Dark patterns expose deeper ethical issues in customer experience. Here’s how virtue ethics grounds fair decisions that build customer trust.

The $2.5 billion Amazon "dark patterns" settlement illuminates deep ethical CX questions.

Sludge is more than a nuisance. It's a communication choice made by leadership. Sometimes it isn't intentional. Sometimes it is.

While government agencies aren’t profit-driven, their leaders are still often held to business standards that mirror those in the private sector. That's why CX matters to everyone.

Updated December 21, 2024 Customer experience (CX) has had its share of highs and lows in 2024—a roller coaster ride of triumphs that deserve celebration and failures that serve as cautionary tales. These seven nuggets stand out as critical moments, showing what works, what doesn’t, what's promising, and where brands can do better. Wipeout: Chocolate Backlash in Glasgow Willy Wonka is a pop culture touchstone of color and wonder, but a big event heralded as an immersive “Will

The White House's New Time is Money Memo Spotlights Bad CX But Isn't the Regulatory Crackdown Some Hoped For

CX professionals can help build a future where exceptional customer experiences go hand-in-hand with ethical business practices.

Customer experience (CX) professionals have complex jobs. In the C-suite, they carry the torch for customers while balancing what is best...

Juggling a 9-to-5 and a passion project can ignite one’s creativity. Even as I've been exploring another professional world away from CX...

Hello, friends and colleagues! Almost three years after publishing my Dictionary of U.S. Federal Government Terms, Phrases, and Acronyms,...

There are a few well-known but unwritten beacons in customer experience. Here’s one: Don’t give customers the runaround on purpose to benefit your cash flow.  Example:  Setting up an easy, one-click way for customers to subscribe to your services online. Then, to cancel the same subscription, customers are forced to call a contact center where representatives have been trained to do anything but immediately process the cancellation request. It seems like it should be the ex

Sometimes the biggest inspirations come in the form of blog posts. Earlier this month, Melinda French Gates posted an article on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website that made my heart pitter-patter. It was so inspirational that I recommend every government #CX pro moves it to the top of their own reading list: Link . “…after three years of prototyping, digesting 1,800 pages of federal and state regulations, prototyping again, and pilot testing, Michigan rolled out

Most of us would prefer to love our customers, but the feeling isn’t always mutual. Customers can be unruly. They can hate your brand, openly or privately. They can ignite social media firestorms with a single click on a smartphone. The risk only grows in complexity when employees can get burned out and lose faith in your brand. Understanding why is a solid step toward getting in front of the problems. Here are five recent peer-reviewed scholarly studies on the stormy side of

President Biden’s new executive order (EO) on customer experience lit up the social streams like nothing I’ve seen in quite some time. That made me happy. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the CX work being done in government—all governments. I held one of the U.S. federal government’s first agency-level CX leadership roles way back when… during the Obama administration. Since leaving government, I’ve advised colleagues and clients on the technicalities of U.S. federal govern

When you make customers jump through hoops, negative things are bound to happen. One of those negative things is customers eventually stop jumping. When that happens, it shouldn’t be any big surprise. That is the main point of Cass Sunstein’s book , Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do About It. The book rarely mentions the word “customer.” But make no mistake. The book’s 153 pages are about the many ways in which sludge—those pesky hoops that compani

By Stephanie Thum, CCXP Show of hands. Who’s setting business priorities for 2022? How the world understands customer and employee...

Hi, friends! I'm so excited to share with you my new collaboration with SAGE Publishing, the global academic publisher of books,...

Podcasts, blogs, reports, and books are great for staying sharp on the fundamentals and trends in customer experience management (CX). On...

The White House's updated CX accountability framework adds equity and updates the definition of CX in the U.S. federal government. Here...

Too many rules and too much sludge can lead to a host of negative employee and customer experiences. Sludge audits can help attach a dollar cost to the customer and employee pain. Some years ago, I worked with a superstar sales executive. She frequently traveled the United States meeting with clients. One day over lunch she mentioned she had never submitted a travel expense reimbursement form to the company we worked for. I was surprised. We all know how expensive travel can