How to Avoid Customer Experience Mistakes

One lesson I’ve learned from my experiences in India: when it comes to customer experience. In India, where labor is more affordable, the tendency often is to throw people at a problem rather than making processes more efficient. Unfortunately, this often happens at the expense of the customer. Here are a few examples: 1. Airline Check-in: If I need to change a ticket due to a cancellation or want to use an upgrade coupon, I’m sent to a different counter. I have to stand in another line, even though the check-in counter could handle it (as it often does in the US). This might reduce training costs for the airline, but it makes things more cumbersome for customers. 2. Passport Renewal: Recently, I accompanied my father to renew his passport. He had to visit four counters, including a 10-second interaction after a 15-minute wait. After two hours, he was told to visit another office 20 km away to close a previous application—a step that could have been flagged at the beginning. Why burden an 87-year-old with unnecessary visits and processes? This made it easier for the passport agency, but harder on the customer. 3. Immigration at Departure: In India, there’s a separate immigration desk before leaving the country. Why not simplify the process by handling this at the check-in counter, like in the US? Adding extra steps doesn’t serve the customer—it’s just another layer of inefficiency. These experiences are a teachable moment: customer experience should always come first, not just making things cheaper or easier for the business. Automation and process improvements can reduce errors and improve speed—without resorting to adding more people to handle inefficiencies. The lesson: Cut steps that add no value to the customer. Prioritize their experience over internal convenience and ease.

They spent £40,000 on an AI chatbot… to help customers who don't own smartphones. Here's what caused that mistake (and how we fixed it): I recently spoke to a B2C care involvement company that built an AI chatbot to improve their customer service. It’s live. It works. It even has a beautiful onboarding animation. But there's one problem: Their customers are 75-year old retirees. Most don't use smartphones. None used apps. I see this all the time during my discovery workshops: • Leadership gets sold a tool. • Teams get excited about the shiny new thing. • They skip the fundamentals and go straight to solution mode. But they skip the most important step: Understanding the lived experience of their customers and employees. You can’t fix what you don’t understand. And you definitely can’t “transform” a business just by slapping a tool on top of a broken process. Here are 3 areas you must go deep in before investing in any change: 1) Analyse your customer & internal journeys. Most inefficiencies in business come from the invisible friction between roles, tools, and decisions. So, ask yourself: → How do customers move through your business? → How do your teams interact with tools, data, and each other? Every answer could be a potential AI use case. 2) Focus on what’s NOT working. Diagnose the pain instead of obsessing over the potential. Ask your team: → What's frustrating you daily? → What's slowing you down? → What still requires manual effort, every single time? 3) Solve the right problems. Not the flashy ones. Not the ones with the coolest acronyms. The right ones. Finding these take just 2 questions: → What improves quality of life for employees? → What creates visible delight for customers? Using these 3 tips, we decided to hit pause on the chatbot. I showed them a voice-based AI agent that talks and listens like a human. That solution actually fits the customer journey. And now, they’re rethinking the rest of their roadmap. So, before your business gets carried away by the next AI pitch or shiny dashboard: Slow down. Study the pain before you prescribe the fix. That's where the ROI lives.

If I were to start over today in customer experience, I would not begin with surveys, nor with likeable characters, nor with immaculate journey maps that live in presentations and die in operations. I would begin by unlearning. Unlearning empty frameworks, dashboards no one consults when real pressure hits, promises of instant empathy that have trained us to do the right things, but not necessarily the things that transform. And yes, this truth can be uncomfortable. CX has become an accessory, something that is communicated, but not governed. A “look how beautiful our journey is” while the decisions that truly matter are taken elsewhere, based on entirely different criteria. If I were starting today, I would do this differently. And it is what I recommend to any leader who doesn't want to lose time: 1️⃣ I would start with blocks action, not with the customer: Organisations love collecting preferences, but customers do not decide based on taste; they decide based on friction. If you do not understand what enables or blocks an action, everything else becomes analytical vanity. The driving force behind the business is not what we would like it to be. It is the unresolved micro-pains that no one takes into account when making decisions. 2️⃣ I would design the system before the experience: There is no consistent experience when decision-making is inconsistent. This is why I developed CUSTOMER™, to move CX away from being a collection of initiatives and turn it into: → a prioritisation guide → a shared business language → a real backbone for sustainable growth 3️⃣ I would speak more clearly and more humanly: In CX, empathy is discussed endlessly. Uncomfortable conversations are avoided. If I were starting today, I would choose the right friction: the kind that opens eyes, not the kind that looks good in a handbook. Because the future of experience does not depend on more data, but on more truth. And the truth is that many organisations do not need new tools. They need more courage. More decisions taken from the customer’s perspective, at the right moment, with accountability for impact. CX is not a deliverable. It is a way of leading. And when it is genuinely adopted, it changes the entire business. If I were starting from scratch today, I would choose to help organisations move: → from decoration to design → from noise to intention → from linear to living systems → from tactical execution to true strategy Save this post if you are rethinking your CX strategy for 2026.

