CX Matters by Hello Customer

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Michel Stevens to explore one of the most misunderstood ideas in customer experience: the service recovery paradox. Why do customers whose problem was handled well end up more loyal than customers who never had a problem at all?

From Michel's moment of clarity at a supermarket checkout, where the terminal beeped and the cashier moved on to the next customer while he was still bagging his groceries, to research from the financial industry, the conversation digs into why the paradox works and why most companies only ever get halfway. Michel breaks recovery into three levels: fix the problem, make the outcome feel fair, and show what you changed so it never happens to anyone else. The numbers are striking. An unrecovered failure drops NPS to minus 95, a functional fix brings it back to minus 19, and adding the social level lifts it to plus 59, well above the plus 18 those customers started at.

Through stories about an electric car test drive with a charging card that was never activated, bol.com outscoring Coolblue on customer satisfaction while owning far less of its own supply chain, a shopping mall that built a man cave and watched revenue drop, and the Jumbo supermarket sign listing what changed because of customer feedback, the discussion turns a piece of CX theory into something any team can act on this week.

A practical conversation about complaints, fairness, speed, frontline autonomy, and Michel's idea of micro CX leaders: the people in every department who treat customer experience as their job, whatever their title says.

Key findings from the episode

• The service recovery paradox is real. A customer whose problem is handled well ends up more satisfied than they were before anything went wrong.
• Recovery has three levels: functional, emotional, and social. Repair the problem, make the outcome feel fair, and demonstrate what you changed so no future customer hits the same issue.
• The social level is where the biggest gain sits, and almost nobody plays on it. Recent research suggests earlier doubts about the paradox came from companies stopping at the functional and emotional levels.
• The numbers make the case. In research from the financial industry, NPS lands at minus 95 with no recovery, minus 19 with a functional fix, and plus 59 once the social level is added. The starting point was plus 18.
• Never break things on purpose. Michel has seen companies consider engineering failures to trigger the paradox. It is unethical and a hard no.
• Business models shape recovery. bol.com runs a marketplace and owns almost nothing in its supply chain, yet beats Coolblue on customer satisfaction because it over-delivers the moment something goes wrong.
• A great experience must also serve the brand and the business. The shopping mall man cave delighted husbands, disrupted the buyer journey, and was quickly shut down.
• Speed matters. Once you ask for feedback, the customer assumes you know about their problem. If you cannot fix it yet, communicate first; that buys you time.
• Give frontline staff real autonomy, one step at a time. The people talking to unhappy customers need the authority to decide something on the spot.
• Eliminate your top three complaints by the next meeting, then take on the next three. Complaints drive costs, and tracking them tells you exactly where recovery is needed.
• Everybody is a micro CX leader. On paper customer experience belongs to the CEO, but it comes alive when people in finance, HR, and operations actively shape it instead of being tourists in their own organisation.
• Chances are you do not need a CX strategy today. You need a conversation with a customer today.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements:
https://www.hellocustomer.com

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Steven Van Belleghem and Michel Stevens to explore one of the most uncomfortable questions in customer experience today: as AI moves to the centre of the customer relationship, what happens to trust? Does it get easier to build, or does it become more fragile as the decisions get more automated?

From the massive adoption of consumer AI tools to the slow crawl of corporate customer service, the conversation digs into why, three and a half years into the generative AI era, almost no incumbent has a chatbot that matches the quality of the assistant already sitting in their customers' pockets. Steven challenges the idea that AI will magically solve customer experience, makes the case for deep loyalty as the next real differentiator, and argues that the winning companies of the next decade will compete on emotional connection, not operational excellence. Michel warns that AI is a megaphone, not a fix: it amplifies whatever sits underneath, so weak data and broken processes only get louder.

Through stories about an airline chatbot that promised a refund the company did not want to honour, a parent snapping pictures of recipes and asking an AI assistant to convert them for a kitchen gadget, a politician caught quietly using AI to reply to constituents, and tourists complaining to a city tourism office because the place did not look like the AI generated Christmas pictures, the discussion reveals how AI is quietly reshaping the contract between brands and the people who buy from them.

A candid and forward looking conversation about trust, differentiation, emotional loyalty, and what customer experience starts to look like in a world where programmed friendliness is beginning to outperform the human kind.

