risk inside enterprises, and what guardrails look like in regulated sectors. The conversation stays grounded with two practical wins. First, a pharma literature review pipeline that shrinks from six months and $250,000 to roughly two weeks by structuring extractions, adding human checks where accuracy matters most, and instrumenting the process end to end. Second, a document discovery platform that stitches together siloed repositories with smart metadata, natural language search, and relationship mapping that surfaces parent, child, sibling, and multilingual versions of critical procedures.

If you’re wondering where to start, Eric’s advice is simple and hard: map the jobs to be done, pick a high-friction workflow with measurable outcomes, and redesign it around human needs. Save broad agentic autonomy for bounded domains with clear policies, identity, and audit trails. The best KPI for the next 12 months might be whether your core processes actually change; if you’re doing the same work the same way next year, you probably missed the point.

Ready to rethink your approach to AI beyond better emails? Listen now, subscribe for new episodes, and share this with a teammate who owns process change. Your take: where would agentic AI actually earn trust in your organization?

The future of retail isn’t just about shiny tech on the sales floor; it’s about the unseen engine that makes every experience feel effortless. With Verizon Business’s Katie Riddle, we unpack how sensorized products, unified IoT platforms, and edge AI are transforming inventory accuracy, employee workflows, and the shopper journey—while forcing retailers to rethink bandwidth, security, and the true cost of scale.

We start with the ground game: real‑time visibility. As RFID and low‑cost sensors spread through stores and DCs, managers can spot low stock, recover misplaced items, and treat shelves with the same precision we expect from ecommerce analytics. Katie shares how Verizon’s ThingSpace creates a single pane of glass for devices and environments—HVAC, refrigeration, digital shelf labels, and more—turning disconnected data into actions that cut waste and improve availability.

Then we zoom out to the network layer. Smaller formats benefit from fixed wireless access, larger boxes lean on private 5G, and everyone needs fast, reliable Wi‑Fi. That mix matters because AI tools and retail media networks are hungry. Natural‑language search for associates, computer vision for measurement, and privacy‑safe attention analytics all demand low‑latency compute at the edge. Katie explains how to separate mission‑critical systems from media traffic, prove in‑store ad lift with 5G Video Insights using existing cameras, and fund the initiatives that actually move the brand forward.

None of this works without robust security and a plan that outpaces growth. Every new endpoint expands the attack surface, so zero trust, segmentation, and managed detection become table stakes. Sustainability rounds out the story: sensors that prevent spoilage, energy‑smart operations, and circular programs that align with how customers want to buy. The takeaway is clear—technology is your brand now. Overbuild the right way, measure what matters, and protect the experience end to end.

If this conversation helped you see what’s next, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review so more retail leaders can find it.

What happens when retail stops waiting for shoppers to arrive and starts responding to every signal in real time? We dive into a candid, practical look at how AI is reshaping the entire customer journey—from discovery sparked in chat interfaces to fulfillment choices optimized for margin and sustainability. With SAP Customer Experience leader Balaji Balasubramanian, we unpack the systems, data, and decisions required to turn conversations into commerce and curiosity into profitable growth.

We explore why unified data is the real unlock for AI in retail and how a business data cloud gives models the context they need: customer profiles, orders, invoices, inventory, pricing, and unstructured signals. Balaji explains Joule, SAP’s conversational co-pilot, and how it sits on top of business AI and knowledge graphs to answer questions, trigger actions, and summarize insights for teams in the flow of work. We also talk about WalkMe’s role in accelerating adoption and giving users context-aware guidance and shortcuts. The result is a stack that reduces friction, shortens cycles, and makes bold ideas operational—without replacing the people who bring judgment and brand sense to the table.

The conversation tackles big shifts many leaders feel but haven’t fully mapped: destination shopping becoming instant demand; personalization evolving into proactive orchestration; and loyalty moving from points to trust. We consider how to tie recommendations back to inventory location, margin, and sustainable delivery so that offers are both relevant and responsible. We also address tough realities like a five-point slide in true loyalty and the widening expectation gap, and why AI-driven pilots—margin-aware personalization, proactive service, dynamic bundling—are the fastest path to learning what works at scale. If you’re serious about real-time retail and want a playbook that blends strategy with execution, this conversation delivers clear steps and fresh energy.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with your team, and leave a quick review so we can keep bringing you practical insights that move the needle.

A grocery cart that acts like a high-performing media channel sounds bold, until you hear how it actually works. We sit down with Yaniv Zukerman, CMO at Cust2Mate, to unpack how a retrofit smart cart platform turns the physical aisle into an addressable, measurable environment where shoppers get guidance, retailers unlock new revenue, and brands finally see real attribution at the shelf.

We start with the origin story: a clip-on panel that transforms any existing cart into a smart cart, complete with scanning, guided lists, service counter booking, and on-cart checkout. Then we zoom out to the platform: charging and docking systems, fleet management, and deep integrations with POS and loyalty for identity, context, and closed-loop outcomes. Yanev shares why the system is designed as an open marketplace, making room for retail media networks, CPG campaigns, and third-party apps like recipes, wellness content, reviews, and even local offers that fit the trip.

The core breakthrough is precision. Instead of spray-and-pray store screens, a dedicated cart display travels with each shopper for about 45 minutes, informed by lists, scans, dwell time, and exact location. That enables real-time triggers, personalized promotions, and full attribution from impression to conversion. Retailers see faster checkout, labor relief, and a new profit engine from in-store retail media and data monetization. Brands gain verified reach at the point of decision. And shoppers get less friction, more relevance, and a smoother path to pay-and-go.

We also dig into the playbook for adoption: pilots with clear KPIs, structured integrations, cross-functional teams, and onsite support to train staff and customers. Beyond grocery, we explore use cases in pharmacy and DIY, plus cross-retail partnerships and digital assortment sold from the cart for home delivery. Looking two years ahead, Yanev outlines a future where stores become the most data-rich, accountable channels in retail—real-time, attributable, and truly shopper-centric.

If this vision resonates, follow the show, share it with a retail operator or brand leader who needs it, and leave a review to help more people find conversations like this.

The most valuable loyalty program isn’t a points card—it’s a living system that knows each shopper, adapts in real time, and proves it can drive incremental spend. We sit down with Jeff Baskin, Chief Revenue Officer at Eagle Eye, to unpack how unified commerce and true one-to-one personalization are reshaping grocery, convenience, and hospitality. Instead of stitching tools together, Jeff explains how a single platform that connects payments, promotions, loyalty, and engagement unlocks a complete customer view and makes every interaction feel relevant across channels.

Jeff pulls back the curtain on two standout case studies. Giant Eagle combined loyalty with digital promotions to generate hundreds of millions in incremental sales by influencing the next purchase, not just rewarding the last. Tesco’s AI challenges push personalization further: models weigh 190+ decisions per shopper to assign tailored goals and rewards, scaling from 3 million to 10 million customers quickly while guaranteeing measurable uplift. These programs win CPG support because they tie spend to clear ROI, not vague impressions, and they help retailers grow margin by moving shoppers into higher-value behaviors.

We also get practical about the messy middle: data silos, legacy POS programs, and organizational friction. Jeff shares why a consultative approach matters—start with customer outcomes, treat data as a strategic asset, and build a feedback loop that improves with every transaction. We compare Walmart’s tech-driven experience gains with the edge regional grocers can reclaim by pairing human connection with AI-powered relevance. The takeaway is simple: personalization works because it mirrors how people already consume content on Netflix and Instagram. When retailers deliver that level of relevance across store and digital, loyalty stops being a cost and becomes a growth engine.

