The top customer experience influencers to follow in 2023

CX Network presents its guide to the top customer experience influencers you should follow this year

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CX Network
CX Network
03/07/2023

CX Network’s top 50 influencers t0 to follow in 2023

CX Network is delighted to present its guide to the top customer experience influencers we believe you should follow in 2023.

Spanning five of the world's six continents (only Antarctica is missing so far – watch this space!), our list includes CEOs, media personalities, CXOs and thought leaders, all of whom are making a significant impact in the world of customer experience by bringing innovation to their field and inspiring the next generation of CX leaders.

The top CX influencers to follow in 2023 profiles 50 people who we believe are the most influential in CX today. It highlights why you should follow them and includes links to our pick of their top blog posts, podcasts and interviews. 

It's not just about our selection, however – we also want to hear from our community members. Use the comments below to tell us who inspires you and who would add to this list. 

But first, let's take a look at who they are – click on a name to go to them directly or scroll down to find out who is moving and shaking in CX around the world. 

Don't miss any news, updates or insider tips from CX Network by getting them delivered to your inbox. Sign up to our newsletter and join our community of experts. 

CX Network's guide to the 50 customer experience influencers you should follow this year

 

Shep Hyken, the chief amazement officer Annette Franz, the tech expert  Debbie Akwara, Africa’s leading CX entrepreneur Dan Gingiss, the personalization guru
Claire Boscq, the creator of BizShui Chip Bell, the customer journey map inventor Morgan Petty, the privacy expert Jim Tincher, the customer loyalty guru
Jason Bradshaw, the serial entrepreneur Jeff Toister, the LinkedIn trainer Maneesha Bhusal, the measuring strategist  Stacy Sherman, humanizing business
Jesús Hoyos, the martech analyst Steven Van Belleghem, the global trend-spotter Dennis Wakayabashi, the CX3 pioneer Clare Muscutt, the community builder
Laura Frazer, the DEI specialist Lolitta Suffian, advancing human-centric tech  Anand Nigam, the data analytics expert   Jeff Bullas, the social media genie 
Anne Bibb, the remote working advocate Adrian Swinscoe, the CX punk Luke Jamieson, the Steve Irwin of CX Emilia D'Anzica, the tech-led growth specialist
Doug Rabold, the transformation leader Seth Godin, the business philosopher Denise Lee Yohn, the brand tactician  Brian Solis, the digital Darwinist
Jeannie Walters, the loyalty strategist Fred Reichheld, the NPS trailblazer Steve Towers, the BPM savant Nathalie Schooling, SA's first CX guru
Colin Shaw, the CX veteran Liz Tsai, the automation empath Danny Phillips, the omni thought leader Ali Malik, the metrics pundit
David Jimenez Maireles, the fintech innovator Kristi Faltorusso, the  success mentor  Daphne Costa Lopes, the customer fanatic Aneesh Kammath, the tech evangelist
Blake Morgan, the CX futurist Areeya Lila, the customer persona technician Jeanne Bliss, turning CX into bliss Stephen Pappas, the CX scientist
Olga Budieri, the Middle East's CX pioneer Nicola Clement, the omnichannel mentor  Lynn Hunsaker, automatic CX excellence Lincoln Murphy, the growth architect
  Nate Brown, the CX accelerator Walter de Oude, the banking visionary  

 

Shep Hyken, the chief amazement officer

One of the best-known names in the world of CX, Hyken has the enviable job title of chief amazement officer at Shepard Presentations, because simply put, he helps organizations create amazing customer and employee experiences.

Each year he publishes research outlining customers’ preferences and habits, and he has authored several books on how to create successful customer service strategies. Hyken is also an award-winning TV host, podcaster, owner of hyken.com and keynote speaker, as well as a regular contributor to Forbes and CX Network.

"We want to be so good that the emotional connection that a customer has with us is more than a perk."

He recently spoke to our editor Melanie Mingas about customer loyalty during an economic downturn and he had these words of advice: “Loyalty is not about a lifetime; it is about the next time. We want to be so good that the emotional connection that a customer has with us is more than a perk. We want them to love our people and love our experience.” 

Our pick of Shep Hyken's content: 

Annette Franz, the tech expert

Annette Franz is a consultant and blogger at Customer Journey, where she writes about ways companies can identify what drives retention, satisfaction, engagement and the best overall experience for both customers and employees.

Franz has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Tech Women on Twitter by Business Insider and is a member of the invitation-only Forbes Coaches Council. An authoritative voice on customer experience strategies, she is a regular contributor to CX Network, writing about everything from the power of using customer journey maps to describing the first 90 days in the job for a chief customer officer (CXO). 

Our pick of Annette Franz's content: 

Debbie Akwara, Africa's leading CX entrepreneur

debbie_akwaraZBR8gJonXN565xsRa2HbGJEOfkcMAr4dExJdQdJyDebbie Akwara is frequently described as Africa’s leading customer experience entrepreneur, as she founded a start-up that designed and launched Africa’s first globally recognized CX certification programs.

She is the founder and CEO of Niche Customer Experience Group, an integrated CX management advisory, training and solutions provider on a mission to grow businesses in Africa.

Prior to Niche, she led CX success in banking, telecommunications and education, including a 30 percent improvement in contact center quality management performance and revenue generation.

"Break out of what you know or think you know, research what businesses are about, who their customers are and what they want.”

