Most loyalty programs are designed around rewards: points and discounts that give customers a reason to return. That design produces a specific problem. When the incentive expires or another brand matches it, the customer accepts the offer and does not return.

The companies that retain customers year over year treat loyalty as a relationship, not a transaction. Most companies have not made that shift yet.

In this episode of Doing CX Right℠, Stacy Sherman examines that problem with Martin Villanueva, Global Head of Personalization and Loyalty at IKEA. They explain why most loyalty budgets stay underfunded, what that costs in long-term revenue, and the specific steps leaders need to take first.

You will learn how to:

• Position loyalty as a growth engine, not a cost center, when making the financial case to the C-suite
• Use customer journey mapping to align CX, support, personalization, and marketing teams around a single experience
• Design a value exchange that gives customers a clear reason to share their data
• Apply AI to personalization in a way that increases relevance, not just message volume
• Measure customer loyalty through repeat purchase rate, active member rate, CLTV, and whether customers are sharing more data over time as a signal that they believe the brand delivers value

Final Thoughts

Customer acquisition costs rise every year. A loyal customer base reduces dependence on that spending. The leaders who make that investment first hold an advantage that competitors cannot easily replicate.

Have a question or thoughts to share? Leave a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/StacySherman

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Imagine you are enjoying dinner at a high-end restaurant, almost finished with the appetizer, when you notice a long strand of hair mixed into the food. What would you expect the restaurant to do?

Well, this really happened.

In this solo episode of Doing CX Right, host Stacy Sherman shares that experience, plus a second restaurant mistake that led to a very different outcome. Both businesses had a chance to recover, but only one response made her feel taken care of and more willing to forgive.

Stacy explains why the moments after a service issue can matter more than the issue itself, and why correcting the problem is not the same as making it right. She also connects both stories to Qualtrics XM Institute research, featured in episode 210 with Isabelle Zdatny, showing how customer emotion influences forgiveness, trust, recommendations, and loyalty.

This episode helps leaders rethink service recovery as a customer retention strategy, not a simple correction.

What You Will Learn

• Why correcting a mistake and making it right are two different actions.

• What Qualtrics research reveals about the business impact of emotion when an experience does not go as expected.

• Why the memory customers carry from a difficult moment can influence whether they return or choose a competitor.

• What generous recovery looks like in practice, and why one small gesture can influence the customer's next decision.

• How one phrase can shift the conversation from care to blame.

• How to assess whether employees are equipped to protect loyalty during difficult customer moments.

Have a question or thoughts to share? Leave a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/StacySherman

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Are you struggling to turn satisfied customers into brand loyalists? Discover how to shift from merely impressing to creating customer obsession in this episode of Doing CX Right.

Join host Stacy Sherman and guest Jon Picoult as they reveal how crafting standout experiences can accelerate ROI growth. They explain innovative ways to build emotional connections that turn customers into vocal advocates. Plus, learn how prioritizing your current customer base can accelerate revenue growth and enhance your competitive advantage. Don't miss out. Listen now to learn how to transform customer satisfaction into deep brand commitment.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy Sherman here.

Most business leaders track traditional metrics such as NPS, Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and average response time. They are, however, overlooking the single factor that reliably predicts customer return, referrals, increased spending, and the willingness to forgive a mistake: emotion. This episode focuses on proving the cost of this emotion gap and detailing the actions leaders must take now to achieve lasting success.

Stacy Sherman spoke to Isabelle Zdatny at Qualtrics XM Institute about in-depth research that reveals what separates companies that earn customer loyalty from those that keep losing it without knowing why. Their conversation provides leaders with clear, actionable strategies for measuring and managing the emotional experience to drive measurable business outcomes.

What you will learn:

• How to identify the one emotion your brand must stand for and turn it into a metric your leadership team will act on.

• Why customers with high emotion ratings are exponentially more likely to trust, forgive a mistake, and recommend your brand than any functional metric currently predicts.

• What a four-year longitudinal study of publicly traded companies reveals about the stock performance gap between emotion leaders and emotion laggards.