Subscribe, share with a colleague who cares about loyalty, and tell us: where are your silos, and what would you test first?

Fraud doesn’t just show up as a stolen card anymore—it arrives as coordinated global operations and as “friendly” misuse from customers who otherwise look perfect on paper. We sit down with Armen Najarian, CMO at Sift, to unpack how merchants can block the bad without breaking the checkout flow for everyone else. From account takeovers and identity theft to policy abuse and return gaming, Armin explains why risk isn’t a back‑office metric but a core part of customer experience, where a single false positive can cost a loyal buyer and a long relationship. 
 
We dig into how Sift evaluates identity in real time, returning a risk score in about 200 ms, and why context across a network of merchants beats one‑off signals. It takes a network to fight a network, and that shared view turns fragmented behavior into reliable trust decisions. The conversation moves to agentic commerce—AI agents that can discover, sign up, and transact on our behalf. Convenience is huge, but so are questions: how do we authenticate agents, delegate consent, assign liability, and keep fraudsters from hiding behind machine identities? With card networks, banks, processors, and solution providers racing toward standards, the stakes rise as forecasts point to a leap from billions today to over a trillion dollars in agent‑driven transactions by 2030. 
 
We also explore why Gen Z gets phished more despite digital fluency, the practical limits of self‑sovereign identity in the private sector, and the growing dual threat: organized crime scaling up and first‑party misuse spreading inside customer bases. If you care about conversion, approval rates, and loyalty as much as chargebacks, this is a roadmap for making trust invisible when it should be, and unmistakable when it must be. If this conversation helped you see risk differently, follow, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show.

If you’ve felt the creep of “good enough” in your marketing, you’re not imagining it. We dig into why plausible outputs are everywhere, how AI accelerates the trend, and what it takes to compete on strategic value when leaders only lean in for metrics tied to money. With Andrew Schulkind of Andigo, we get candid about the gap between process metrics and business metrics, the lure of “ornamentrics,” and the practical steps that reconnect campaigns to revenue, profitability, and customer outcomes.

We start where most frameworks gloss over: defining audience segments through real conversations. Not just with sales and success, but with product teams, long-term customers, and the ones who churned. Those insights expose the pains people actually feel and the outcomes they will pay to achieve. From there, we show how to use both fear and aspiration responsibly: articulate the problem that causes daytime heartburn, paint the future state buyers want, and keep your message grounded in what they value rather than what you want to sell.

Then we turn strategy into motion. You’ll hear a simple nurture cadence built around three core pains and three matching outcomes, each email carrying proof, a useful resource, and a micro-CTA that reveals intent. Track those signals, learn which messages trigger movement, and tie engagement to pipeline and revenue instead of vanity stats. We also talk frankly about when to step on implementation to protect strategic value and how to leverage AI without losing customer proximity.

If you’re ready to trade shiny metrics for meaningful results, this conversation gives you a clear path forward and tools you can use this week. Enjoy the episode, share it with a teammate who’s buried in dashboards, and if it helps you reframe your plan, subscribe and leave a review so others can find it too.

Think your customers are loyal? Our data-backed dive suggests otherwise. We sit down with Cardlytics to unpack why non-loyal shoppers often deliver outsized gains and how commerce media—powered by first-party transaction data—can transform media spend into measurable loyalty. From banks to retailers to CPGs, we trace how card-linked offers (CLO) connect incentives to outcomes and deliver immediate consumer value alongside certified incrementality.

We explore how category-level visibility changes everything. A shopper who looks loyal in your CRM might be splitting most of their wallet with competitors. With insights drawn from trillions in annual spend, Cardlytics shows how to spot those leaks, build audiences around real switching behavior, and target them with relevant, timely offers. The results are hard to ignore: higher average tickets, more repeat visits, and a proven path to iROAS that stands up to third-party validation.

Then we look forward. SKU-level targeting lets a brand drive a specific product through a specific retailer, closing the loop from exposure to receipt. Agentic buying is on the horizon, where AI shopping agents will hunt for value across channels. Cardlytics’ position—integrated with banks, merchants, and identity—acts like rails for this future, enabling offers to flow to both humans and agents in ways that are privacy-safe and performance-driven. Along the way, we dig into the unglamorous but essential work of data hygiene, merchant normalization, and building a modern tech stack that makes these outcomes possible.

If you’re rethinking loyalty, measurement, and where your next dollar of growth comes from, you’ll find practical guidance here: focus on non-loyal shoppers, pair CLO with clean identity, validate incrementality, and treat loyalty as a revenue center. Subscribe for more conversations at the edge of data, commerce media, and customer growth, and leave a review to tell us the next question you want answered.

The customer isn’t just human anymore. Agents are already learning our preferences, comparing offers, and making choices that used to hinge on emotion and brand memory. We sat down with Ben Wiener, global head at Cognizant Moment, to unpack how this rewires the entire go-to-market stack—from data foundations to creative expression—and why marketing plus IT has effectively become the business.

We dig into the real preparation work: consolidating and governing data so AI can act responsibly and effectively. Ben breaks down how organizations can fund the future by letting AI handle code cleanup, content migration, and workflow orchestration, then reinvest those savings into agent-ready experiences. We explore the move from omnichannel to omnibuyer, where humans, agentic buyers, and AI-assisted shoppers take nonlinear paths and demand different signals of value. That triggers hard questions about personalization, privacy, and compliance, especially in finance and healthcare, where trust is the currency.

What happens to preference when machines choose? We examine whether platforms, brands, or consumers will own the agent; how pay-for-preference could influence ranking; and why transparency standards will make or break adoption. Ben makes the case for brand-consistent AI personas that carry tone, empathy, and guardrails into machine-mediated interactions—like a great salesperson who’s consistent yet adaptive. Creativity doesn’t disappear; it scales. Relevance, speed, and ethics become the competitive layers that separate resilient brands from those left behind by algorithmic selection.

If you care about data strategy, customer experience, AI governance, and the future of brand loyalty, this conversation will sharpen your roadmap. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs to hear it, and leave a review with your take: who should own the consumer agent—platforms, brands, or users?

Forget shiny tools. The real power in customer experience comes from simple, disciplined execution that customers actually feel: reliable delivery, fast issue resolution, and clear communication. We sit down with Lee Kemp, former VP of CX at Veritiv, to unpack how a military-forged mindset translates into practical CX leadership across supply chain, sales, IT, and finance. Lee explains why technology should only amplify a solid foundation, and how asking the right “obvious” questions can reframe stubborn assumptions without triggering defensiveness.

We walk through building metrics that matter, starting with familiar signals to align executives, then tying them to operational outcomes like on-time performance, order accuracy, first-contact resolution, and proactive updates. Lee shares a playbook for change management that avoids heroics: sponsor the right projects, let stakeholders own the wins, and keep the mission visible so teams see their role in the outcome. When resistance shows up, executive sponsorship becomes the accelerant, but staying power depends on delivering growth that leadership can see and trust.