Since 2020, Akwara has been recognized each year as a top 100 global multidisciplinary thought leader for customer loyalty, customer experience, education technology, project management, design thinking and business strategy.

She has this advice for CX practitioners looking to help businesses grow in Africa: “Build years of experience in an organization starting from the frontline up to senior leadership. It would require that you break out of what you know or think you know, to research what these businesses are about, who their customers are and what they want, as well as how these businesses can create a bond with customers that guarantees a hook experience.”

Our pick of Debbie Akwara's content: 

Dan Gingiss, the personalization guru

Customer experience coach and podcaster Dan Gingiss is an expert in marketing strategies, with a 20-year career that has seen him in leadership positions at McDonald’s, Discover and Humana.

His critically acclaimed blog is filled with valuable insights applicable to all industries, including useful tips for tricky issues like navigating political issues from a business perspective and creating customer service strategies for social media.

"If we're always looking at business problems through the lens of the customer, then we are going to solve those problems in a way that maintains customer loyalty.

The author of several books on customer experience, Gingiss has a degree in psychology and communications and an MBA in marketing. Add to that his license as a bartender, and he has a very well-rounded view of customer experiences.

The best advice he has ever received is to always "wear the customer hat."

"If we're always looking at business problems through the lens of the customer, then we are going to solve those business problems in a way that maintains customer loyalty." 

Our pick of Dan Gingiss' content: 

Claire Boscq, the creator of BizShui

claire_boscqGCQ8BIESh5eOft7WsZubtKoMcnaBuE94NWtgIji2It’s not everyday that we hear how the concepts of feng shui and customer experience relate to each other. Claire Boscq, however, is the creator of BizShui, which applies traditional feng shui principles to the workplace with the aim of developing a stress-free environment that increases productivity and company loyalty.

With a background in hospitality, Dubai-based Boscq is an authority on customer experience strategies, as well as an advocate of mindfulness and neuro-linguistic programming to improve employee and customer experiences. She has been voted the number 1 Woman Global Customer Experience Guru four years’ in a row, and is the author of four books as well as an in-demand keynote speaker.

"When changes occur, customers and employees will show disruption in their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. This needs to be addressed as a priority to prevent bigger, long-term issues.” 

We asked Boscq which main challenge businesses face in 2023 to ensure they retain customers’ loyalty. “Businesses have to keep juggling plates to ensure they don’t just survive but thrive,” she told us. “One of the unseen challenges is the pandemic aftermath. Anxiety, stress, hybrid work or not, people are having to adapt again and the changes in their environment are going to affect their state of being.

“As humans we need to have certainty of security, job, a roof over our heads, food to feed our families, to be satisfied and to live happily. When changes occur and uncertainty is still very much in the air, customers and employees will show disruption in their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. This needs to be addressed as a priority to prevent bigger, long-term issues.” 

Our pick of Claire Boscq's content: 

Chip Bell, the customer journey map inventor

chip_bell7oUdklGTxk9eZDY2DkJB23tKhfZedmwqXeL4sZWi_mediumCustomer journey mapping is a hugely important tool for CX practitioners today, as it enables businesses to gain a deep understanding of what their customers want and what their pain points are. It was Chip Bell, along with his late business partner Ron Zemke, who came up with the concept in the mid-1980s.

His insights on service innovation and customer loyalty have led to frequent appearances in the media, and for the last eight years he has been named one of the top 10 keynote speakers in the world for customer experience by Global Gurus.

As an industry veteran, CX Network asked Bell what he thought of the current state of CX to which he responded: “We have got really good at high-tech. Now I see we are on the threshold to transitioning into being more high-touch and humanistic in how we serve customers and more concerned for the emotional side, not just the quantitative side.” 

Our pick of Chip Bell's content: 

Morgan Petty, the privacy expert

morgan_pettyM0SksvMlmvBpMzhWyksjA5h7qoCKDRamcpSZweWl_mediumMorgan Petty has spent more than 10 years developing CX strategies, working alongside consumer-facing brands to understand the voice of the customer (VoC), customer preferences and unbiased feedback.

Her involvement in CX solutions includes research, journey mapping, management of software development, overseeing hardware engineering and production and prototyping.

She is the former executive director of the Interactive Customer Experience Association, a company that connects consumer-facing brands through events and virtual forums, and more recently she launched StratEdgeEyes, a firm dedicated to serving B2C organizations through CX research, planning and implementation.

“Many companies are working to become first-party data collectors but are not centering their strategy with a "privacy by design" foundation.”

Petty is particularly passionate about privacy regulation and compliance, and for a number of years she worked in data privacy advocacy. A proud member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, she prides herself on developing CX strategies based around a foundation of trust. “Many companies are working to become first-party data collectors but are not centering their strategy with a 'privacy by design' foundation,” she told CX Network.

"We will continue to see litigation, actions taken by the US Federal Trade Commission and other agencies as well as a growing distrust from consumers toward brands. A major challenge will be that consumers feelings of distrust for a handful of companies stand to expand to other organizations, leading them to be more critical rather than having a healthy, trusting relationship with the organizations they do business with.”

Our pick of Morgan Petty's content: 

Jim Tincher, the customer loyalty guru

jim_tincherf5TtUoeeSravezlxlPLHjaMIYIG29IJknPC8kwXHJim Tincher’s blog Heart of the Customer is one of the most informative in the CX biz, and with his consultancy of the same name he works with companies of all sizes to drive customer-focused change, improve loyalty and boost profits.