• Why AI deployed in customer service is eroding trust faster than it is creating efficiency, and what to do instead.

• How one company stopped measuring satisfaction entirely, created a proprietary metric tied to executive compensation, and changed how their entire organization operated.

• What behavioral signals inside your existing call recordings and chat transcripts are already telling you about how customers feel that post-transaction surveys will never capture.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy here.

Many leaders discover that an employee was on the verge of burnout only after the customer already felt it. By the time a resignation letter arrives or a negative review goes public, it has already cost you the revenue and the brand reputation you spent years building. The question is whether you can read the warning signs before that moment happens.

This show is about Stacy Sherman's reflection on her conversation last week with Jennifer Lee, where they explored how to read stress indicators in real time and act on them before the damage occurs.

What You Will Learn:

• How to identify signals that a team member is approaching the breaking point before it costs you a customer or a sale

• The one question to ask your managers this week that surfaces who on the team is struggling right now

• How a single bad interaction becomes a permanent online record that AI reads when your next prospect searches for a solution in your category

• What your digital empathy footprint is and one action you can take today to understand what it currently says about your company and prevent losing both customers and top talent.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy Sherman here.

Imagine if you could detect the early signs of burnout while there is still time to help a frontline employee, protect the customer experience, and avoid preventable attrition. This is not theoretical. Leaders can now monitor operational signals across the systems employees use every day, respond in real time, reduce compounding stress, and support employee wellbeing in ways that improve customer experience.

That is exactly what you'll hear in this episode of Doing CX Right℠, where host Stacy Sherman and featured guest Jennifer Lee, President and Co-CEO of Intradiem, discuss why employee well-being is central to service quality, customer loyalty, and smarter leadership decisions.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Which employee behaviors can signal rising burnout
• Why short resets can improve the next interaction
• How real-time intervention affects business outcomes
• Where AI adds value inside the employee workflow
• What determines the right moment to escalate to a person
• Why frontline observation leads to better leadership decisions

If your goal is to improve quality, retain valuable employees, and make smarter CX decisions, this episode will give you practical direction you can use right away.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy Sherman here.

Did you know that AI is now reading your customer reviews, your public responses, and the sentiment around your brand to help buyers decide whether to trust your business? That means you need to pay attention to what customers are saying publicly and how your company responds, because those signals are shaping reputation, buying decisions, and future revenue before a prospect ever contacts you.

In this solo episode of Doing CX Right®, Stacy Sherman shares 3 actionable lessons business leaders can use to protect revenue, avoid losing profitable customers, and improve the likelihood that their brand gets recommended by AI platforms.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to use customer reviews more strategically

• What your public responses are really communicating

• Why review strategy now matters far beyond reputation

• What creates risk when your business has too many negative reviews or none at all

• How customer expectations and emotions shape public feedback

• What leaders need to do to strengthen how their brand is perceived online and by AI tools

If your goal is to protect revenue, strengthen brand reputation, and know exactly where to focus, this episode will be very valuable and enable you to make an impact immediately wherever you work.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy here.

Why do customers trust a 4.5 star rating more than a perfect 5? What is AI actually using to decide which businesses to recommend, and is your company showing up in those answers?

Both questions come down to your reviews and what your business does when there is negative feedback. Most leaders ask how to delete bad customer reviews. They cannot. What they can do is respond within 24 hours, fix the root cause, and invite every customer to review, not just the happy ones. The businesses that build customer trust consistently are the ones AI recommends, and buyers consistently choose.

In this episode of Doing CX Right®, Stacy Sherman speaks with Alicia Skubick, Chief Customer Officer at Trustpilot, the world's largest independent customer feedback platform.

You will learn how to:

• Turn bad online reviews into clear actions that improve the business
• Respond quickly in ways that strengthen credibility and build customer trust
• Use customer feedback to find root causes across teams
• Develop trust over time through consistent actions
• Adjust to AI search, where reviews influence visibility and decisions

Whether you lead a retail business, a financial services firm, or a service organization, this conversation will change how you think about every bad customer review you receive.

Learn more at DoingCXRight.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more actionable strategies.

Book time with Stacy here.