ROI often trips teams up, so we break it down to credible indirect signals: reduced churn after onboarding fixes, higher repeat order rates with better communication, lower expedite costs from reliability gains, and faster cash through cleaner processes. Show your work, quantify trends, and be honest when something misses. That integrity builds influence for the next move. If you’re building CX in a complex B2B world—or trying to defend it to a skeptical CFO—this conversation offers practical steps to simplify, measure, and lead change that sticks. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review with your best “measure what matters” tip.

What if doing “the right thing for this customer, right now” became the default? We sit down with Rob Walker, VP of Decisioning and Analytics at Pega, to unpack how empathy at scale, AI-driven decisioning, and strong governance can make customer engagement both more human and more effective. Rob explains why empathy isn’t charity; it’s a system for earning relevance and trust that compounds into mutual value. We dive into one-to-one decisioning that prioritizes a hierarchy of needs—solve hardship and service first, consider offers only when appropriate—and how real-time redecisioning keeps conversations useful as context shifts. The conversation gets candid on hype vs. reality: generative AI is expanding the content library needed for true personalization, even demonstrating better bedside manner in some settings. But trust requires more than sentiment; it needs policy. Rob breaks down the T‑Switch, a transparency and model-use framework that enforces explainability where stakes are high and speeds experimentation where stakes are low. Then comes the big horizon shift: customer advocacy agents. These AI agents will comparison-shop, negotiate, and handle service on our behalf, impervious to glossy ads and tuned to our preferences. That future could disintermediate brands and push competition toward price, reliability, and fit—raising the bar for authenticity and interoperability. Inside the enterprise, tools like Pega’s Customer Engagement Blueprint compress months of strategy design into hours, changing roles rather than eliminating them. Marketers and data scientists move from manual assembly to orchestration, governance, and measurement, while empathy and trust become operational standards, not slogans. If you’re ready to trade segments and batch campaigns for moment-level decisions and measurable trust, this conversation is your fast start. Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs to hear it, and tell us: what would you ask your customer advocacy agent to do first?

Curiosity got faster—and a lot more practical. We sit down with Tim Lawton of SightX and Russell Evans of ZS to unpack a partnership that blends expert humans with integrated AI to rethink how insights teams generate ideas, validate concepts, and influence big bets. No bolt-ons, no buzzwords—just a clearer path from question to decision.

We start with the reality that researchers live under a microscope, then show how automation can remove the drudgery without losing the judgment that matters. Tim explains how SightX streamlines end-to-end survey workflows, analytics, and dashboards so small teams can do more with less. Russell shares why ZS sought a partner that treats AI as the core engine, not a layer, and how the combo is helping brands compress months of work into weeks while improving the odds of success.

You’ll hear a concrete CPG case where data-driven concept generation plus rapid, integrated validation shaved time and lifted purchase intent by 29% in a human-in-the-loop process. We break down what separates pilot purgatory from real adoption: leadership “air cover,” incentives that reward experimentation, and new roles that scan the market and align tools to strategy. We also get candid about risk, governance, and where AI belongs in the stack—use it where it accelerates insight and keeps humans focused on meaning and action.

We close with a sharp take on synthetic data: explore it for low-stakes ideation, but mine real, underused signals first—reviews, long-form social, and contact center data—when the decision matters. If you’re ready to scale consumer insights, speed up concept testing, and make better calls with AI you can trust, hit play and tell us where you want to move faster next. Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs air cover, and leave a review to help others find the conversation.

If “modernizing” sounds like a buzzword, this conversation turns it into a blueprint. We sit with retail veteran Art Sebastian to trace how a beloved convenience chain moved from hometown habits to a unified, omni-channel engine - without breaking trust or losing its core. The journey starts with customer truth and a clear-eyed data audit, then builds toward a single customer view that powers relevance across email, SMS, push, and in-app experiences. The result isn’t just more messages; it’s fewer blind spots, cleaner consent, and faster baskets.

We go inside the organics of change: how a brand creates a Digital Experience team from scratch, scales talent with a two-in-the-box model, and ultimately merges digital, media, PR, and e-commerce into one omni-channel group. Art shares why a customer data platform (CDP) is the spine of modern retail - making identity resolution, privacy compliance, segmentation, and retail media networks both possible and profitable. We also dig into Gen Z’s sharp expectations: personalization over platitudes, time saved over slogans, and social content that feels native rather than promotional.

Then we fast-forward into the AI era - predictive, generative, and agentic. You’ll hear practical wins retailers are already capturing (recommendations, send-time optimization, labor scheduling) and a candid look at what’s next as AI agents start coordinating across systems. The takeaway is both empowering and cautionary: IT skills will shift from vendor management to integration mastery, and leaders must defend critical thinking even as automation scales. If you’re steering a grocery, c-store, or retail brand through transformation, this is a roadmap you can actually use.

Enjoy the episode? Follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help more retail leaders find it.

Jack Myers, founder of the Myers Report and Media Village Education Foundation, takes us beyond the typical AI conversation into the profound human implications of artificial intelligence. Drawing from his book "The Tao of Leadership," Myers explores how agentic AI—autonomous systems that interpret goals, make decisions, and evolve in real-time—will fundamentally transform business operations and leadership dynamics.

"Agentic AI is fast becoming the mirror of the modern executive," Myers explains, describing how these systems will reflect leadership qualities with unprecedented transparency. Rather than replacing humans, these agents free people to focus on what they do uniquely well: creating, empathizing, imagining, and leading. But organizations must act quickly. The traditional innovation approach of methodical "bridge building" no longer works in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Instead, Myers advocates "building portals"—immediate entry points for experiencing and learning from AI technologies directly.

Recent developments like the Modern Contextual Protocol (MCP) are accelerating this transformation, enabling AI systems to develop deeper contextual understanding. As these technologies mature, the gap between organizations embracing AI and those hesitating will widen dramatically. This creates not just operational divides but potentially new categories of "haves and have-nots" in terms of technological access and capability. Myers's advice to emerging professionals is unambiguous: avoid companies that aren't investing in AI and integrating it into workflows.

The conversation raises crucial questions about ethics, governance, and human qualities in leadership. How do we ensure AI systems incorporate empathy and ethical considerations? How must leaders evolve to balance technological capabilities with distinctly human qualities like emotional intelligence and creativity? Myers challenges us to consider these questions not as distant concerns but as immediate imperatives for anyone hoping to thrive in the AI-transformed business landscape of today and tomorrow.

Ever wondered why you abandon your shopping cart online? The answer might surprise you. According to Tarun Chandrasekhar, President and Chief Product Officer at Syndigo, "Customers don't abandon products, they abandon poor experiences." This simple yet profound insight cuts to the heart of today's commerce challenges.

The most jaw-dropping revelation from our conversation? Amazon generated more revenue from retail media and product sponsorships last year than from their entire AWS business. Let that sink in—a company whose cloud services dominate the market is making even more money from how products appear and are promoted on their platform. This seismic shift is reshaping the entire retail landscape, with Walmart and others racing to develop similar capabilities.

We dive deep into the $15 billion Product Experience Management (PXM) industry that connects the dots between multiple information layers in commerce. From supply chain to ERP systems to product data to customer experience, these previously siloed systems are now being integrated by digitally mature organizations seeking competitive advantage. For brands, success hinges on speed-to-market across multiple channels. For retailers, data accuracy prevents costly recalls and builds customer trust.

The COVID era dramatically changed the game—companies that once employed 15-20 people to manage product information now operate with teams of just four, while simultaneously juggling expanded responsibilities like managing media influencers and social platform syndication. This new reality demands smarter, more efficient systems.