His book How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer? is considered a must-read for CX practitioners, and when he isn’t consulting, writing or hosting workshops he can be found speaking about everything from patient experience to customer loyalty.

In his most recent book, Do B2B Better, he discusses the importance of involving the customer in CX design. He says, “It really helps to have a combination of people from the outside who know CX, but also on the inside who know the organization as part of your CX team.”

Little known fact: when Tincher became a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) he was only the second in the world to earn the accreditation.

Our pick of Jim Tincher's content: 

Jason Bradshaw, the serial entrepreneur

Jason Bradshaw is a keynote speaker, strategic advisor to C-suite executives around the world, and founder of the Power Of CEX consultancy firm. His achievements are even more remarkable considering he started his own business at the age of 14.

The business in question was a distribution company selling telecommunications and computer equipment, and even at this young age Bradshaw knew his priority was to focus on customer and employee experience, rather than cost.

He has since led transformative change at some of the most recognizable brands in the world, such as Target, Fairfax and Volkswagen Group Australia, where he joined up customer and employee data to identify points of friction.

“If we had employee data that told us the majority of employees within a dealership were passionate brand advocates, their customer metrics would be improving,” he told CX Network in 2021.

Bradshaw hosts a podcast called It’s All About Experience Management where he interviews other stars of CX, and he is the author of It’s All About CEX, a book that has won him significant praise from his peers.

Our pick of Jason Bradshaw's content: 

 

Jeff Toister, the LinkedIn trainer

jeff_toisterA2k9zGdDSbdlBf4iyoaW3wXSCD0eqemJcRetBlIM_smallJeff Toister has trained more than a million people via his LinkedIn Learning courses, where he teaches business leaders how to develop customer-focused cultures.

As well as writing four books on the subject, he is the author of Inside Customer Service, a blog that is widely recognized as one of the top online resources for customer service professionals.

Toister says, “I have talked to hundreds of leaders and executives and it has given me a snapshot of which culture initiatives work and which do not. The overriding factor is commitment. If you are not fully committed to how you are going to drive business going forward, don’t bother.

"That is a mistake many organizations make. They go through the motions, and employees – rightly – perceive that as “this is the flavor of the month” and next time there will be a new one so we don’t need to invest in this one. That is a common attitude when an organization is not committed.”

Our pick of Jeff Toister's content: 

Maneesha Bhusal, the measuring strategist

Hailing from a technical background as a software engineer, Maneesha Bhusal is now one of the leading lights in CX in the Asia Pacific region. In 2018 she joined JD.ID, an ecommerce site based in Indonesia that just so happens to be a subsidiary of the largest online retailer in China.

When she joined, the company lacked a customer experience team, so she created a strategy that enabled her to measure the organization's CX performance and maturity.

Bhusal has won a number of awards including MyCustomer’s 2022 CX Leader of the Year.

Our pick of Maneesha Bhusal's content: 

Stacy Sherman, humanizing business

After a number of years in senior positions at companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Zeta Global, Stacy Sherman created a framework for CX called Heart & Science, with the aim of “humanizing” the world of business by improving customer loyalty and revenue enabled by hybrid teams of customer service agents and AI robots.

You can find her blogging at DoingCXRight, where she offers tips to create successful CX strategies and lessons learnt from well-known organizations.

We also highly recommend checking out her podcast of the same name, where she has featured interviews with top CX experts and leadership lessons from her mum, who was one of the first female options traders on Wall Street.

Our pick of Stacy Sherman's content: 

Jesús Hoyos, the martech analyst

Jesús Hoyos has more than 22 years of experience providing leadership in customer relationship management initiatives, with a particular interest in technologies and how these can be integrated into marketing strategies.

As an independent analyst and public speaker, he advises companies in the Latin American and North American markets, helping them to execute CRM strategies and implement software packages.

Hoyos told us that CX practitioners often make the mistake of developing their CX strategy first, and considering the technology they will need second. 

"Journeys are a collection of nodes that you use to empower the customer to create his or her own journeys. We need both linear and dynamic journeys.”

“We need to have a deep understanding of all aspects of the technology, he said. "Also, we think that customer journeys are linear or that we control the journeys. Journeys are a collection of nodes that you use to empower the customer to create his or her own journeys. We need both linear and dynamic journeys.”

He is currently the principal consultant at CX2 Advisory, and he blogs in Spanish and English about customer engagement and all things CRM.

Fun fact: Hoyos was once a judge on CRMIdol, a world-wide contest for small and medium-sized CRM vendors.

Our pick of Jesús Hoyos' content: 

Steven Van Belleghem, the global trend-spotter

Belgium-based Steven Van Belleghem travels to companies all over the world with Nexxworks, the agency he established to inspire companies to become more customer-centric.

His approach is rather unique – Nexxworks organizes guided tours in different cities where attendees visit startups and multinational companies to learn about their business models. 

Van Belleghem has written five highly acclaimed books and has delivered around 1,500 keynote presentations in 45 countries to date. He also offers insights via his blog.

Our pick of Steven Van Belleghem's content: 

Dennis Wakabayashi, the CX3 pioneer

After working with huge brands including AT&T, McDonald’s and Fedex to help them create successful customer experience strategies, Wakabayashi developed his own approach to CX and customer journey mapping, known as “CX3”.

