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, Joseph Pine, 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 futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

Matt Brancato, Head of enterprise client relationships at Vanguard and former chief client officer, draws on hospitality roots to shape client-first work. He discusses aligning teams to break silos. He explains disciplined client listening, AI-enabled frontline support, investing in crew experience, and why human relationships still matter alongside tech.

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, Jeffrey Hendrix, Chief Customer Officer at Bimbo Bakeries USA, 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 the full conversation. Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

Gautam Vasudev, SVP of Agentforce Contact Center at Salesforce, builds CRM-native agentic contact center solutions. He explains unifying AI agents, customer channels, and CRM data on one platform. He covers why consolidation matters, how AI and humans share context to stop repeat explanations, and practical pilot learnings and risk-aware rollout strategies.

Service economics have long depended on headcount. Scale meant higher cost, and capacity constrained performance. AI changes that. This week on The Modern Customer, Matt Price, Founder & CEO of Crescendo, 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 • Increase repeat engagement and loyalty • Move beyond seat-based economics • Scale service without proportional headcount growth If you're thinking about how AI fits into your customer service strategy, this episode is for you. 👉 Watch the full episode and learn more at www.crescendo.ai This episode is sponsored by Crescendo. Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

New data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index reveals nearly a decade of stagnation, a narrowing gap between top and bottom performers, and rising loyalty. Together, these shifts point to one conclusion: customer experience is converging. In this week's episode of The Modern Customer, Forrest Morgeson, Director of Research at the American Customer Satisfaction Index, explains what this means for leaders heading into 2026. As AI accelerates and economic uncertainty persists, differentiation becomes harder to sustain and more critical to get right. If you're shaping your 2026 strategy, this conversation offers a clear, data-backed perspective on where competitive advantage is tightening — and where leaders should focus. 🎧 Listen to the full episode. Access the full ACSI report to evaluate what these trends mean for your competitive position: https://theacsi.org/news-and-resources/blog/2026/02/17/the-shrinking-distance-between-the-best-and-the-rest/ Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

Ali Ture, a senior data and AI leader who builds enterprise conversational AI, discusses agentic voice AI that connects conversations to action. He explains why preserving context across channels matters. He outlines frameworks like AI receptionists, knowledge hubs, and the automate-assist-analyze flywheel. He also covers how AI and humans will split work as systems scale.

As restaurants scale, preserving hospitality becomes harder to sustain. This week on The Modern Customer, Andrew Rebhun, Chief Experience Officer at CAVA, shares how the Mediterranean fast-casual brand keeps hospitality at the center while scaling to 400+ locations. The conversation breaks down how experience leadership actually works at scale—from loyalty and social listening to team training and selective use of AI—without losing human connection. Where do you see the biggest gap today: loyalty design, social listening, or team alignment? 🎧 Listen to the full episode to explore how hospitality translates into loyalty across digital, rewards, and social touchpoints. Curious to try it yourself? Visit cava.com to learn more. Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

Great customer experience doesn't lose customers to competitors—it loses them to apathy. And it creates superfans when ownership of the experience is clear. In this episode of The Modern Customer, customer experience speaker and author Brittany Hodak explains what actually turns customers into superfans—and why tools, automation, and AI alone aren't enough. Drawing on her work with organizations like American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams, she shows why ownership, accountability, and human judgment drive lasting loyalty. 🎧 Tune in to the full conversation to learn how great CX turns customers into superfans. Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

Customer experience leaders face a familiar tension: do we put employees first or customers first? As organizations scale and adopt AI, that question becomes operational. In this special takeover episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, Jacob Morgan shares insights from The 8 Laws of Employee Experience, based on research with more than 100 CHROs. He explains why CX and EX operate as one system—and how leadership decisions behind the scenes shape customer outcomes. This conversation gives CX leaders a practical, systems-level lens to strengthen trust, consistency, and performance as AI raises the stakes. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of three books on customer experience. Her new book is called The 8 Laws of Customer-Focused Leadership: The New Rules for Building A Business Around Today's Customer. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.