As shopping behavior evolves from traditional search to AI-guided discovery, brands and retailers must adapt. The holy grail? Connecting rich product content with customer intelligence to create personalized experiences. It's a transformative time for commerce—exciting yet nerve-wracking, as Tarun describes it: "a 3D jigsaw puzzle we're building as we're free-falling from the sky."

Ready to rethink how your business approaches product data? Listen now to understand why product information has become your brand's first handshake with customers, and how getting it right might be the most important investment you make this year.

The strategic balance between technology investment and human touchpoints has never been more critical in customer experience. In this eye-opening conversation with Mario Matulich, CEO of Customer Management Practice and CCW, we uncover why so many well-intentioned CX initiatives fail during uncertain economic times.

Mario reveals the three drivers that truly matter to customers: personalization, ease, and speed—in that exact order. This hierarchy, backed by extensive research, provides a clear framework for making technology decisions that actually enhance loyalty rather than damaging it. The conversation explores why brands that maintain their CX investments during challenging periods emerge stronger, while those focused purely on cost-cutting often lose market share.

"If you're making technology investment decisions purely for cost savings, you will fail," warns Mario, highlighting the most common pitfall he observes across industries. Companies frequently replace frontline staff with self-service technology simultaneously, creating a perfect storm when that technology inevitably has flaws. When customers encounter issues and revert to traditional channels, they discover drastically reduced staffing—resulting in frustration and permanent damage to brand loyalty.

The discussion examines success stories from travel, hospitality, healthcare, and financial services sectors, where leaders like Delta, Hilton, Marriott, and Chase recognized economic challenges as opportunities to differentiate through superior customer experiences. Mario also previews the upcoming CCW Las Vegas event, bringing together over 250 solution providers and offering unparalleled networking and benchmarking opportunities.

Perhaps most compelling is Mario's observation about the future of corporate leadership: many of tomorrow's executives are today's contact center agents, developing uniquely valuable skillsets at the intersection of human empathy and technological transformation. For anyone navigating CX decisions in uncertain times, this conversation provides both strategic clarity and practical guidance.

Subscribe to Customer Land for more insights on creating exceptional customer experiences that drive loyalty even during challenging economic conditions.

Ever wondered what happens in that crucial moment after you click "buy" online? Ashley Firmstone, SVP of Global Enterprise Growth at ROKT, takes us deep into the psychology of the transaction moment and how forward-thinking brands are transforming it from a dead end into a value-creating opportunity.

When you complete a purchase online, you're experiencing either euphoria or potential buyer's remorse – a powerful emotional moment that most retailers have historically wasted. Firmstone reveals how ROKT analyzes over 6.5 billion annual transactions to help brands create relevant, valuable experiences precisely when customers are most receptive. "We want to serve something that you're not just going to click on," Firmstone explains, "but something you're actually going to complete a purchase on because you found that much value in the offer."

The conversation explores the delicate balance between monetization and customer experience. Research conducted with Harris Poll found that 62% of consumers will abandon their carts if presented with misaligned offers during checkout – a stark reminder of the risks of prioritizing short-term revenue over customer satisfaction. Firmstone shares how ROKT's "efficient frontier" testing methodology helps brands continuously optimize experiences as consumer preferences evolve, rather than taking a one-and-done approach to personalization.

Looking ahead, Firmstone predicts that winning retailers will differentiate themselves through AI integration, dynamic customer experiences, and strategic partnerships that feel genuinely relevant to shoppers. For retailers navigating today's uncertain economic environment, she emphasizes the need to leverage technology that helps move inventory without resorting to heavy discounting. "Retail industries move a little bit slower in general," Firmstone notes, "and they're going to need to adapt really quickly."

Whether you're in e-commerce, marketing technology, or customer experience design, this conversation offers valuable insights into creating meaningful digital touchpoints that respect the customer while driving business growth. Subscribe now to hear more conversations with industry leaders who are redefining how businesses connect with customers.

The world of retail media is experiencing a seismic shift as networks struggle to bridge the gap between traditional in-store marketing and digital advertising approaches. In this fascinating conversation with Paul Brenner (Global SVP of Retail Media and Partnerships at InStore Marketplace) and Steve Gray (Director of SG Retail UK), we explore the fundamental differences between US and European retail media evolution and why these differences matter.

European retailers, gaining market share earlier than their American counterparts, developed in-store retail media networks from a position of strength, setting the agenda rather than following brand directives. Meanwhile, US retail media emerged primarily through digital channels first, creating a disconnect that persists today. This regional difference reveals a deeper organizational challenge: how to unite the measurement approaches of two worlds.

"You've got one half of the business measuring one thing, even though they've got amazing data, but they're applying a sales uplift mindset. And you've got the other half of the organization spending the big media dollars and they're acting without much data, but they're applying a different standard," explains Steve.

The science of brand growth offers a potential unifying principle: brands only grow by acquiring new customers, requiring both mental availability (awareness) and physical availability (presence in-store). Retail media networks have the unique advantage of influencing both sides of this equation—something no other media channel can claim.

As Paul notes, retail media networks must address this physical-digital transition through restructuring and rethinking their approach: "If they're not there in three years, it's really going to hurt them overall because there is no way a brand is going to say all my money's going into a place where 10% of my product is sold."

Discover why cost-per-shopper models might provide a transitional language to help brands move traditional trade spending to retail media, and why the coming years will likely see significant organizational changes as CPG companies work to integrate their shopper and retail media teams to maximize growth in this rapidly evolving landscape.

The subscription economy is experiencing a profound transformation. What once centered entirely on acquisition has shifted dramatically toward retention as businesses recognize the true value of deepening customer relationships rather than constantly chasing new subscribers.

Lina Tonk, CMO at Recurly, explains this evolution with remarkable clarity: "When you start thinking about retention as a top metric instead of acquisition, you realize that you're getting close to the human that you're serving and the value that you're providing them." This perspective shift represents what she calls "a beautiful moment" in the subscription market—one that reconnects businesses with their fundamental purpose of serving people.

Data reveals the urgency behind this transformation. Acquisition rates have plummeted from 4% to 2.8%, forcing subscription businesses to rethink their growth strategies. The most successful companies now view this challenge as an opportunity to create what Tonk describes as "magical moments" with existing customers—personalized experiences that strengthen bonds and drive loyalty.

The conversation delves into practical approaches for building customer proximity. At Recurly, this starts at the executive level, with leadership actively participating in customer meetings and seeking direct feedback. Their executive program connects C-suite leaders with customers quarterly, not just for business reviews but to share insights from subscriber behavior data that can guide strategic decisions. This approach acknowledges that "customer experience is everybody's job," not just the responsibility of customer success managers.

Perhaps most fascinating is the evolving view of cancellations and pauses. "Cancellation isn't goodbye," Tonk emphasizes, noting that approximately 70% of subscribers would remain if offered a loyalty incentive. The option to pause subscriptions—whether for a month, three months, or longer—has become a powerful retention tool, creating pathways for customers to return on their own terms.

Want to build stronger subscriber relationships and drive sustainable growth? Listen now to discover how getting truly close to your customers can transform your subscription business. And stay tuned for future conversations exploring the intersection of customer experience, loyalty, and retention in greater depth.

