Customerland

mike giambattista
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Customerland is a podcast about …. Customers. How to get more of them. How to keep them. What makes them tick. We talk to the experts, the technologies and occasionally, actual people – you know, customers – to find out what they’re all about.So if you’re a CX pro, a loyalty marketer, a brand owner, an agency planner … if you’re a CRM & personalization geek, if you’re a customer service / CSAT / NPS nerd – you finally have a home.

  1. 3 hrs ago

    What If Customer Loyalty Starts After Checkout

    The sale isn’t the finish line. It’s the moment you hand your relationship to shipping networks, support queues, return policies, and whatever happens when a real human has a real problem with their order. I’m joined by Andrew Schmid, Chief Product Officer at Route, to dig into why post-purchase is still the most underbuilt part of ecommerce and why it’s quickly becoming the place where profit and loyalty are decided.  We get concrete about what “post-purchase” actually means, from package protection at checkout to order tracking, WISMO reduction, claims for lost or damaged packages, and the messy reality of returns, exchanges, and warranties. Andrew shares shopper research that reveals a scary truth: after a bad experience, many customers don’t complain loudly, they just disappear and 43% may never shop that brand again. We also challenge the idea that brands must choose between protecting margins and delivering a great customer experience, and we talk about how the right flows can create a true win-win where shoppers get what they wanted and brands keep revenue in their ecosystem.  We also zoom out into technology and AI in retail, with a practical lens: automation that speeds up resolution, reduces support labor, and improves customer lifetime value without turning service into a ticket-closing machine. Andrew closes with a real example of optimizing a claims experience, including an A/B test that drives a 21% lift in replacement orders, showing how small changes after checkout can create big economic impact. If you care about ecommerce retention, returns management, customer trust, and post-purchase ROI, hit subscribe, share this with a CX leader, and leave a review with the most important post-purchase metric your team is tracking.

    What If Customer Loyalty Starts After Checkout

  2. 1 Sept

    Emotional Loyalty In 2026

    Loyalty isn’t a punch card anymore, and it definitely isn’t just repeat purchases. We’re chasing a tougher standard: loyalty of choice. That’s the kind of customer loyalty that shows up when someone sticks with you even when a competitor is cheaper, closer, faster, or simply more convenient and when they come back after you’ve had a service failure or a product miss. I’m joined by Jaclyn Wands, VP of Product and AI at Phaedon, to get concrete about what “true loyalty” looks like in 2026 and how to measure it without fooling ourselves. We break down the difference between transactional loyalty (habit, ease, familiarity) and emotional loyalty (preference, trust, forgiveness). Jacqueline shares practical examples from travel and hospitality, including a smarter approach to airline loyalty programs: stop blasting generic promotions and start using data to solve the customer’s problem with relevance and timing. We also tackle the uncomfortable truth about personalization. If it feels like customers are being “haunted,” it’s usually because the brand is optimizing for its own KPIs, not the customer experience. Then we go deep on AI in loyalty and marketing. AI can create massive efficiency, but it also exposes structural problems in your data ecosystem and processes because it scales whatever you already have. Jaclyn lays out a clear “human in the loop” philosophy, what AI should absolutely handle (repetitive work, zero-to-one drafts), and where humans must stay accountable. Finally, we look ahead to AI assistants as a new gatekeeper for discovery and booking, and why brands may need loyalty programs connected into AI marketplaces to stay visible and differentiated. Subscribe for more conversations on customer experience, loyalty strategy, and AI, then share this with a teammate and leave a review. What brand has earned your loyalty of choice, and why?

    Emotional Loyalty In 2026

  3. 20 May

    What If Your Fastest Growth Lever Is Inclusion

    A retailer can spend millions driving traffic to a website and still quietly shut out customers at the exact moment that matters most: browsing, adding to cart, and checkout. That’s the uncomfortable truth behind web accessibility, and it’s why we sat down with Imogen Wethered, CEO of EnableAll, to talk about accessibility as a real driver of conversion, loyalty, and long-term growth, not a side project or a checkbox. We get specific about what accessible e-commerce actually means in practice: screen reader support, keyboard-only navigation, clearer labels and forms, better contrast, captions, reduced motion controls, and tools that let shoppers personalize the experience to their needs. Imogen explains why “silent revenue loss” is so common, how WCAG compliance becomes everyone’s responsibility and therefore nobody’s responsibility, and why brands often only move when enforcement or lived experience forces the issue. We also dig into the business case with numbers that should wake up any marketing, product, or CX leader. Disabled consumers represent massive purchasing power, and the opportunity online is often invisible because most analytics platforms never flag the customers who bounce due to barriers. We compare adoption to the early GDPR era, unpack the differences between ADA enforcement in the US and the European Accessibility Act, and discuss what it takes to win support from marketing, CTOs, and CFOs, including site speed concerns and ROI storytelling. We close with a challenge: as agentic shopping and AI accelerate experiences, accessibility becomes even more critical because speed exposes weaknesses fast. If this conversation changes how you think about your website and your customers, subscribe, share it with a teammate, and leave a review so more builders and leaders find it.