Key findings from the episode

• AI adoption in customer service has disappointed. Three and a half years into the generative AI era, no major incumbent has reached that level of conversational quality in their own service. The technology is ready. The organisations are not.
• The blockers are not the model. Legacy systems, fear of legal exposure, slow internal processes, and regulation are what hold large organisations back. Early chatbot liability rulings have not helped.
• Real change takes longer than the hype. Driverless cars, augmented reality glasses, and the smartphone app ecosystem all took roughly a decade to truly mature. Customer service will follow the same curve.
• AI risks widening the distance between brand and customer. When your agent talks to my agent, the direct relationship quietly disappears, and with it the chance to build any real connection.
• Operational excellence is becoming a commodity. Companies that only invest in transactional perfection will end up looking like everyone else, and they will be undercut by cheaper alternatives.
• Emotional connection is the next differentiator. Deep loyalty, belonging, and community are the things AI cannot copy at the speed of a model release. They are also what people choose to be part of.
• The bar for human interaction is rising. Programmed friendliness is now consistent, patient, and pleasant. Human staff in stores and on calls have to be noticeably better than that, not the same.
• Authenticity has become harder to prove. When something is genuinely impressive, customers now assume it was made by AI. Effort no longer earns automatic credit.
• Customer centricity must be seen to be done. Companies need to show customers what their feedback actually changed, not just process it quietly in the back office.
• AI amplifies what is already there. Bad data, weak processes, and unclear positioning do not get fixed by automation. They get louder and more expensive.
• The old marketing questions still matter. What makes you different? Why should anyone be loyal to you? AI will not answer those for you, and that is the point.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Michel Stevens to explore one of the hardest questions in business today: how do you actually embed customer centricity into an organization, instead of just talking about it?

From leadership mandate to micro CX leaders on the front line, the conversation digs into what separates organizations that genuinely live customer experience from those that treat it as a quarterly report. Michel challenges the idea that CX is a "grassroots" movement, makes the case for capabilities over maturity models, and explains why following your gut still matters in a world obsessed with data.

Through stories about claims processes that should take two days instead of ten, B2B leaders who read customer feedback every morning before opening their inbox, and the difference between leaders who say they care and the ones who prove it when things get hard, the discussion reveals what real customer centricity looks like inside the walls of an organization.

A candid and practical conversation about leadership, culture, training, and what it takes to make customer experience part of the daily rhythm of a business.

Key findings from the episode

• Customer centricity needs both top and bottom. Senior leadership has to endorse and live it, but it also has to live in the walls of the organization through everyday decisions.
• CX is a moving target, not a destination. You don't "become" customer centric. You practice it, the same way you practice agile.
• Think capabilities, not maturity. Maturity implies an endpoint. Capabilities can be built, stretched, and applied continuously.
• Leadership mandate is non-negotiable. Without it, CX projects burn energy and go nowhere. Michel walks away from projects without it.
• Watch what leaders do, not what they say. The "go to gemba" test reveals whether a leader actually walks the floor and engages with real customer interactions.
• Follow your gut sometimes. Data is powerful, but over-reliance on dashboards can suppress the human judgment that makes great CX possible.
• Train continuously, not once. CX training is a series of interventions and nudges, not a single workshop. People need course corrections to stay sharp.
• Build micro CX leaders. Empower individuals to make the right call in real situations rather than scripting every interaction.
• Use feedback in two loops. The inner loop solves the individual customer's problem. The tactical loop tackles the top three recurring issues, week after week.
• Introspection is the new differentiator. As efficiency and innovation become easier to copy, the organizations that know who they are and what matters to them are the ones that will stand out.
• Customer centricity is the most fun strategy. Cheapest is a race to the bottom. Most innovative gets caught up in an instant. Closest to the customer is where meaning and competitive edge meet.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Steven Van Belleghem to explore a growing tension in modern business: as companies become more efficient and automated, do they risk losing customer trust?

From AI-driven service to community-driven brands, the conversation dives into how organizations can balance efficiency with human connection. Steven challenges leaders to rethink their obsession with short-term ROI, argues for intuition alongside data, and explains why the future of competitive advantage will be belonging and trust rather than perfect transactions.

Through stories about telcos, viral brand moments, pet-food companies sending condolence gifts, and the famous “doorman vs elevator attendant” metaphor, the discussion reveals how companies can remain human in an increasingly automated world.

A candid and practical conversation about leadership, customer trust, and what will truly differentiate companies in the age of AI.

Key findings from the episode

• Trust requires short-term sacrifice. Truly customer-centric companies are willing to lose money in the short term to build long-term trust.
• Micro ROI obsession kills great ideas. Not every action needs a measurable return. Small “ROI-negative” gestures can create huge brand value.
• Efficiency alone won’t differentiate companies anymore. AI will make high-quality service cheap and widely available.
• Customer relationships will become the real competitive advantage. Brands must create emotional connection and community, not just frictionless transactions.
• Consumers now have AI superpowers too. Intelligent agents will make switching providers effortless, increasing price competition.
• Community-led brands are rising. Creators and community leaders can rapidly build businesses based on trust and belonging.
• Companies must shift from selling products to enabling success. The winning mindset is “how do we help our community succeed?” rather than “how do we sell more?”
• Intuition still matters in leadership. Over-reliance on data can suppress creativity and bold decisions.
• Most organizations kill good ideas internally. Fear, legal concerns, and risk avoidance often suffocate innovative customer initiatives.
• The “doorman vs elevator attendant” lesson. Automation replaces tasks, not meaningful human value. Roles that provide trust, empathy, and real assistance will remain essential.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com

In this Hello Customer webinar, CEO Bram De Vos is joined by CTO Jonas Beullens for a blunt, practical conversation about AI in customer experience, and why the loudest takes are usually the least useful.

They open with a deliberately provocative claim: AI is threatening your job. Then they quickly pop the balloon. Predictions around “AGI is near” and “whole professions will disappear” have been confidently wrong before, and the bigger point is simple: in the next three to four years, CX is far more likely to be reshaped than erased. The work shifts, but the human layer still matters because customers still prefer humans for many moments that count.