The retail landscape is transforming through artificial intelligence, moving beyond flashy demonstrations to delivering real business value. In this illuminating conversation with Matt Bertucci, Director of Retail Solutions at Lenovo, we unpack how AI in retail has evolved dramatically over just three years.

Matt reveals how retailers have progressed from asking "what is AI?" to implementing solutions that deliver measurable ROI while enhancing both customer and employee experiences. Unlike the fear-based narratives about technology replacing workers, today's retail AI focuses on augmentation—handling routine tasks so staff can engage in more meaningful customer interactions.

We explore fascinating real-world applications, from dynamic digital signage that personalizes as shoppers approach to AI-powered return kiosks that not only streamline operations but create additional sales opportunities. Did you know that over 50% of customers who enter a store to make a return end up shopping during that visit? Matt explains how AI makes this process faster and more satisfying while helping retailers better manage inventory and discover new business insights.

The conversation delves into the technical infrastructure making these advances possible, including Lenovo's "AI factory" concept that provides the necessary computing power for everything from natural language processing to visual recognition. Matt shares how retailers of all sizes can implement these solutions, with approaches ranging from on-premises systems to cloud support or hybrid models.

Looking ahead, Matt predicts AI will become increasingly conversational and natural in its interactions, handling multiple languages seamlessly while maintaining that crucial human element that makes shopping a social experience. For forward-thinking retailers, the message is clear: the AI revolution isn't about replacing the retail experience—it's about making it better for everyone involved.

What AI solutions would improve your shopping experience? Share your thoughts and join the conversation about the future of retail technology.

What happens to the people who protect our digital spaces from the worst humanity has to offer? Rachel Lutz-Gavara, Division VP of Trust and Safety at TaskUs, joins Customer Land to explore the invisible toll of content moderation and frontline customer work.

As a licensed mental health professional, Rachel brings unique clinical expertise to corporate wellness. She reveals how compassion fatigue—the emotional cost of caring—manifests in frontline workers through subtle signs like reduced empathy, detachment, and performance issues that are often misdiagnosed as productivity problems. Rather than treating these as HR matters, Rachel advocates for a clinical approach that recognizes the true nature of the challenge.

TaskUs has pioneered a comprehensive psychological safety program that moves far beyond token wellness initiatives like yoga classes and motivational posters. Their evidence-based approach embeds mental health support throughout the employee lifecycle—from transparent hiring practices to neuroscience-based resilience training and continued support even after employment ends. This systematic approach has produced remarkable results: teams with wellness support show 3x better performance metrics, 4x higher customer satisfaction, and 50% lower attrition rates.

The conversation challenges conventional thinking about corporate wellness by demonstrating that psychological safety isn't just an ethical imperative—it's smart business. As younger generations enter the workforce with expectations of employer investment in mental health, companies building truly resilient workplaces gain competitive advantage while saving millions in retraining costs.

Whether you manage support teams, content moderators, or any frontline staff, this episode offers crucial insights into detecting early warning signs of compassion fatigue and implementing effective interventions that benefit both employees and the bottom line. Dive into the science of workplace resilience and discover how treating mental health as systematically as physical safety creates environments where both people and businesses thrive.

The emotional drivers behind purchasing decisions are often more powerful than traditional demographic factors—this revelation sits at the heart of our conversation with Calvin Cheng, Partner at West Monroe. Calvin reveals how two individuals with identical demographic profiles can make completely different purchasing choices based on psychological factors stemming from upbringing, values, and personal history.

During economic uncertainty, savvy organizations focus on "fixing the leaky bucket" rather than making substantial new investments. Calvin explains that identifying where leads are being lost in the sales funnel and addressing conversion gaps becomes critical when budgets tighten. Equally important is delivering experiences that retain existing customers, as losing them to competitors during challenging times can be particularly damaging. West Monroe's approach combines an inside-out perspective (breaking down internal data silos) with an outside-in approach (analyzing market trends and evolving customer expectations) to create comprehensive engagement strategies.

The conversation shifts to AI's transformative impact on customer engagement, from personalized marketing messages to dynamic product pages and enhanced customer service. Calvin highlights the emerging potential of agentic AI, which combines reasoning engines with generative capabilities to analyze data and make contextual decisions. However, he emphasizes the importance of human oversight—the "human-in-the-loop" model—to ensure accuracy, compliance, and trust in AI outputs. As Calvin wisely notes, borrowing from Spider-Man: "With great power comes great responsibility." The recent Air Canada chatbot controversy serves as a cautionary tale about proper AI implementation. By focusing on emotional drivers while thoughtfully implementing technology, businesses can create customer experiences that drive meaningful engagement and lasting value. Ready to transform your approach to customer experience? Subscribe now for more insights from industry experts who are reshaping the customer engagement landscape.

Fullstory's Chief Marketing Officer Lindsay Bayuk shares how behavioral data revolutionizes customer understanding by revealing not just what customers do, but why they do it. Companies using AI extensively report twice the impact on user engagement and operational efficiency compared to cautious adopters.

• Behavioral data captures user emotions through signals like "rage clicks" (5 successive clicks in 10 seconds)
• Fullstory helps brands understand the "why" behind customer actions that traditional analytics miss
• Companies extensively adopting AI see 2x impact on user engagement and operational efficiency
• 80% of companies collect data, but only 25% say they use it effectively
• Breaking down data silos and building data literacy creates competitive advantage
• Real-time personalization based on behavioral signals produces measurable ROI
• Pizza Hut achieved 6.5% transaction increase using Fullstory to optimize experiments
• For marketers overwhelmed by technology: pick a few strategic areas rather than changing everything at once
• AI should elevate human capabilities while solving real customer problems

Technology adoption has historically taken longer than expected, but AI is breaking that pattern, creating business impact faster than most people realize. This fascinating conversation with Brian Gernert, CEO of Resonate, explores how predictive consumer intelligence is transforming marketing and customer experience in ways that were impossible just a few years ago.

At the core of this revolution is Resonate's ability to process 30 billion daily consumer interactions, creating detailed profiles with 15,000 attributes per individual. What makes their approach revolutionary isn't just the volume of data, but their focus on understanding why people make decisions, not just what they do. "If we can understand what motivates them, their values, their beliefs—that's really the way to connect with individuals," explains Gernert. This deep understanding allows businesses to personalize experiences at unprecedented scale, delivering messages that resonate with individual motivations rather than broad demographic categories.

The results speak for themselves. Resonate clients average 300% ROI in their first year, with some reporting 100% lift in in-store purchasing performance. Their approach to predicting customer churn demonstrates how AI is changing the game—delivering superior predictive models in 72 hours versus the months required by traditional methods. But Gernert's most valuable insight may be about how businesses should think about AI adoption. While most companies focus on efficiency and cost-cutting, the real winners will be those who leverage AI to drive revenue growth and increase market share. "Rational companies do things for three reasons: increase revenue (10x priority), decrease costs (3x priority), and reduce risk (1x priority)," he notes. Companies that embrace AI tools across their workforce aren't just becoming more efficient—they're positioning themselves to dominate their markets while competitors merely try to survive through cost-cutting. Ready to transform how you understand and connect with your customers? This conversation shows what's possible when predictive intelligence meets customer experience.

The relationship between artificial intelligence and human emotional intelligence isn't just fascinating - it's reshaping how global enterprises deliver customer experiences. In this revealing conversation with TP USA CEO Mike Lytle, we explore how the world's largest customer experience provider is thriving in the age of AI by finding the perfect balance between technological advancement and human connection.