As well as consulting with big corporations, he regularly lectures at universities and is an instructor at the University of Madison-Wisconsin.

Wakabayashi is particularly passionate about storytelling and creating content that leverages social media algorithms to make an impact among customers. He has been named one of the world’s top 50 email marketing influencers by Cision, and his personal website contains his podcasts, blog and video lessons on everything you need to know about CX.

Our pick of Dennis Wakabayashi's content: 

Clare Muscutt, the community builder

UK-based Clare Muscutt is the founder of Women in CX, a startup she created after realizing she was often the only woman invited to speak at public events or on panel debates.

“I started to wonder, if 70 percent of the workforce in CX are women, why are there only 30 percent in management and 12 percent in leadership?” she says.

Providing mentorship, networking opportunities and meet-ups all over the globe, the network now has 7,000 members, sponsors and supporters and is backed by Richard Branson's Virgin Startups Fund. 

"Never be afraid to leave a company or boss that doesn’t recognise your value and fully supports your growth." 

Prior to this she was head of customer experience at British supermarket giant Sainsbury’s. 

We asked her what advice she had for women who want to becom CX leaders and she said: "Surround yourself with people who believe in you, support you and remind you of your strengths every day, and never be afraid to leave a company or boss that doesn’t recognise your value and fully support your growth." 

Our pick of Clare Muscutt's content: 

Laura Frazer, the DEI specialist

Laura Frazer is the co-founder of Frazer Tremble Executive, a customer experience consulting and recruitment firm based in Melbourne that she runs together with her husband Brendan Tremble.

As well as advising businesses on customer-centric strategies, Frazer Tremble has a program offering training in Lean Six Sigma, robotics, process mining, and diversity and inclusion.

After graduating with a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Frazer began her career in financial fraud. She is now a Lean Six Sigma Project Professional Yellow Belt and has been actively involved in setting up the Ladies In Lean networking group for senior female leaders in process transformation.

“Creating more diverse and inclusive spaces can drive innovation, creativity, and better outcomes for our customers.”

“Having women-only spaces in process transformation is important because it creates a supportive and inclusive environment where women can share their experiences and insights without fear of judgement or bias,” she told us. “Creating more diverse and inclusive spaces can drive innovation, creativity, and better outcomes for our customers.”

Our pick of Laura Frazer's content: 

Lolitta Suffian, advancing human-centric tech

In her role as chief experience officer at Telekom Malaysia, Lolitta Suffian is in charge of ensuring all the touchpoints between customers and the company are as smooth as possible.

For a tech-first company like Telekom, which has more than 2.4 million broadband subscribers, this means retaining a human-centric approach while deploying cutting-edge technology.

She describes how this works in her blog: “I once had an older customer who called in once a month, without fail, for help with online payments during the pandemic. In this scenario, we trained agents to anticipate his calls, understand the context of his conversations, and effectively shorten his enquiry process. This resulted in shorter call times, without compromising on our service to a customer in need.”

Later this year Suffian will offering her insights as part of a panel at Customer Experience Asia Week 2023 taking place in Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Singapore. 

Our pick of Lolitta Suffian's content: 

Anand Nigam, the data analytics expert

Anand Nigam is a go-to expert in customer service in the MENA region, where he regularly presents webinars and is one of the judges at the Gulf Customer Experience Awards, which has been celebrating excellence in CX for the last eight years.

He is the co-founder of 4SiGHTCX, a consultancy based in Saudi Arabia that specializes in market research, branding and customer life cycle management. Nigam himself has more than 25 years’ experience in consumer insights and customer experience, and has worked across the banking, telecoms, healthcare, automotive and retail sectors.

  • See what Anand Nigam is talking about on LinkedIn

Jeff Bullas, the social media genie

Digital CX expert Jeff Bullas has a lengthy list of accolades, among them being named one of Forbes’ top influencers of chief marketing officers and among Entrepreneur’s top 50 online marketing influencers. 

Based in Australia, Bullas regularly speak at events around the world, and has his own podcast called The Jeff Bullas Show.

His blog is packed full of helpful tips for digital marketers and social media strategists, and is a particularly valuable resource for beginners getting started on SEO and keyword campaigns.

Our pick of Jeff Bullas' content: 

Anne Bibb, the remote working advocate

Anne Bibb has been an advocate of remote working for more than two decades, beginning when the idea of a pandemic-related lockdown was the stuff of science fiction movies.

In 2015 she founded Remote Evolution, a consultancy firm that helps businesses transition to remote and hybrid work models. Along with its subsidiary CX Evolution, Bibb has worked with organizations in nearly every industry, tying together employee, user and customer experience.

"As a leader, one of the most crucial tasks is to mentor and teach others to do the job.”

Bibb has spoken at over a hundred webinars and in-person events over the years, hosts The Unexpected Journey podcast and is a member of Forbes Business Council. She also works with non-profits around the world to create remote work opportunities for LGBTQ people, women and refugees.

“I've been given a lot of advice throughout my career, but the most helpful has been to always be training my successor,” Bibb told us. “People often get so caught up in trying to remain employed that they forget that if there is no one to take their place, there can be no advancement or transfers to different departments within the company. As a leader, one of the most crucial tasks is to mentor and teach others to do the job.”