    What If Your Fastest Growth Lever Is Inclusion

  4. 5 May

    Customer AI, Not A Call Center

    “Deflection is dead” is a bold claim, but after this conversation it’s hard to argue. I’m joined by Pasquale DeMaio, VP of Amazon Connect Customer at AWS, to talk about why the future of customer service isn’t a shinier contact center dashboard. It’s customer AI that improves outcomes for the customer and also for the humans doing the work, from agents to managers to the business leaders responsible for performance. We dig into the idea of a human-to-AI continuum: some moments should be fully automated because speed is the kindest thing you can do, while other moments demand empathy and a real person. Pasquale explains how Amazon Connect thinks about using AI for routing, agent assist, recommendations, and automatic summaries so agents stop spending their day on wrap-up codes and busywork. The thread running through it all is simple: make the technology recede so the human can focus on the customer, not the tools. Then we tackle agentic AI and the practical reality of deploying it safely. The takeaway is not “let the agent invent everything,” but combine agentic capabilities with deterministic workflows for critical steps like payments, identity, and security. We also explore trust, security, and reliability as the foundation for any AI-driven customer experience, plus why disconnected vendors create local improvements but fail to deliver an end-to-end customer journey. If you care about CX strategy, customer engagement, contact center modernization, and AI in customer service, this one will sharpen your thinking. Subscribe, share this with a CX leader who needs to hear it, and leave a review with your biggest question about agentic AI.

    Customer AI, Not A Call Center

  5. 28 Apr

    How Retail Media And Loyalty Connect In Store

    Your next grocery “deal” might not be a discount at the register and that’s exactly why it works. We sat down with Sean Turner, co-founder and CTO of Swiftly, to unpack the real mechanics behind digital promotions that change behavior in brick-and-mortar grocery and convenience stores, from customer acquisition to retail media monetization. We get specific about how retailers can find and bring back shoppers using one-to-one targeting across digital channels like social, open web, connected TV, and location-based screens, then convert that attention into app downloads and repeat trips. Sean explains why the mobile app has become the default digital home for loyalty programs, personalized offers, and a smoother shopping experience, and why that same app is the most practical place to build a retail media business without needing a massive content team. Then we go deeper into measurement and incentives: how to prove incremental ROAS for in-store retail media, how alcohol rebate compliance shapes offer design, and why cashback can create a bigger basket lift than instant redemption. The details matter, from clear qualification reminders to making payout fast and trustworthy so shoppers actually feel the value. We close by zooming out to the modern grocery technology stack and the next wave of change. Personalization is no longer optional when attention spans are shrinking, and AI agents are starting to influence meal planning and product discovery. If your store inventory and pricing aren’t connected to the wider digital ecosystem, you risk being invisible when shoppers ask for recommendations. If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a retail leader, and leave a review so more grocery and retail media teams can find the show.

    How Retail Media And Loyalty Connect In Store

  6. 10 Mar

    From Workflow To Blueprint: How Pega Reimagines Processes

    What if AI could design your business in minutes—and still pass audit? We sit down with Pega CEO Alan Trefler to unpack how Blueprint uses generative AI to reimagine complex processes while preserving the predictability enterprises demand. Instead of asking models to improvise outcomes at run time, Blueprint captures objectives, proposes stages and data flows, and feeds a best-in-class workflow and decisioning engine that’s built for change. We get into the core challenge every leader faces: turning AI hype into production reality. Alan breaks down three kinds of AI that matter in the enterprise—statistical next best action, generative features that assist workers, and generative process design that rethinks how the business should run. The twist is timing. Let the model be expansive at design time, then lock the logic, policies, and decision frameworks before go-live. That keeps outcomes consistent, explainable, and ready for regulators and auditors. You’ll hear how this approach reshapes sales and consulting. With just a few inputs and a client’s website, a first meeting can produce a tailored blueprint that feels shockingly complete. Consulting partners can now embed their proprietary IP via partner-branded blueprints, marrying their best practices with Pega’s runtime to deliver four to five times faster. We also cover trust guardrails—data isolation, no training on client data, transparency into decisions—and why predictable AI will separate pilots that stall from systems that scale. If you’re evaluating AI for process transformation, customer engagement, or operational excellence, this conversation will give you a practical framework for choosing the right AI for the right job—and a playbook for moving from idea to production with confidence. Subscribe, share with a colleague who owns transformation, and leave a review with the one process you’d redesign first.