From there, Bram reframes the hype cycle: what looks like a sudden revolution is often a long evolution. LLMs feel new because they became visible to everyone at once, but the underlying trajectory has been building for years. And the people shouting “this changes everything” often have something to sell, or at least attention to win.

Then they tackle the opposite complaint: AI doesn’t know our craft. The answer is “it can, but only if you feed it properly.” Jonas breaks down how language models work, and why outcomes depend heavily on inputs. A simple story makes it stick: a friend failed a golf rules exam using ChatGPT, then passed after uploading the rulebook. Same tool, different context, completely different results.

They bring it back to CX execution with concrete examples from Hello Customer: evolving from basic categorization and sentiment to hyper personalized taxonomies, adding implicit feedback from chats, emails, and call transcripts, and using Ask Isaac to turn questions into consistent, data backed reports. A key warning shows up here too: plain ChatGPT can give confident but inconsistent answers to the same question on the same dataset, which is exactly why prompt enrichment, retrieval, and traceability matter.

On trust, they land on two pragmatic guardrails: verify sources (like Perplexity does, and like Hello Customer does by linking back to knowledge base articles or verbatims), and treat privacy as real risk, not an afterthought. They call out data leakage and model training concerns, and explain why keeping models and processing inside the EU and preventing data reuse changes the equation.

They close on the 2026 direction: the real leap is from insights to action. Automate the low risk work, keep a human in the loop for high risk moments, and aim for fewer dashboards and more guided next steps. The final advice for CX people is refreshingly unglamorous: get your hands dirty, try one small use case each week, share what works, and do not give up.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com

You can watch the full webinar and see the discussion unfold on video here: https://www.hellocustomer.com/en/resources/webinars

In this Hello Customer webinar, CEO Bram De Vos is joined by Michel Stevens, course director at CXM Academy, for a no nonsense look at how to turn feedback into action, and why most companies still miss the point.

Key Topics Covered:

• The importance of reading raw customer feedback daily
• The blind spot of focusing only on complaints
• Two-dimensional customer relationships (emotional connection vs. product satisfaction)
• The three layers of service recovery (functional, emotional, social)
• Proactive feedback collection strategies
• Communicating customer centricity internally and externally
• Calculating ROI through promoter/detractor analysis

Core Takeaway: "Never assume, always ask" — understanding customer reality through direct conversation is vital.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com

You can watch the full webinar and see the discussion unfold on video here: https://www.hellocustomer.com/en/resources/webinars

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos brings together two leading voices in customer experience: Michel Stevens and Horst Remes. Michel brings the lens of leadership and culture, while Horst approaches CX through design, experimentation, and evidence. Together they explore the question that often sits unanswered in boardrooms: how do you turn customer experience into measurable financial impact?

They discuss why CX has historically been framed around emotions rather than business value, why linking experience to revenue and cost reduction has proven difficult, and how organizations can finally bridge that gap. From the role of strategy alignment to the cost of distrust, the conversation covers both the revenue upside of loyalty and the efficiency gains of happier customers. Michel and Horst share practical examples of redesigning processes, challenging internal assumptions, and reframing CX as a business investment just like any other.

They also explore the messy nature of ROI calculations, how to communicate value to CFOs and C-level leaders, and why CX should always start from real customer needs rather than internal logic. The result is a grounded, candid discussion on turning sentiment into evidence and experience into cash.

A sharp finale to the three-part series on customer centricity, culture, and measurable impact.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Michel Stevens, one of the most respected voices in customer experience, to explore why culture and behavior matter far more than processes or technology. With over two decades of experience guiding organizations toward stronger customer relationships, Michel shares how real differentiation happens when companies align values, leadership, and frontline behavior.

Together they dive into why technology alone won’t make you customer centric, how culture shapes what people believe is acceptable, and why leaders must intervene in the moment to reinforce the right behaviors. Michel explains the power of storytelling, going to gemba, and uniting operational, perception, and outcome metrics so everyone speaks the same language.

They also discuss the future of CX in an AI-driven world, why “average” is becoming a commodity, and how technology can bring companies back to timeless values like sincerity, clarity, and trust. At the heart of it all is Michel’s guiding principle: when in doubt, be human.

A thoughtful conversation on the foundations of customer centricity and the cultural work required to make it real.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com

In the first episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Horst Remes, founder and CEO of One Stone, to unpack the biggest myths that keep companies from delivering meaningful customer experiences.

Horst shares how his team uses a startup-style experimentation approach to redesign customer journeys, why memories matter more than experiences, and how one powerful moment can shape how customers talk about you. They challenge common beliefs like “you must be excellent everywhere” and “never make a promise you can’t keep” and explain why focusing on peace of mind can be more effective than perfect accuracy.

Together they explore psychological insight, design trade-offs, and the real role of process vs attitude. They also look ahead at how AI will shift the foundation of customer experience, making emotion and memory the new battleground for differentiation.

A smart, candid conversation for leaders who want to rethink what customer centricity actually means.

Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com