Our pick of Anne Bibb's content: 

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Adrian Swinscoe, the CX punk

Adrian Swinscoe has been advising businesses on their customer experience strategies for 20 years. The self-styled “aspirant punk” is the author of the books Punk CX and Punk XL, where he argues that CX must go back to basics to ensure companies keep sight of what their customers need.

Swinscoe is the host of Punk CX, a podcast where he asks leading CX practitioners how they deliver exceptional customer service.

“To stand out, firms need to go deeper, be braver and think differently if they are to develop the sort of relationships with their customers that they want.”

He has also written for CX Network, sharing his knowledge of customer engagement strategies: “It’s no longer good enough to just think about the monetary value of the relationships that we have with customers and how we can increase spend and frequency of spend,” he wrote.

“To stand out, firms need to go deeper, be braver and think differently if they are to develop the sort of relationships with their customers that they want.”

Our pick of Adrian Swinscoe's content: 

Luke Jamieson, the Steve Irwin of CX

Luke Jamieson has been called the “Steve Irwin of CX”, and while we can’t vouch for his crocodile-hunting skills, he has earned this title for having a rebellious, unconventional approach to customer experience and employee engagement strategies.

The Australian keynote speaker, podcaster and blogger is an expert in gamification, a fast-growing trend that incorporates game playing into strategies to drive customer loyalty.

We asked him for his top tips to ensure gamification is effective in CX, and he told us it is important to find out what behaviors you want to encourage, create a plan and pilot, and lastly to “keep it fresh by mixing up the game mechanics.” 

Our pick of Luke Jamieson's content: 

Emilia D’Anzica, the tech-led growth specialist

Emilia D’Anzica is the founder of Growth Molecules, a consultancy firm based in California that offers training and advisory services for customer experience professionals.

D'Anzica has led companies to double their net promoter score (NPS) and grow their revenues from US$10 to $70 million in less than three years. She also has a lengthy list of awards to her name, including being named among the Gainsight Top Seven Influential Women in Customer Success in 2018.

"We want to empower women in the workforce and educate tech leaders about why moms belong and thrive in technology.”

With a background in tech, D’Anzica published Pressing ON™ as a Tech Mom in 2021, a book containing the stories of hundreds of women from all over the world who work in tech. We asked her what she discovered while putting the book together: “Our survey of over 300 mothers revealed that 34 percent felt that working in such a hectic, high-speed environment was incredibly tough and sometimes downright impossible. Being a new mom is challenging, adding professional responsibilities back into the mix is just overwhelming.

"We wrote this book because we want to empower women in the workforce and educate tech leaders about why moms belong and thrive in technology.”

Our pick of Emilia D’Anzica's content: 

Doug Rabold, the transformation leader

Doug Rabold’s career spans sales, customer experience and IT, and he has led teams of hundreds of people through change management projects and IT transformations.

A Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, he has been named a top 25 thought leader and a keynote speaker on customer experience and employee engagement.

In 2022 Rabold published a candid, hugely insightful article about being a neurodivergent leader, revealing that he had struggled to disclose this for many years. “I was very concerned about the perceptions of my ability to perform my work,” he wrote, “and even more about the perception of my ability to lead others in theirs. Hence it has taken two decades for my 'coming out' in this article.”

Our pick of Doug Rabold's content: 

Seth Godin, the business philosopher

Seth Godin is a prolific blogger and author, sharing his insights on marketing, customer service and leadership along with his philosophical musings on learning and humanity at large. He has also been teaching leadership and marketing skills since 1993. 

In 2022, Godin co-authored The Carbon Almanac, a book written in collaboration with hundreds of writers and researchers about the impact of carbon on food systems, biodiversity, the economy, human health and the climate. It has been endorsed by a variety of illustrious people  including Jane Goodall, Bette Middler and Margaret Attwood.

Meanwhile, The Carbon Almanac’s website contains a wealth of statistics, facts and free resources for children, with Godin calling it “the most important project of my career”.

Our pick of Seth Godin's content: 

Denise Lee Yohn, the brand tactician

Denise Lee Yohn is the go-to expert on brand leadership for national media outlets, an in-demand keynote speaker and consultant, and an influential writer.

When news outlets like CNBC and Fox News need an expert on brand leadership, they frequently call Yohn, who has an extensive career as a lead strategist helping companies like Burger King, Land Rover and Unilever with their advertising tactics.

The author of four books, a TEDx speaker and regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review and Forbes, Yohn is a highly sought after thought leader on brand-building and marketing. Her website contains heaps of practical advice and free resources to help businesses grow their brands.

We asked Yohn what was the best she has ever received in her career, to which she replied, "Never undervalue yourself."

Our pick of Denise Lee Yohn's content: 

Brian Solis, the digital Darwinist

Few people can claim to have sat across from news anchor Katie Couric, basketball player Shaquille O'Neal and Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan to quiz them about advances in technology, but Brian Solis can thanks to his popular online video series (r)evolution.

A student of anthropology, he coined the term “digital Darwinism” in a Washington Post article in 2011. Solis is also a regular international keynote speaker and the author of more than 60 research papers and eight best-selling books on digital transformation, CX, cognitive enterprise and human behavior. The one-time VP and global innovation evangelist at Salesforce has also recently started a role as global head of innovation for software firm ServiceNow. 

Our pick of Brian Solis' content: 

Jeannie Walters, the loyalty strategist

Jeannie Walters is an award-winning customer experience expert, TEDx speaker and podcast host. SAP, Verizon and SurveyMonkey are just a few of the big enterprises she’s worked with, where she has encouraged them to develop strategies that proactively increase brand loyalty.