Mike shares TP USA's remarkable evolution from traditional call center origins to a diversified business where specialized services like trust and safety, health advocacy, and visa processing now represent half of their operations. With nearly 500,000 employees serving clients across 170 markets in 300 languages, their global perspective offers unique insights into what's working at the intersection of AI and CX.

What sets TP USA apart is their philosophy of being "powered by emotional intelligence, enabled by artificial intelligence." As Mike explains, developing emotional intelligence at scale requires sophisticated approaches like their TP Interact tool, which analyzes customer-agent sentiment and provides targeted coaching opportunities. This focus on human capabilities becomes increasingly important as AI handles routine interactions and agents tackle more complex, emotionally charged situations.

The conversation offers practical wisdom about implementing AI successfully: start with specific use cases rather than company-wide transformations, recognize that AI implementation requires robust data governance, and build momentum through early wins. Mike reveals that over 700 TP USA clients have implemented at least one AI solution, with some achieving 80% digital containment rates and 20-30% efficiency gains.

Perhaps most valuable are the insights into how AI is transforming agent enablement through simulation training, generative AI knowledge management, and emerging agentic solutions that can execute complex multi-system processes. These innovations directly address the challenge that most agent turnover happens in the first 90 days when employees don't feel adequately prepared.

For CX leaders navigating the AI revolution, this conversation offers both strategic guidance and tactical examples of how human-AI collaboration can create better experiences for customers and employees alike. The evidence? TP USA's strong financial performance despite predictions that AI would make traditional customer operations obsolete.

The digital age has transformed how businesses collect and store customer data, but with this convenience comes tremendous risk. Every minute, over 2,200 cyber attacks target U.S. businesses, making data breaches virtually inevitable for organizations of all sizes. The question isn't if your company will experience a breach, but when—and at what cost to your business and customer relationships.

Sean Gately, VP of Security Solutions at Bluefin, pulls back the curtain on the devastating impact of data breaches on customer trust. With nearly 60% of consumers reporting they would no longer trust a company following a breach, the damage extends far beyond immediate financial losses. Breached companies typically underperform competitors by 15% even three years later, demonstrating the lasting impact of security failures on business performance.

The financial implications are staggering. At an average cost of $9.63 million per breach in the United States, data security isn't merely a compliance issue—it's an existential business concern. These costs accumulate across multiple fronts: regulatory fines, legal settlements, customer notification expenses, credit monitoring services for affected individuals, and the extensive PR damage control required to salvage brand reputation. The Equifax breach alone resulted in costs exceeding $1.2 billion.

What makes this situation particularly concerning is the sophistication of today's cybercriminals. Data theft has evolved into a $30 billion global industry, with stolen social security numbers selling for $1 on the dark web, while passport information commands up to $1,000. E-commerce businesses and high-volume retailers face particular vulnerability, especially those slow to adopt modern security protocols.

The most effective protection strategy is surprisingly straightforward: devalue data through encryption and tokenization. By rendering sensitive information useless to unauthorized parties, businesses can dramatically reduce both the likelihood and impact of breaches. As Sean explains, "If you devalue all the data, when that breach happens and someone gets into your database, it's useless information they can't sell."

With changing privacy regulations across states and countries, staying compliant becomes increasingly complex. The wisest approach is implementing comprehensive data security that exceeds basic compliance requirements—protecting not just payment information, but all personally identifiable information throughout your ecosystem. Your customers' trust depends on it.

Consumer spending has weakened across the board in recent weeks, with fast fashion, resale, and off-price retail emerging as relative winners in an otherwise concerning landscape. Michael Gunther, VP and head of insights at Consumer Edge, shares data-driven perspectives on current consumer trends and what they indicate about the broader economic picture.

• Recent transaction data shows spend patterns weakening across industries during the past 4-5 weeks
• Winners in this environment include fast fashion, resale markets, and discount retail—categories typically associated with economic pullbacks
• Corporate earnings calls increasingly mention tariffs and "geopolitical uncertainty" as key concerns
• Unlike pandemic-era pullbacks, there's no pent-up demand waiting to be unleashed as travel and entertainment spending has normalized
• High-income consumers and younger demographics are maintaining relatively stronger spending, though still showing signs of trading down
• Companies successfully targeting these stronger demographic segments (Hollister, Shein, Cartier, MyTheresa) are better positioned to weather the downturn
• Sustainability remains a driver of consumer choices alongside price sensitivity, particularly in the resale market
• Key indicators to watch include transaction data across discretionary categories and grocery price inflation, especially in tariff-impacted categories

What happens when a nonprofit organization builds customer service operations that directly advance their mission? In this fascinating conversation with Andie Ewing, Chief Operating Officer of Unbound, we explore how this international development organization has reimagined what customer experience can achieve.

Operating across 17 countries in Africa, Asia, India, and Latin America, Unbound has developed a groundbreaking approach to both fighting poverty and delivering exceptional customer service. Unlike traditional contact centers focused on efficiency metrics, Unbound has established global operations in Colombia and the Philippines with a different priority: creating career opportunities for the very families they serve through their programs.

"When you are in a nonprofit, your differentiator is your customer experience, and so it is more crucial than anywhere else I've ever worked to create the ultimate radical customer experience," explains Ewing. With 90% of all donations going directly to families, Unbound operates on a remarkably thin administrative margin while still prioritizing meaningful sponsor interactions over transactional efficiency.

The impact extends far beyond business metrics. Contact center employees become community heroes, representing hope and possibility. One employee shared how his job now allows him to provide a secure home for his mother after growing up in extremely precarious living conditions. When sponsors call, they speak directly with people connected to the communities they support, creating authentic relationships that strengthen commitment and trust.

The results speak volumes: 95% first-call resolution, 92% customer satisfaction, and only a 7.2% sponsor discontinuance rate. Unbound's visionary approach demonstrates how aligning operational excellence with mission can create transformative outcomes for all stakeholders.

Discover how this innovative organization is challenging conventional wisdom about customer experience while breaking cycles of poverty. Visit unboundorg.org to learn more about their work and how you can get involved.

The marketing technology landscape has exploded to over 15,000 applications, creating both opportunities and challenges for businesses seeking to maximize their existing investments. In this enlightening conversation, Tara DeZao and Rebecca Miller of Pega, share their unique perspectives on navigating this complex ecosystem while thoughtfully implementing AI solutions.

The conversation reveals how Pega's approach to AI has evolved dramatically since 2018, shifting from basic natural language processing to sophisticated generative and agentic applications that transform both customer and employee experiences. What makes this discussion particularly valuable is their candid exploration of the trust challenges organizations face when implementing AI at scale.

One of the most fascinating insights comes from Pega's innovative internal solution—"Intern Iris," an AI assistant deliberately positioned as an intern to encourage appropriate oversight and verification. This clever framing builds trust while still delivering significant productivity benefits, demonstrating how thoughtful implementation can address legitimate AI concerns.

The conversation dives into the critical balance between automation and authenticity in customer engagement. As Miller notes, "If you have one bad experience as a consumer, you're done," highlighting why governance and control remain essential even as AI capabilities advance. She offers practical guidance for organizations, recommending a measured approach that focuses on one process at a time rather than attempting wholesale transformation.

