Experience Is Everything: The CX Podcast with Jeannie Walters

Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Weekly

Experience Is Everything: The CX Podcast with Jeannie Walters is where customer experience leaders get real strategy for building what comes next, not just managing what already happened. It explores what it actually takes to build proactive customer experience: the mindset that shapes how your team sees every interaction, the strategy that turns that mindset into a plan, and the discipline that makes it stick day after day. Hosted by Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP, and author of the USA Today bestseller Experience Is Everything, each episode gives CX leaders real answers they can put to work immediately.

  1. 2d ago

    Reshaping CX with AI

    CX budgets only grew about 2% this year, yet AI spending inside those same budgets jumped 38%. That math forces a hard question: if the total pool barely changes, where does the new AI money come from? We walk through why the “somewhere” is often customer service headcount, and why that shortcut can quietly create a bigger budget problem later. We unpack Gartner’s prediction that many companies cutting support roles due to AI will need to rehire by 2027 and beyond, often at a higher cost than keeping and reskilling people in the first place. We also talk about the trust gap showing up in channel value: leaders still rate live chat and phone as most valuable today, even while expecting generative AI chatbots to take the top spot soon. When spending moves faster than trust, customers feel it through inaccuracies, frustrating loops, and a lack of empathy during complex moments. If you care about customer experience, customer service automation, and making smart generative AI decisions without breaking trust, this one is for you. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review so more CX leaders can find the show. Article Mentioned: Gartner Predicts Half of Companies That Cut Customer Service Staff Due to AI Will Rehire by 2027 (Gartner) Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    Reshaping CX with AI

  2. Sep 22

    Fund This. CX Trends to Budget.

    $3 trillion in global sales is at risk because of poor customer experience. That number is big enough to change how we think about CX budgeting, because it turns “experience” into a measurable revenue and trust problem. I walk through where leaders should invest now, what trends actually matter, and which shiny “innovations” you can safely stop chasing. AI is no longer a trend, it’s the weather. It’s in the background of your tech stack and the foreground of your strategy, and it’s already shaping how customers discover products and get help. The real question is whether your AI investment strengthens human connection or quietly breaks it. I dig into why the old contact center metrics may not fit the AI era, and what to measure instead, including AI resolution and escalation quality so you can track outcomes that customers feel. Then we get honest about a common budget mistake: funding more technology while underfunding the people, training, and services required to make that technology work. When that balance is off, you get bad AI rollouts, frustrated teams, and customers who don’t know where to get a straight answer. We also explore agent-assisted commerce, how AI assistants can become the new storefront, and why conversation analytics and interaction analytics are showing real gains in CSAT and revenue when used with clear intent. If you want a smarter CX budget and a clearer ROI story for your leadership team, listen now, subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review so more CX leaders can find the show. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    Fund This. CX Trends to Budget.

  3. Sep 15

    Speak the Language, Know the Value, Know Your Worth

    Your customer experience metrics might be accurate and still fail to move the people who control budget, headcount, and priorities. We’re tackling the uncomfortable truth: when CX leaders lead with NPS, journey maps, sentiment analysis, or dashboard reporting, executives often hear “interesting CX update” instead of “material business risk.” The fix is not more slides. It’s learning to walk into every room as a business leader first. We break down three shifts you can use immediately. First, we flip the sentence so outcomes lead and metrics follow: renewal risk, retention risk, growth impact, and cost to serve become the headline, with NPS and CX data as proof. We also talk through why vague requests like “we need more empathy” can backfire with a CFO or CRO unless you connect the effort to fewer repeat calls, fewer refunds, and less negative word of mouth. Then we zoom out to what’s crowding CX out of the spotlight right now: operational efficiency, cost optimization, digital acceleration, and the push for AI transformation and AI engagement. Next, we get practical about proving value. If you can’t answer “How much is a customer worth?” or “What does a 1% retention lift mean in revenue?” it’s time to partner with finance, use industry benchmarks, and make assumptions you can refine. Finally, we close with the mindset piece: owning your worth as a CX leader who brings both empathy and business acumen and can spot problems before the numbers scream. Subscribe, share this with a CX leader who needs a stronger executive voice, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    Speak the Language, Know the Value, Know Your Worth

