The Customer Of The Future Wants Connection And Progress
Release Date: 05/19/2020
Build a Brand Like Trader Joe’s: Why Human Interaction Still Drives Customer Loyalty
The Modern Customer Podcast
Retail is moving toward more automation, and for customers, the experience is increasingly defined by how those systems perform. At Trader Joe’s, the experience is shaped differently. It builds loyalty through in-store interaction and human connection. This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, Mark Gardiner, author of Build a Brand Like Trader Joe’s, shares insights from his experience working inside the company and what it reveals about delivering customer experience through people. 🎧 Watch the full episode to see where human interaction still creates value and how it can drive...
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United Airlines’ Chief Customer Officer on Scaling CX Through Operations
The Modern Customer Podcast
In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, David Kinzelman, Chief Customer Officer at United Airlines—the world’s largest airline, known for its extensive international network, operational scale, and continued investment in digital innovation and customer experience—shares how the company scales CX through operations. At United, CX isn’t a layer on top of the business—it’s built into how the system runs. From putting the customer at the center of operational metrics to continuously eliminating friction across the journey, decisions are made with customer impact in mind. David...
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CVS Health on Where AI Is Delivering Value in Healthcare
The Modern Customer Podcast
At CVS Health, AI is helping teams better understand and engage consumers—through stronger data and analytics. In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, Josh Weiner, Senior Vice President of Consumer Engagement & Analytics at CVS Health, breaks down what it actually takes to make AI work in healthcare. From predicting customer intent in the contact center to enabling more personalized and connected care, this conversation explores how AI is being applied in real-world environments. The key takeaway: AI creates value when it’s applied across the full customer journey—not just as...
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What Makes AI Customer Support Work at Scale
The Modern Customer Podcast
AI can handle millions of customer conversations—but only when the right data, workflows, and systems are in place. Most companies underestimate what it actually takes to make that work. In this episode, , Founder & CEO, breaks down why AI in customer support isn’t plug-and-play—and what’s required to make it accurate and reliable at scale. We get into the foundation behind it: how organizations structure data, define workflows, and use continuous feedback to improve performance over time. If you’re thinking about AI in customer support, this is a more grounded look at...
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Inside KeyBank’s Approach to Customer Experience and AI
The Modern Customer Podcast
AI is often deployed to improve efficiency—but its impact depends on how work is structured and delivered. In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, , EVP and CIO of Intelligent Automation, Contact Center, and Investment Operations at , shares how one of the largest U.S. financial services companies is applying AI to improve customer experience. At KeyBank, AI sits alongside a strong focus on service culture, shaping how customer experience is delivered. The approach starts with integration—bringing together data, product, technology, and operations so customer behavior, product...
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The Transformation Economy: Why Customer Outcomes Matter More Than Ever
The Modern Customer Podcast
Customer experience is shifting from memorable interactions to driving customer outcomes. That’s the shift behind the Transformation Economy, and it’s changing how companies create value for customers. This week on The Modern Customer Podcast, , co-author of The Experience Economy and author of the new book The Transformation Economy, explores the next evolution of customer value—from experiences to transformation. 🎧 Listen to the full episode to explore the shift from experiences to outcomes. Blake Morgan was called “The Queen of CX” by Meta. She is a customer experience...
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Vanguard’s Client-First Approach to Building Trust at Scale
The Modern Customer Podcast
At , every investment is centered on client needs—but delivering that consistently at scale takes more than intent. In this week’s episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, shares how alignment across teams, disciplined listening, and AI-supported frontline decisions come together to create a more unified client experience. Trust isn’t built through strategy—it’s built through consistent execution. If you’re working to deliver customer experience at scale while maintaining trust, this one is worth your time. 🎧 Listen to the full episode and follow The Modern Customer Podcast for...
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The CX Strategy Behind Bimbo Bakeries’ 12,000 Delivery Routes
The Modern Customer Podcast
At Bimbo Bakeries USA, customer experience comes down to one goal: making products available where and when shoppers want them. That means keeping shelves stocked across thousands of stores—every day. This week on The Modern Customer, , Chief Customer Officer at , shares how the company uses its 12,000 delivery routes to keep products available at scale. Instead of relying solely on warehouses, Bimbo delivers directly to stores—restocking shelves, managing inventory, and responding to demand in real time. That’s how they maintain availability across their retail network. 🎧 Tune in to...
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Unifying the Contact Center: Salesforce’s Agentic AI Vision for Customer Service
The Modern Customer Podcast
Contact centers have long been built on fragmented systems — CRM for customer data, separate platforms for calls and messaging, and AI layered on top. But that model is starting to change. In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, in partnership with Salesforce, Blake Morgan speaks with Gautam Vasudev, SVP of Agentforce Contact Center at Salesforce, about the rise of the agentic contact center — and how companies are beginning to unify AI agents, customer channels, and CRM data on one platform. #ad One key idea: when AI agents and human agents share the same context, customers no...
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Service at Scale: The AI Model Driving Sales and Loyalty
The Modern Customer Podcast
Service economics have long depended on headcount. Scale meant higher cost, and capacity constrained performance. AI changes that. This week on The Modern Customer, , Founder & CEO of , explains how AI expands capacity and connects service directly to business outcomes. Instead of charging per seat or hour, Crescendo ties pricing to measurable results. When teams treat service conversations as engagement opportunities, more than half involve buying intent — and repeat visits increase. In this episode, you’ll learn how organizations: • Turn service interactions into buying moments •...
info_outlineEvery consumer has their go-to brands—the companies they will do business with again and again because of a trusted track record, great product and strong service. Every company wants to be a go-to brand, only about one-third of them reach that status. In order to become the preferred brand of customers of the future, brands need to focus on connection and progress.
To better understand the ever-changing needs and demands of customers, Lippincott brought together specialists from a number of fields to predict what the world and customers will look like in five years. Those findings help drive brands’ current strategies to prepare to serve customers of the future. According to Dave Mayer, Senior Partner, Brand Strategy at Lippincott, one of the biggest takeaways is the need to prioritize customer experience. That comes from both connection and progress.
Connection
Go-to brands like Apple, Samsung and Charles Schwab drive real connections with their customers. They strive to continually improve the experience to make themselves loved by customers. Instead of simply delivering a functional need and being a transactional brand that a customer uses once and leaves, go-to brands create relationships and understand their customers to keep them coming back again and again. One of the best ways to measure connection is through NPS. If a customer says they will recommend a brand to family and friends, they likely feel a strong connection with the company.
Progress
But connection alone isn’t enough to create a resilient go-to brand. Brands that drive loyalty also help customers do something they couldn’t do before. Customers of the future want to interact with brands that fill a need they can’t get filled anywhere else. Progress means pushing customers forward, opening doors and introducing them to ideas and services they didn’t even know they needed.
Connection and progress work hand in hand. A brand that offers progress without connection runs the risk of deflection. As soon as another brand comes with a better option, customers will abandon ship for the competition. Similarly, connection without progress means that customers will likely eventually leave for other brands that have more forward-thinking options.
Connection and progress are vital to creating go-to brands now, but they will be even more crucial in coming years. Mayer says that go-to brands grow five times faster than transactional brands and endure themselves to customers and shareholders to become resilient through difficult times. The customer of the future is values-driven and wants to connect with brands they believe in and that do good in the world. That’s progress. But they also want highly personalized experiences, which create connection. Brands must deliver on both sides to deliver a strong customer experience.
The customer of the future is changing, but they will remain loyal to their go-to brands that continue to offer both connection and progress.