Ever had a purchase that made you feel like you were stuck in a sitcom? Imagine that you’re excited about your new purchase, counting down the days until it arrives. Then … "We'll be there between 1-5 PM," they said. At 4:59 PM, my phone buzzed. Cancellation #3. Who knew an accent cabinet could become the star of its own customer experience comedy special? Spoiler alert: I wasn’t laughing. As a marketer deeply versed in customer experience, I found myself living a textbook case of "what not to do." It was like watching a sitcom where I was the unsuspecting main character. → Three scheduled appointments → Three last-minute cancellations → One very frustrated customer (yours truly) I had a front-row seat to the impact of poor post-purchase care. This comedic saga reinforced a crucial principle: ↳ The customer's journey doesn't end at checkout. ↳ If anything, that's where the real show (and relationship) begins. For those of you directing the customer experience sitcom, here are some script notes to consider: 1.     Communication is Key Keep your audience (customers) engaged. Don’t leave them hanging during commercial breaks! Implement a robust system for regular updates. Whether it’s order status, appointment confirmations, or delay notifications, keep customers in the loop. An informed customer is a happy customer. 2.     Empower your Service Team Give them the best lines and let them improvise when needed. Provide your frontline staff with the authority and tools to resolve issues on the spot. When a customer service rep can say, “Yes, I can fix that for you” instead of, “Let me check with my manager,” it’s a game changer. 3.     Anticipate Needs Be the writer who knows the plot twist before it happens. Use data and customer feedback to predict common issues or requests. Then, proactively address them. It’s like offering an umbrella before it starts raining. 4.     Follow Up Every good episode needs a “previously on …” recap. Implement post-purchase check-ins. A simple, “How’s everything working out?” can catch issues early and show customers you care beyond the sale. 5.     Learn and Adapt Use the audience reactions to refine your next season. Regularly analyze customer feedback and complaints. Use this data to make tangible improvements to your products, services, and processes. It’s continuous improvement in action. We often put so much focus on casting new customers, but what if we gave our recurring cast members (existing customers) the star treatment? It’s not just about a one-episode cameo. It’s about creating fans who’ll tune in season after season. In today's world, the customer experience isn’t just part of the show – it IS the show! Now, for some audience participation: ↳ What's your “customer experience gone wrong” sitcom story? We’ve all got at least one! CFW Marketing #CustomerExperience

Customers don’t buy from companies they don’t trust. But there’s one mistake I see often (and you might be guilty of it too) 👇 Companies not following through on their promises. Sure, you provide the service you say you will, or you ship the products they buy, but that’s the big stuff. The broken promises happen in small, almost imperceptible ways throughout the journey. A trustworthy digital experience does what it says it’s going to do and does not introduce surprises. Think about it from the customer’s perspective... 👉 If your site highlights top sellers in a rotating element on your homepage, and they click a product – they expect to go straight to that product page. ❌ If you send them to the “best sellers” catalog instead, you’ve broken a promise. 👉 Users generally understand how subscriptions work – either they pay monthly or they pay once. ❌ Introducing elements like surge pricing or unexpected fees violates those mental models and can lead to distrust very quickly. 👉 During checkout, users expect to see the final cost of their purchase before starting the process. ❌ If a $5 shipping fee pops up after they’ve already input their credit card information, they’re going to feel violated, like they were tricked into giving information for a situation they didn’t fully understand. If your company makes a promise to a customer, they expect you to keep it.