  4. Sep 8

    Inside vs. Outside: Rethinking Who Sees Your CX Mission

    Should your CX mission statement stay behind the curtain or belong in the hands of the people who actually deliver your customer experience? We tackle a sharp listener question: in a B2B organization with an exclusive customer relationship, can sharing your customer experience mission statement improve alignment, especially when that customer shows up as your retail front line? We start with what a CX Mission Statement is really for: a universal, aligned internal language that acts as a North Star for decisions and behavior. I explain why strong mission statements avoid corporate jargon, internal acronyms, and empty superlatives like “best” or “greatest,” and why the focus has to move beyond products and services to the real outcomes customers need. Then we dig into the risk of sharing it externally. If the mission is even slightly aspirational, customers can treat it like a promise and hold you to it when you’re not meeting it perfectly. But partnerships change the equation. When a distributor, channel partner, or exclusive customer is helping deliver the experience, we can’t leave them out. I share a practical way to bring partners into alignment: identify overlapping moments in the journey, translate the mission into clear expectations, and provide “mission moments” that show what the mission looks like in real life. We also connect the dots to B2B buyer trust, where competence matters most and consistency and dependability sit right behind it. Subscribe, share this with your team, and leave a quick review so more CX leaders can find the show. Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    Inside vs. Outside: Rethinking Who Sees Your CX Mission

  5. Episode 181

    Experience is Everything - New Podcast Name

    The show has a new name, and it’s the kind of change that brings everything into focus. We’re now Experience Is Everything: The CX Podcast, because “experience” is bigger than a customer touchpoint and more demanding than a quarterly metric. It’s the thread that connects what your customers feel, what your employees carry, what your partners deliver, and what your leaders tolerate. We talk through what stays the same and what the new name signals: a clearer alignment with the book and the work, and a renewed commitment to a practical customer experience (CX) approach. My mission doesn’t shift one inch: create fewer ruined days for customers. That means giving you the information, resources, tools, and ideas to show up in the best possible way for your customers, your organization, your colleagues, and yourself. Experience management takes the right mindset, a real CX strategy, and the discipline to back it up. You’ll still find weekly conversations and the CX Pulse Check format, where special co-hosts help us look at what’s happening right now in the world of customer expectations. I also want to hear from you, because your real questions keep this show honest and useful. Send a voicemail or question at askjeannie.vip and it may get answered on a future episode. If this resonates, subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review so more CX leaders can find the show. Resources Mentioned: Sign up for our newsletter -- https://experienceinvestigators.com/newsletter/ Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    Experience is Everything - New Podcast Name

  6. Aug 25

    The AI Trust Gap

    AI is moving fast into customer service, but customers are pushing back. With 59% saying AI agents feel frustrating, "set it and forget it" automation is not enough. We break down the AI trust gap, why fast answers do not equal helpful outcomes, and how to hold AI agents to the same standards as human ones: empathy, clarity, and responsible decisions. You will learn why most customers want AI and humans working together, with a clear path to a real person when things get complex. Walk away with practical steps: mystery shop your own AI agents, test messy real scenarios, and find the moments of truth where trust is won or lost. Subscribe and leave a review to help more CX leaders find this conversation. Resources Mentioned: Sign up for our newsletter -- https://experienceinvestigators.com/newsletter/ Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    The AI Trust Gap

  7. Aug 18

    Intentional Struggle

    Escape rooms have a weird superpower: they make people feel confused, stressed, and slightly panicked and customers still walk out saying it was the best hour of their week. That’s not an accident. It’s a blueprint for intentional friction, where the experience is challenging enough to feel rewarding and supportive enough to stay fair. We unpack what escape rooms get right about customer experience design, including why most players don’t actually “win” and still recommend it, and why repeated obstacles without help feel less like challenge and more like abandonment. From there, we connect the dots to everyday product and service design: the IKEA effect and why DIY increases value only when customers can succeed, CrossFit and other coaching models where accountability is the value proposition, and gamification mechanics like streaks that tap loss aversion to improve retention. If you’re doing journey mapping or service blueprinting, you’ll leave with a clearer way to remove unintentional friction while keeping the designed struggle that builds pride, loyalty, and lasting memories. Subscribe for more customer experience strategy, share this with a teammate who designs journeys, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. Resources Mentioned: Contact Experience Investigators -- https://experienceinvestigators.com/contact/ Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Learn more about CXI Membership™ and apply -- http://CXIMembership.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    Intentional Struggle