In a recent article on her website, Walters wrote about the importance of putting strategies into action, explaining that, “saying things like 'omnichannel is important to customers now' or 'we need to make our offline and online experiences work together' doesn’t do a lot of good if the resources and communication aren’t there to back those up.”

She has written for Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and NPR. Her current podcast, called Experience Action, sees listeners leaving voicemail messages with their burning CX questions, which she then answers during the show.

Our pick of Jeannie Walters' content: 

Fred Reichheld, the NPS trailblazer

How to measure customer experience is often the million-dollar question for many organizations. At least that was the case until Fred Reichheld created the net promoter score (NPS), a methodology that involves asking customers how likely they are to recommend a brand. It has since become the most popular CX metric.

Reichheld, a fellow at Bain & Company, is one of the world’s leading authorities on customer loyalty and the author of five best-selling books on the subject.

“What inspires people to do their best is when they feel they are being listened to."

On a CX Network podcast on customer-centricity, Reichheld offered his tips for making the best use of employee feedback, suggesting daily or weekly team huddles to gather feedback and inform on performance. “What inspires people to do their best is when they feel they are being listened to, that they have a voice and the team is being put in a position where they can enrich the lives of customers and see this as their core purpose,” he said.

Our pick of Fred Reichheld's content: 

Steve Towers, the BPM savant

Steve Towers is the founder of the BP Group, a not-for-profit club for business process management (BPM) and customer experience specialists. He is also on the steering committees of a number of major corporations, and has developed several training programs informed by his study of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

Towers has been writing about BPM and CX since 1993, and over his 40-year career he has frequently been named among the world’s top CX influencers.

His top tip for businesses? “Focus all efforts on ensuring your work contributes to successful customer outcomes,” he told us. “Doing that will enable your processes to win the “triple crown” of simultaneously reducing costs, growing revenues and enhancing service.” 

Our pick of Steve Towers' content: 

Nathalie Schooling, SA's first CX guru

Nathalie Schooling founded nlightencx in 2005, after discovering there was a gap in the South African market for promoting customer experience strategies as a key business differentiator.

Considered to be the leading CX specialist organization in South Africa, under Schooling’s leadership the company has won multiple awards and was recently a finalist in various categories at the Customer Centricity World Series.

“If delivering a great, consistent experience is important, then efforts have to be driven right through the organization and should not rest in one silo.”

She is also the co-author of Eat Your Own Lunch, South Africa’s first B2B client experience handbook aimed at executives who want to learn how to apply CX within their business.

“If delivering a great, consistent experience is important, then efforts have to be driven right through the organization and should not rest in one silo,” Schooling says. “It requires cross-functional understanding, commitment and input from all departments from business development to operations, governance, compliance, finance, etc.”

Our pick of Nathalie Schooling's content: 

Colin Shaw, the CX veteran

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Colin Shaw is an original pioneer of CX, as well as an author, public speaker and the founder of Beyond Philosophy LLC, one of the world's first customer experience consultancies.

Beyond Philosophy has helped organizations including American Express, FedEx, and Caterpillar improve their revenues, and even before founding the company Shaw was leading a team of 3,500 people at one of the world’s biggest telecoms organizations. 

Shaw has been named among the 50 LinkedIn influencers to follow in any industry. As a regular contributor to CX Network he has shared a number of thought-provoking insights, including the view that the customer, contrary to popular opinion, is not always right. “The customer relationship goes both ways and customers that are not treating your organization or employees well should get sacked,” he says.

Our pick of Colin Shaw's content:

Liz Tsai, the automation empath

MIT graduate Liz Tsai has been researching and developing emerging technologies for a decade. In 2016 she founded HiOperator, a customer service-as-a-service solution that uses artificial intelligence to resolve customer queries, utilizing what she calls “automation with empathy”.

“One way to achieve this is through the use of natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis techniques, which can enable machines to interpret and respond to the emotional content of human communication,” Tsai told us.  

"An automated customer service chatbot that can detect frustration in a customer's message and respond with empathy can help to create a more positive customer experience."

“For example, an automated customer service chatbot that can detect frustration in a customer's message and respond with empathy and understanding can help to create a more positive customer experience. Taking this use of AI, and then having a trained customer service agent guide the automation, creates the ultimate solution for this industry,” she adds. 

A Forbes Council Member, you can find her musing on all things tech and customer-related over on Forbes. In 2018, Tsai was named one of CX Network’s 30 Under 30.

Our pick of Liz Tsai's content:

Danny Phillips, the omni thought leader

Danny Phillips is the co-founder of two companies based in Melbourne: customer experience agency Arkade, and omnichannel SaaS platform Omneo, which enables retailers to manage everything from customer feedback and loyalty programs to back-end reporting and e-receipts.

Phillips is passionate about creating meaningful, direct and mutually valuable relationships between brands and their best customers.

"Personalization is about making sure each individual customer experience allows the customer to pick up where they left off previously.”

He confesses that some of his opinions are not always in the mainstream, believing that brands are investing too much in acquisition and advertising, instead of retention and customer experience.