What Every Customer-Facing Business Should Revisit - The Basics Still Matter From time to time, I take on consulting work to help businesses strengthen their operations. Recently, I worked with a NY-based bagel chain. I won’t name names or share proprietary details, but I think it’s worth sharing a few universal lessons that apply to any customer-facing business. Let’s start with a simple truth: your in-person customers deserve your full attention. If someone walks in, stands in line, and has cash (or card) in hand - serve them first. Online orders are important, but they shouldn’t come at the expense of the people standing right in front of you. The solution? Assign dedicated staff to online fulfillment. When the rush slows down, that team can jump in to help live customers - and vice versa. That’s where a manager should be managing: balancing priorities, monitoring the floor, and ensuring no channel suffers. Lines can kill business. If your line is too long, people will turn around and never come back. Staffing, training, and task management must all be structured to avoid bottlenecks. It’s far easier to keep a customer than to win one back. Cleanliness tells your story. Opening and closing checklists must include detailed janitorial priorities - from the deli case to the bagel baskets, everything should shine. But don’t stop there - after cleaning, walk around the counter and look from the customer’s perspective. You’ll see what they see: crumbs, fingerprints, smudges, clutter. The customer view never lies. The front door is your first impression. If your windows, handles, or entry glass are dirty, you’ve already told customers everything they need to know about your standards. Clean them throughout the day. The same goes for air vents and ceiling tiles - if your HVAC diffusers have black rings of dirt, it’s not just unsightly, it’s disgusting. Listen before you act. When taking an order - listen carefully. Write it down. Repeat it back. It may feel slower at first, but it prevents costly mistakes that frustrate customers and slow down the line even more. Respect the customer’s request. If someone orders a half pound, give them half a pound. Don’t overfill the container to “upsell.” They’ll go home, try to open it, and end up with a mess. You gained 30 cents in sales but lost the next visit. Train your team to listen and deliver exactly what’s ordered. These might sound like small things, but they’re what separate a good business from a great one. Every detail - how a store looks, sounds, and feels - communicates something to your customer. Basic doesn’t mean easy. It means essential. If you see something here you disagree with or want to add your own perspective - drop me a message. I’d love to hear how you run your shop.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were paid twice for the same invoice due to IT system issues? Today, I experienced double payment on my account a simple issue that turned frustrating fast. Instead of resolving it, Intermarché told me to return tomorrow because the accountant wasn’t available 😏 This highlights the need for businesses to prioritize quick problem-solving and better customer support. As a quality coach, this incident made me reflect on how organizations can do better. These are some key areas for improvement that I believe can make a real difference: 🔑 Ensure IT systems have robust checks to prevent errors like duplicate payments. A reliable system is the foundation of trust. 🔑 Simplify communication with users during transactions. Clear and reassuring messages can prevent confusion and enhance the overall experience. 🔑 Empower teams to address customer concerns quickly and empathetically. The human touch can turn an issue into an opportunity for connection. 🔑 Analyze every incident as a chance to learn and refine processes. Mistakes are valuable teachers when approached with the right mindset. 🔑 Act swiftly to resolve issues. Speedy reimbursements and proactive communication show customers that their concerns are a priority. 🧾 This experience serves as a reminder that technology and processes exist to simplify life for users, not create obstacles. Organizations that focus on creating seamless experiences stand out and earn long-lasting loyalty. ⁉️ Have you faced similar challenges in your work or as a customer? Let’s start a conversation about how we can learn from these experiences and build better systems together. #ExploreWithEmna #customerexperience