  8. Aug 11

    Values Need to Lead the Way with Vincent Davis (CX Pulse Check - August 2026)

    AI is forcing every customer experience leader to choose: chase efficiency at any cost, or scale service without losing the human heart. Jeannie Walters sits down with Vincent Davis, Chief Customer Officer and SVP of Customer Experience at PG&E, to unpack what it takes to build empathy, accountability, and trust in a world where automation is everywhere and customer patience is thin. We dig into Chewy's approach to empathy at scale, and why values beat hype in an AI strategy. Customers don't feel your intentions, they feel the experience, especially during outages, service interruptions, and billing issues. We look at crisis readiness through United Airlines' handling of irregular operations, then dig into PG&E's work across digital channels, contact centers, billing, and insights. Vincent explains how an IVR named Peggy boosts containment and satisfaction while freeing agents for higher-impact work. We also cover customer obsession, employee experience, process simplification, and why customers measure every brand against the best they've had, from Amazon to Uber. If you care about customer experience strategy, AI in the contact center, proactive communication, and building trust when things go wrong, subscribe, share this with a CX leader, and leave a review with your biggest question about empathy and automation. About Vincent Davis With more than two decades of experience in the energy industry, Vincent Davis leads with the conviction that customer experience is not one department’s job, but a standard for the entire company. As Chief Customer Officer at PG&E (https://www.pge.com/), one of the largest customer experience organizations in the utility industry, he leads a team of roughly 2,000 coworkers, overseeing more than $22 billion in annual revenue and a portfolio of programs and products spanning everything from smart meters and billing to digital channels and customer service. Davis is the driving force behind Customer at the Heart, PG&E’s award-winning initiative that has changed how the company approaches customer experience, with the mantra that the company will build trust by delivering a 10 out of 10 experience in every interaction. He believes customer trust is earned by being present in the communities PG&E serves and ensuring customer voices are reflected in business decisions. Davis’s path to this role has taken him through nearly every part of the customer function, from leading PG&E’s Energy Efficiency Programs group to directing a $1 billion demand-side management portfolio and spearheading an $850 million Advanced Meter Replacement initiative. Earlier in his career at Duke Energy, he led the Envision Charlotte program, a public-private sustainability partnership recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from Queens University of Charlotte. He has executive management certifications from Stanford and UNC Chapel Hill. In 2022, he received the Leadership Excellence Award in Energy at the Energy Inclusion Conference. Follow Vincent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-davis-6436a01 Articles Mentioned: - Chewy’s CEO Is Chasing ‘Empathy at Scale’ (Inc) -- https://www.inc.com/stephanie-mehta/chewys-ceo-is-chasing-empathy-at-scale/91358987 - Amazon Connect Customer Brings Live Sync and the Agentic CX Designer to CCW – Here Is Why That Matters (CX Today) -- https://www.cxtoday.com/ai-automation-in-cx/amazon-connect-customer-brings-live-sync-and-the-agentic-cx-designer-to-ccw-here-is-why-that-matters/ - KeyBank modernizes its digital experience with customer relationships front and center (CX Dive) -- https://www.customerexperiencedive.com/news/keybank-modernizes-digital-experience-customer-relationships/823575/ Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.com Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

    Values Need to Lead the Way with Vincent Davis (CX Pulse Check - August 2026)
See All (185)

Trailers

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Experience Is Everything: The CX Podcast with Jeannie Walters is where customer experience leaders get real strategy for building what comes next, not just managing what already happened. It explores what it actually takes to build proactive customer experience: the mindset that shapes how your team sees every interaction, the strategy that turns that mindset into a plan, and the discipline that makes it stick day after day. Hosted by Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP, and author of the USA Today bestseller Experience Is Everything, each episode gives CX leaders real answers they can put to work immediately.

Information

You Might Also Like