A seasoned speaker, he spent his early career guest lecturing at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University and General Assembly. More recently you can find him at industry events, roundtables and as an advisor for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

We asked Phillips what businesses often get wrong when it comes to customer retention strategies: “Brands often think that personalization is about unique marketing content based on behavior,” he told us, “when in fact it is about making sure each individual customer experience allows the customer to pick up where they left off previously.”

Our pick of Danny Phillips' content: 

Ali Malik, the metrics pundit

As the head of customer experience projects at Static-A, a company headquartered in Pakistan, Ali Malik specializes in one of the most challenging tasks for CX practitioners: that of measuring customer experience.

Working with brands and manufacturers in the Asia Pacific region and beyond, Malik helps develop strategies for KPI management, Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs and brand analysis as well as omnichannel programs and mystery shopping. 

A member of the Customer Experience Professional Association (CXPA), he is regularly asked to consult for corporations around the world and is one of the judges at the European Customer-Centricity Awards.

  • Find out what Ali Malik is talking about on LinkedIn

 

David Jimenez Maireles, the fintech innovator

Fintech influencer David Jimenez Maireles has spent his career building digital banking products all over the world, including at Banco Santander in the UK, US and Brazil; ING Direct in Spain; and more recently at TNEX in Vietnam.

In his role as the chief experience officer at TNEX, a digital-only bank, he oversaw improvements to the organization’s overall CX strategy and measurement of customer satisfaction metrics. Aimed at a young market, he has helped develop an “emoji-driven fund” to help customers manage their finances. He is now creating his second digital-only bank in Saudi Arabia. 

Maireles is also a mentor and lecturer in digital banking, fintech and innovation. “Our business model is fully digital, cloud-based, lean and agile,” he told Vietnam Investment Review about TNEX.  “We want to get our customers’ trust by building fair, simple, and real-time products that help our customers daily.”

Our pick of David Jimenez Maireles' content: 

Kristi Faltorusso, the success mentor

Kristi Faltorusso is the founder of Keeping CS Simple, a platform where she shares best practices for customer success, podcasts and her Customer Success webinar series. It also features her guest appearances on other shows and webinars where she shares everything from her tips for scaling up businesses to her love of the Real Housewives of Atlanta.

As well as her role as chief customer officer at ClientSuccess, where she helps companies manage the customer growth lifecycle, she is a founding mentor of Women in Customer Success. “As a young professional I didn't exactly have a wealth of females in my professional circle willing and able to help me grow and develop for the opportunities and challenges that lied ahead,” she says.

“In fact, I spent most of my career trying to figure it out and often failed. I've made a commitment to myself that if given the chance, I would not let other women have that same experience.”

Our pick of Kristi Faltorusso's content: 

Daphne Costa Lopes, the customer fanatic

Describing herself as “customer-obsessed”, Daphne Costa Lopes heads up customer success for the UK at Hubspot and is a CX advisor for tech startups and Fortune 500 companies alike.

Based in Ireland, she hosts a podcast called This Is Growth, and her website has handy free tools including a calendar template for customer relationship managers and a plan to help managers develop customer success skills.

Subscribers to her weekly newsletter get an email every Friday exploring a different aspect of building and scaling a modern customer success team.

We asked Lopes what the best professional advice she’d ever received was, to which she replied: “Take risks. Nothing exceptional happens in your comfort zone.”

Our pick of Daphne Costa Lopes' content: 

Aneesh Kammath, the tech evangelist

Aneesh Kammath is an expert in analytics and digital transformation, and a firm believer in the concept of tech fueling CX. Named as one of the world’s top 100 CX thought leaders, he is a consultant and coach who works closely with customers, leadership teams, employees and stakeholders alike.

Kammath is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) which he describes as “the dream of each and every CX consultant.” He has also written a practical, step-by-step guide on what to expect from the  exam, of which he says, “CCXP is a very tough certification exam. The reason is whatever you learn, if you don't have a passion for CX, you won't be able to crack it.”

Our pick of Aneesh Kammath's content: 

Blake Morgan, the CX futurist

Blake Morgan is undoubtedly one of the most famous thought leadership figures in CX worldwide. She describes herself as a “customer experience futurist”, and in her book The Customer Of The Future: 10 Guiding Principles For Winning Tomorrow’s Business, she sets out her guidelines for tackling disconnected processes and keeping up with the demands of the customer of the future.

"The only way to differentiate a business today is to compete on experience. I believe in the power of technology to help you do that.”

A keynote speaker and contributor to Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, she hosts The Modern Customer Podcast and is a guest lecturer at Columbia University and the University of California, San Diego.

She says, “Making customers feel great is an important business strategy and companies still struggle to do this well. It is no longer simply nice to have, the only way to differentiate a business today is to compete on experience. I believe in the power of technology to help you do that.”

Our pick of Blake Morgan's content: 

Areeya Lila, the customer persona technician

Areeya Lila has a career of more than 20 years in management consulting and software product management, having worked as a consultant and in senior roles for DHL, Accenture, PwC and Citrix.

In 2019 she founded VIEWN, a data platform for businesses to streamline all their customer info. She also specializes in business diplomacy, covering Southeast Asia and developing countries.

Lila offers a lot of practical tips on LinkedIn and Medium, particularly around best practices for using customer data. “Most successful businesses and influencers have a good gut feeling when creating that first amazing customer persona,” she says.

“There is nothing wrong with confirming that your assumptions were correct. Look within the valuable segments to find characteristics or behaviors you should note.”