One bad store experience can cost you 100s of customers. And in today’s world, that could mean the end of your brand. I’ve seen it firsthand: a single negative interaction can snowball. One dissatisfied customer can speak out, share it, and tag your brand. Within minutes, their frustration can reach hundreds, if not thousands, of potential buyers. Let’s not sugarcoat it, losing a customer due to poor service isn’t just a missed opportunity, it’s a failure of your entire business. A bad product, poor service, or mismanaged exchanges and refunds can leave a lasting scar on your brand. Take the example of brands expecting customers to bring their own bags. I recently read about it, and though it might seem small, but it’s a perfect case of how an avoidable mistake can turn into a big issue. Charging for bags or making customers bring their own isn’t just inconvenient, it creates friction and leaves a bad impression. Personally, I’ve always been against it. I firmly believe that retail is about creating an environment where customers feel valued, not burdened. And I think this is where many businesses miss the mark. It’s not enough to simply deliver a great product. You need to ensure that every touchpoint, from the store to the online experience, aligns with your brand promises. At my previous organisation, we understood this well. We introduced a "charter of rights" for customers, ensuring transparency on returns and exchanges, and followed up with WhatsApp messages to reinforce their rights. And if something still went wrong? We went all in. We reached out, apologised, and made it personal, whether it was sending a gift, having a senior team member contact them directly, or even visiting their home. We did whatever it took to make it right. Because today, losing a customer over poor service isn’t just a missed chance. It’s a missed future. #customerexperience #retailleadership #customerloyalty

I heard what I heard. When we are not explicitly clear or when we don't address something head on, we leave room for folks to create their own narrative. They fill in the blanks with assumptions. If you work with customers this is a critical realization. Whether you are in Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Support, Product etc. it is really important to be intentional with your words. So many teams get this wrong in the Customer Journey ... 🚫 Marketing implies something on the website 🚫 Sales does not go deep enough in a product demo 🚫 Customer Success doesn't provide specificity around a timeline 🚫 Support doesn't highlight that a particular issue is recurring 🚫 Product doesn't clearly state that something is not aligned with their vision I've seen all of these examples play out in real life. I've had to manage escalations as a result of it. If seen this impact revenue. It's a problem. There are 5 SIMPLE things you and your teams can do to ensure proper alignment and avoid creating a poor customer experience 1) Summarize and Reflect Back - Make sure everyone heard the same things and understands what's been communicated 2) Ask Open-Ended, Clarifying Questions - If you or the customer need more information to ensure you're aligned, go deeper 3) Provide a Recap via Follow-Up Email - Always send a follow up and ask for confirmation 4) Use Visual Aids or Examples - If you have assets to help support the discussion this may help enforce what's being discussed 5) Invite Feedback and Encourage Questions - Seek feedback and conversation along the way At the end of the day you need to ensure everyone is on the same page. It's on you to make sure that's the case.

Saw this car in the parking lot at the grocery store earlier this week. At first, I read it and walked by. But then I went back to capture the pic. Of course, since I don't know the whole story, I edited the pic to take out the auto dealer's name, etc. Whoever owns this car was so upset with them they took the time to have two of these signs made and affixed to each side of the vehicle. Got me thinking. What did this dealer do or not do to make this person so upset? No matter who your customer, client, guest, etc. is how can we make sure you are not the next sign on a car, or a venting post on social media, etc. We've all been there—anticipating a seamless interaction with a business, only to walk away feeling unheard, undervalued, or frustrated. Disappointing customer service leaves a lasting impression, often more so than exceptional experiences. Why does it sting so much? Expectations. As customers, we expect service that is efficient, empathetic, and solution-oriented. When reality falls short, it can breed resentment and tarnish trust. So, how can businesses overcome these moments of disappointment and turn them into opportunities? 1️⃣ Acknowledge the Gap: Own the mistake and apologize sincerely. A heartfelt acknowledgment goes a long way toward rebuilding trust. 2️⃣ Listen to Understand: Often, customers, guests, clients, etc. just want to feel heard. Listening with the intent to solve, not just to respond, can transform a negative interaction into a collaborative solution. 3️⃣ Empower Employees: Ensure your team has the tools, training, and autonomy to make things right in the moment. Empowered employees are your first line of defense against customer dissatisfaction. 4️⃣ Exceed Recovery Expectations: If a service failure occurs, go above and beyond to rectify it. This might mean a refund, a thoughtful gesture, or simply taking the time to follow up. 5️⃣ Learn and Evolve: Treat every complaint as a learning opportunity. What systems or processes can be improved to prevent this from happening again? ✅ Disappointing customer service is not the end of the road; it’s a chance to showcase your values and commitment to your customers. Every business makes mistakes—it’s how you handle them that sets you apart. ❓ Have you ever turned around a poor service experience, either as a customer or a professional? Would love to hear what you have done to overcome!!! Let’s discuss ways we can all grow from these moments.