Looking toward the future, De Zao predicts a significant shift in customer service over the next five to seven years—an increasingly autonomous landscape where routine transactions are handled through AI while human agents evolve into specialists managing complex emotional situations. This vision acknowledges both the transformative potential of technology and the enduring value of human connection.

Whether you're a marketing leader evaluating AI solutions, a customer experience professional reimagining service delivery, or a technology strategist planning your organization's digital future, this discussion provides valuable perspective on balancing innovation with appropriate controls to deliver experiences that build rather than erode trust.

The disconnect between the digital experiences businesses think they're delivering and what customers actually receive represents a massive opportunity. In this enlightening conversation, Dave Anderson, VP of Product Marketing at ContentSquare, explores how traditional analytics fail us – with teams trapped in Google Analytics trying to make sense of tables and charts that don't tell the full story of customer journeys.

There's a profound shift happening from marketing-focused metrics to product analytics that truly reveal user behavior. Rather than drowning in spreadsheets, forward-thinking companies are embracing visual analytics that overlay directly onto websites and apps, making insights immediately actionable for everyone from UX designers to CEOs.

The results speak for themselves: North Face increased CTA exposure by 50%, Rakuten boosted checkout conversion by 10%, and one UK bank discovered removing their mortgage calculator actually improved sign-ups by 10-15% (worth £500,000). These aren't marginal improvements – they're transformation stories driven by finally seeing what customers actually do rather than what we think they do.

What makes this approach revolutionary is its accessibility. As one executive notes, "The real test of a new feature is can product marketing use it without any instruction and get value from it?" When analytics become visual and intuitive, teams align around clear priorities without needing data science degrees.

With AI now entering the equation, we're moving toward proactive insights – not just visualizing problems but receiving specific recommendations: "Lift these elements up the page" or "You have more opportunity with this product line." The future belongs to companies who can truly see their digital experience through their customers' eyes.

Ready to close the gap between your perception and your customers' reality? Discover how visual journey analytics could transform your digital experience and drive meaningful business results.

What makes a brand truly patriotic in American eyes? The answer might surprise you—and it's definitely not just waving flags or wrapping everything in red, white, and blue.

Robert Passikoff, founder and CEO of Brand Keys, returns to Customerland with fascinating insights from their 24th annual Most Patriotic Brands Survey. This year's results reveal a startling reality: commercial brands now significantly outperform government institutions when it comes to patriotism. While Jeep maintains its perfect streak (ranking #1 for all 24 years of the survey with a near-perfect 99% rating), government bodies like the House of Representatives and Senate score dismally low at just 25% and 28% respectively.

The conversation dives deep into what actually creates patriotic brand perception. As Passikoff explains, true patriotic connection comes through authenticity—the historical significance of Jeep "winning all the wars," Ford's role as "the founding father of industrialism," or Disney's ability to "repaint Rockwell every single night" with their Main Street Parade. These brands don't simply claim patriotism; they embody elements of American identity through innovation, inclusion, and genuine heritage.

We explore how smart consumers easily detect inauthentic patriotic messaging, why politically divisive approaches fail for brands, and the striking trust gap between commercial entities and government institutions. With government trust ratings below 40%, brands have unprecedented opportunities to forge meaningful connections through shared American values—if they can do so authentically. This compelling examination of patriotism, brand loyalty, and consumer psychology offers valuable insights for any brand looking to connect with American audiences through values rather than superficial symbolism.

Tune in to understand why patriotism remains a powerful force in consumer decision-making, and how the brands that truly understand American psychology continue to thrive even in divisive times.

What Really Builds Customer Loyalty? A Conversation with Hope Neiman of Tillster

Loyalty programs are everywhere—but actual customer loyalty is harder to come by. In this episode, Hope Neiman, CMO at Tillster, offers a grounded look at what separates transactional perks from meaningful, lasting relationships.

While many brands rely on points and promotions, Hope argues that the real drivers of loyalty are often more personal and human: a service rep who remembers your dog’s name, a solution offered before a problem escalates, or just the sense that a brand actually knows who you are. These small gestures, she explains, often do more than elaborate programs ever could.

We also explore new research on QSR loyalty behavior, including some surprising stats—like the 22% of regular diners who don’t use any loyalty apps, or the more than half who have stopped visiting restaurants due to impersonal experiences. Even operational friction—like something as simple as a blocked parking lot—can quietly erode loyalty.

Hope also walks us through how Tillster is using data and AI to rethink incentives—not as mass promotions, but as tools to offer more relevant, achievable rewards based on real customer behavior.

At its core, this conversation is a reminder: as technology advances, the emotional side of customer relationships isn’t going away. If anything, it’s becoming more essential.

What if your planograms could adapt to each store's unique inventory and fixtures in real-time? That's exactly what Optimum Retailing has achieved with Realgramn AI, the first AI-powered store-specific planogramming tool that's fundamentally changing how retailers approach merchandising.

Justine Melman, CMO at Optimum Retailing, joins Customerland to reveal how Realgram AI bridges the persistent gap between merchandising plans and in-store execution. "Stores obviously know what their sales data is. They know what product is selling at each store. That's not anything new. What they don't know is why," explains Melman. This crucial insight drives Realgram AI's approach to what they call "precision merchandising."

The traditional planogramming process has always been inefficient – visual merchandisers design planograms, save them as static PDFs, and distribute them to hundreds or thousands of stores with different layouts, fixtures, and inventory levels. Realgram AI transforms this model by allowing merchandisers to create a single planogram that automatically generates unique versions for each store based on their actual inventory and fixture capacities. When inventory changes, the planogram updates in real-time, ensuring store teams always have an executable plan.

Beyond improved execution, Realgram AI provides unprecedented retail intelligence by connecting sales performance with specific store zones, fixtures, and product placements. The system's automated photo compliance uses AI image recognition to verify planogram execution, dramatically reducing the manual labor of compliance checking. Integration capabilities extend to RFID technology for real-time product tracking and digital signage that can respond to customer interactions – imagine displays that automatically update to showcase the blue shoe a customer just picked up instead of the red one featured in the original planogram.

Contrary to fears about AI replacing jobs, Melman emphasizes that Realgram AI aims to enhance retail professionals' capabilities: "We're looking at what we're offering as a way to make their jobs easier, make them more efficient, make them more profitable, make them more successful."

In this episode, we sit down with Jess Leitch, Executive Strategy Director at Frog, to explore the seismic shifts redefining how humans interact with technology — and what that means for brands, designers, and everyday users. From the collapse of the traditional interface to the rise of agentic AI, Jess walks us through a future that’s already underway, where experiences are increasingly ambient, autonomous, and deeply personal.

We talk about the concept of zero UI — the idea that screens and clicks are giving way to invisible systems that anticipate our needs. We unpack what happens when brands are no longer in control of their own channels, when LLMs become the new interface, and when intimacy with machines becomes not just possible, but expected. This isn't speculation. It's happening now — and it’s upending everything from marketing strategies to design fundamentals.

Jess challenges us to reconsider what trust looks like in a world where decisions are made by machines on our behalf. And she shares why designers and strategists must think not just about usability, but about dignity, emotional resonance, and long-term impact. If your business, brand, or career depends on how people engage with technology, this conversation is a wake-up call.

Welcome to Futurescape — where the next interface isn’t an interface at all.

Listen to the full episode now on Customerland. And if you’re building the future, start with the people who will live in it.