Our pick of Areeya Lila's content: 

Jeanne Bliss, turning CX into bliss

Over the course of her 35-year career, Jeanne Bliss has advised more than 20,000 business leaders on how to achieve customer-driven growth. A few more figures: Bliss has delivered at least 1,500 keynote speeches around the world and is the author of four best-selling books on customer experience and leadership.

In 2002 she founded her own consultancy called Customer Bliss, and in 2011 she co-founded the Customer Experience Professionals Association, a non-profit organization that helps members improve their customer experience management practices.

She shares tips and case studies on her blog, and we recommend tuning into her podcast The Human Duct Tape Show, so-called because as she explains, the roles of chief experience officers, chief marketing officers and chief commercial officers all act as the “human duct tape” of their organizations.

Our pick of Jeanne Bliss' content: 

Stephen Pappas, the CX scientist

Stephen Pappas has built and sold six successful companies throughout his career, as a result of which he has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to both customer and employee experience.

He is particularly passionate about mentoring start-ups and early-stage businesses, upholding the mantra of “the customer is at the center of the universe”.

His latest role is as the chief strategy officer of Cobalt Speech and Language, a provider of artificial intelligence and speech recognition solutions for businesses.

You can find him blogging about customer loyalty at scienceofcx.com, and his podcast of the same name features a different guest speaker each week discussing everything from chatbot technology to techniques for lead generation.

Our pick of Stephen Pappas' content: 

Olga Budieri, the Middle East's CX pioneer

Olga Budieri is one of the leading voices of CX in the Middle East, although she initially intended to have a career in chemical engineering.

After graduating, she joined Dubai-based courier company Aramex International, at a time when the concept of CX was still pretty nebulous. “We hadn’t heard of Zendesk, Freshdesk, or Salesforce," she says in this interview for the Customer Experience Professionals Association, of which is a member. "We were building our own systems from scratch, figuring out requirements, and asking, ‘what’s the best approach?’”

She spent 12 years’ at Aramex in various roles, ultimately ending up as the organization’s global head of customer experience strategy. Now an independent consultant, she specializes in digital CX, women’s rights advocacy and customer journey mapping. One of her recent projects has been to develop a series of webinars in Arabic to promote customer experience-related concepts in the region.

Our pick of Olga Budieri's content: 

Nicola Clement, the omnichannel mentor

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After 20 years’ spent working in retail, travel and the service industries for major companies including Jetstar/Qantas, L'Oreal and Telstra, Nicola Clement decided she wanted to give back to the industry by coaching and developing new talent.

A particular area of focus is technology, as she provides mentoring to people who want to upskill their tech abilities or who are not digital-natives, while also helping tech companies with their value propositions and customer roadmaps.  

Clement is certainly well placed to help others in these areas, as up until December 2022 she was general manager for omni experience at Myer, the  prestigious Australian department store. In this role she led 75 people and was responsible for digital strategy and end-to-end customer experience across all channels.

In March 2023 she opened CX Network’s three-day CX APAC 2023 online event, with a talk on how to ensure you can meet changing customer demands.

  • Find out what Nicola Clement is talking about on LinkedIn

Lynn Hunsaker, automatic CX excellence

Lynn Hunsaker has been a leading CX strategist and consultant for more than 30 years, starting in 1991 when she chaired a 12-country, six-division taskforce to design a customer satisfaction methodology for a Fortune 250 company.

A board member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), she is now the chief customer officer at ClearAction Continuum, a consulting firm that specializes in customer experience management.

She has written various books and is a frequent speaker at conferences where she discusses putting customers at the heart of business strategies and her vision for “automatic CX excellence,” which she describes as the result of a company’s performance being so impressive that there is no need for customer remedies.

Our pick of Lynn Hunsaker's content: 

Lincoln Murphy, the growth architect

Lincoln Murphy is the only individual on our list whose CV includes working in customer experience for more than 20 years and being a professional wrestler.

In the wrestling world he’s known as “Tad”, but we are here to focus on his CX achievements – founding consulting firm Sixteen Ventures, working with high-growth startups, writing several books on customer success and leading training courses recommended by Nasdaq, NetApp and Volkswagen.

He also writes a blog where he discusses trends in customer success management including the impact of ChatGPT and ways to avoid customer churn.

Our pick of Lincoln Murphy's content: 

Nate Brown, the CX accelerator

Nate Brown is a well-known figure in the world of customer experience and contact center management.

He is currently the chief experience officer at Arise Virtual Solutions, a company that provides customer management and business process solutions to companies with remote working models.

He is also the co-founder of CX Accelerator, a non-profit community that aims to support customer experience professionals.

Brown has plenty of experience helping organizations improve their CX by leveraging technology, data, and human-centered design principles; he is also a speaker, author, and prominent influencer on social media. His Experience Matters podcast is one of CX Network’s top-rated listens.

Our pick of Nate Brown's content: 

Walter de Oude, the banking visionary

After four years as the CEO of HSBC Insurance Singapore, Walter de Oude founded life insurance company Singlife from scratch.

His vision for this company was to create a digital financial ecosystem for a mobile-first generation of customers. Since launching, Singlife has acquired a 75 percent stake in Aviva Singapore, making this the biggest insurance deal in Singapore’s history.

More recently he launched Chocolate Finance, and in 2020 Business Insider named de Oude one of its 100 People Transforming Business.

Our pick of Walter de Oude's content: 

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