    From Workflow To Blueprint: How Pega Reimagines Processes

  7. 3 Mar

    The New Rules Of Subscriber Loyalty

    Want proof that churn isn’t the end of the story? We sit down with Recurly’s Chief Product Officer, Priya Lakshminarayanan, to explore how pause states, micro subscriptions, and one‑click plan changes are rewriting the rules of subscriber loyalty. Drawing on network‑wide data from millions of users, Priya explains why nearly one in four new subscriptions comes from a former customer and how 75% of paused users eventually return when brands make exits humane and re‑entry effortless. We dig into the rise of micro subscriptions—short passes that replace bloated free trials—and why they convert around 13% of users into ongoing plans. From there, we map the journey that grows revenue: compress time to value in the first 90 days, use context‑aware prompts to surface upgrades when benefits are felt, and lean on annual plans that generate 50–60% more revenue than monthly without sacrificing trust. Priya shows how Recurly’s engagement tools turn helpful nudges into one‑click actions tied directly to billing, so a downgrade, pause, or tailored discount happens in the moment a user needs relief, not days later. We also tackle the loyalty stack that matters now: transparent billing, excellent support, and a sharper focus on data privacy that’s moved to the forefront of subscriber decisions. Flexibility to pause or switch plans emerges as a true customer‑first signal, while ethical and sustainable practices vary in weight by vertical and demographic. Finally, Priya previews an AI retention agent designed to detect churn type in real time, select the right save tactic within budget, and keep growth on autopilot. If you care about retention, ARPU, and building real trust, this conversation offers practical, data‑backed steps you can put to work today. Listen, share with a teammate who owns subscriptions, and leave a quick review to tell us which tactic you’ll test first.

    The New Rules Of Subscriber Loyalty

  8. 11 Feb

    Designing Trustworthy AI For Real Customers

    Customers don’t churn all at once—they leave through a thousand small cuts. We sit down with Katie Costanzo, President of CX at CSG, to unpack how leading brands are closing those gaps with real-time decisioning, smarter use of billing and journey data, and disciplined deployment of agentic AI. If clarity, empathy, and credibility feel scarce in your customer experience, this conversation offers a practical reset and an action plan. Katie breaks down what CSG Xponent actually does across the journey, from onboarding to service, billing, and support. We explore how billing intelligence can predict confusion, trigger proactive help, and even offer tailored payment plans that preserve trust. Instead of blasting more messages, we talk about cutting the noise by timing communications to intent and choosing the right channel for action. The result: fewer dead ends, fewer escalations, and a measurable lift in customer loyalty. We also dive into the tension around agentic AI. With 56% of consumers still wary of letting AI act on their behalf, how do you unlock the efficiency without losing hearts and minds? Katie’s take: onboard AI like an employee. Define responsibilities, set guardrails, build transparent governance, and always provide human on-ramps. Start small, solve specific pains, prove value, and scale. As switching costs approach zero, brands that move at the speed of experience—decisions in milliseconds, improvements in weeks—will win the market. If you’re a CX, product, or operations leader looking to turn data into trust and trust into growth, this episode is your field guide. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to tell us which micro friction you’ll fix first.

    Designing Trustworthy AI For Real Customers
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About

Customerland is a podcast about …. Customers. How to get more of them. How to keep them. What makes them tick. We talk to the experts, the technologies and occasionally, actual people – you know, customers – to find out what they’re all about.So if you’re a CX pro, a loyalty marketer, a brand owner, an agency planner … if you’re a CRM & personalization geek, if you’re a customer service / CSAT / NPS nerd – you finally have a home.

Information

  • Creator
    mike giambattista
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    160
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Customerland
  • Show Website
    Customerland