What happens when the shiny exterior of customer experience meets the messy reality of operational execution? In this eye-opening conversation, we speak with FD Giambattista, a veteran CX operations expert who has spent 25 years implementing customer service solutions for major corporations.

FD takes us behind the curtain to reveal what actually makes customer experience work—or fail. While technology providers focus on capabilities and features, FD deals with the operational realities: systems held together with "bailing wire and duct tape," agents navigating through 14 different applications to handle a single interaction, and the delicate balance between cost, quality, and speed.

The most surprising revelation? Despite all our focus on technology, the most common breakdowns occur in people and processes. FD shares his practical approach to uncovering these issues, starting with candid conversations with frontline employees: "You get them in a room without any of their management and just say 'tell me.' Once one person talks, everybody else chimes in."

We explore the "cost-quality-speed paradox"—the uncomfortable truth that organizations can only optimize for two of these three factors. This framework helps set executive expectations from the outset and forces critical prioritization discussions that many organizations avoid.

FD also emphasizes the direct connection between employee retention and customer experience quality. Companies with lower turnover deliver better experiences because their employees thoroughly understand the products and services they support.

Whether you're leading CX transformations or implementing customer-focused technology, this conversation offers invaluable perspective on what it takes to create truly seamless experiences. Join us for this honest look at the operational side of customer experience—where simplicity should reign but complexity often dominates.

From static images to personalized experiences that greet you by name, digital signage has undergone a remarkable transformation. BrightSign's Vice President of Sales for the Americas, Misty Chalk, takes us deep into how this technology is revolutionizing customer connections across every industry.

The conversation reveals how BrightSign's purpose-built media players—those "purple boxes" behind screens everywhere—have become the backbone of sophisticated digital signage solutions. Chalk explains their unique ecosystem approach, where they've opened their APIs to over 170 content management software partners, creating a collaborative environment that delivers consistent, seamless experiences for end users. The newly established Bright Alliance program formalizes these partnerships, ensuring quality standards and simplifying what can be an overwhelming landscape for customers.

What's particularly fascinating is the evolution of retail media networks (RMNs) over the past four years. Accelerated by the pandemic, these networks have transformed from experimental initiatives to essential revenue streams that retailers "cannot afford not to do." BrightSign's technology serves as the crucial bridge connecting in-store displays, websites, apps, and streaming services—creating a cohesive experience that reaches consumers wherever they are.

Hyper-personalization emerges as the dominant trend shaping the future of digital signage. When a hotel room screen welcomes you by name or an end-cap display shows content relevant to your interests, that emotional connection drives brand loyalty. With a staggering 78% of marketers already using AI for content creation in 2024, the technology is rapidly advancing to deliver increasingly personalized experiences at scale.

Ready to transform how your brand connects with customers? Discover how digital signage can create the emotional engagement that drives loyalty across all touchpoints in today's omnichannel world.

AI-powered decisioning is transforming how retail media networks operate, and Hightouch stands at the forefront of this revolution with a freshly announced $80 million funding round at a $1.2 billion valuation.

In this conversation with Ian Maier, Ad Tech and AI Lead at Hightouch, we explore how composable CDPs are dramatically reducing implementation timelines for retailers launching media networks. Unlike traditional CDPs that require months of data migration, Hightouch's solution sits atop existing data infrastructure, allowing enterprise retailers to activate their first-party data across channels in a matter of weeks rather than months.

Maier shares a compelling case study of wearable technology company Whoop, which replaced scheduled email blasts with AI-driven decisioning and saw a 10% incremental lift in cross-sells. Beyond performance improvements, their marketing team now spends less time on operational tasks and more on high-value creative work – a double benefit that showcases AI's true promise in marketing.

The retail media landscape faces significant fragmentation challenges with over 200 networks now operating. This proliferation creates difficult choices for advertisers who must decide where to invest their budgets. Maier explains that success for retail media networks increasingly depends on making the buying process frictionless while demonstrating true incrementality – proving their platforms drive sales that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Looking ahead, Hightouch is developing solutions that allow retail media networks to create holdout groups across channels, enabling true incrementality testing that advertisers can access through intuitive dashboards. This capability addresses one of the industry's most pressing needs, as evidenced by Maier's observation that "9 out of 10 folks at NRF said the word incrementality at least once" during presentations.

For brands navigating the complex retail media ecosystem and retailers looking to maximize their media revenue, understanding these technological advancements isn't just advantageous – it's essential for staying competitive as the space continues its explosive growth.

What happens when you tell a software engineer his CMS platform will shut down in six months, leaving major clients like Adidas and Reebok stranded? You get Storyblock - perhaps the most thoughtful reinvention of content management in decades.

Dominik Angerer, CEO and co-founder of Storyblok, takes us on a journey through the broken world of traditional CMS platforms and reveals how his team is building something fundamentally different. The problem isn't just technical – it's the entire approach to content creation and management that's failed marketing teams everywhere.

Most CMS platforms function as what Dominic calls "content graveyards" – places where content is published and forgotten after being created elsewhere in Google Docs or Word. This disjointed workflow creates endless inefficiencies, from formatting inconsistencies to the inability to properly reuse content across channels.

Storyblok's "Joyful Headless" approach combines developer-friendly API architecture with tools specifically designed for marketers' needs. Their Ideation Room brings unstructured content creation directly into the CMS environment, while forthcoming features will use AI to help refresh stale content and visualize how content connects across your digital ecosystem.

The results speak for themselves – the National Retail Federation reduced development time by 70% using Storyblok's approach. Unlike competitors who have expanded beyond content management into e-commerce and other functionalities, Storyblock maintains laser focus on solving the content lifecycle challenges: ideation, creation, publishing, and reuse.

Ready to liberate your content from the graveyard and transform how your team creates? Discover why Storyblok's focused approach might just be the solution you've been searching for.

The gap between AI hype and real-world implementation is creating both challenges and opportunities for retailers worldwide. Talkdesk executives Ed Durbin and Michael Klein pull back the curtain on what's actually happening in retail AI adoption, sharing candid insights from their conversations with retail leaders at NRF and beyond.

"We've spent millions on AI and we're still trying to get it to work," one retail vice president confessed to Ed during a recent conversation. This admission captures the frustration many retailers face as they attempt to transform customer experience with artificial intelligence while managing legacy systems, limited budgets, and talent shortages. Despite these challenges, consumer expectations continue to rise dramatically, with Talkdesk research showing 70% of consumers plan to use AI for shopping in 2025.

The conversation explores how retailers can move beyond viewing AI as merely the "shiny new toy" to building a solid foundation for customer experience transformation. The Talkdesk team distinguishes between three waves of retail AI development: predictive/interpretative AI (which has existed for a decade), generative AI (2024's focus), and agentic AI (emerging in 2025). They explain why purpose-built retail solutions offer advantages over generic platforms that simply "put a spin on existing technology."

Perhaps most valuable is their discussion of the evolving skill requirements for AI implementation. As AI becomes more capable of understanding natural language, the conversation suggests we may see less need for specialized "prompt engineers" and more emphasis on business professionals who understand desired outcomes. This democratization of AI could significantly impact how retailers approach technology adoption and talent development in the coming years.

Whether you're a retail leader navigating AI implementation challenges or simply interested in how artificial intelligence is reshaping consumer expectations, this conversation offers practical insights based on real-world retail experience rather than theoretical possibilities. Join us to discover how customer experience technology is finally evolving from cost center to profit driver through strategic AI implementation.