Consumer sentiment declines as price sensitivity persists

Consumers are tightening their purse strings and prioritizing essentials while cutting back on discretionary goods.

By Kristen Doerer • Sept. 5, 2025

How to communicate with customers about tariffs

An understanding of your customers’ needs and a sound crisis communications plan are key to navigate ever-changing trade policies.

By Michael Brady • Sept. 4, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from CX Dive

The top stories from CX Dive look at customer experience trends, generative AI use cases and the components of a good tech stack.

By CX Dive staff

Macy’s reimagined stores continue to outperform in sales and NPS

The retailer needs to ensure it delivers a better experience while investing in sales growth and improving the bottom line, according to CEO Tony Spring.

By Bryan Wassel • Sept. 3, 2025

How DSW’s new brand platform showcases the fun of in-person shopping

Created with Crispin, “Let Us Surprise You” celebrates the in-store experience, as the shoe retailer does 70% of its business in person.

By Chris Kelly • Sept. 3, 2025

How 3 quick-service restaurants are looking to CX to revive traffic

Wendy’s is focusing on operations, McDonald’s on loyalty and Taco Bell on digital ordering. How can each approach keep customers coming back?

By Bryan Wassel • Sept. 2, 2025

Most businesses expect CX budgets to match, exceed inflation

CX teams plan to invest more in technology and team-led initiatives while spending less on third-party service providers, according to Forrester.

By Michael Brady • Aug. 28, 2025

Consumer confidence dips on anxiety about jobs, income: Conference Board

The average 12-month expectation for inflation jumped to 6.2% this month from 5.7% in July, the Conference Board found in a consumer survey.

By Jim Tyson • Aug. 28, 2025

Kohl’s knows it has an ‘inconsistent in-store experience,’ interim CEO says

The retailer is adjusting its store layouts and reducing restrictions on coupons to create a more enjoyable and dependable shopping experience. 

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 27, 2025

3 challenges CX leaders will face for the rest of 2025

A trade war, rising prices and fresh AI developments are putting CX teams in the hot seat.

By Bryan Wassel , Kristen Doerer • Aug. 27, 2025

Target’s incoming CEO makes consistent experiences a top priority

The retailer plans to invest $4 billion this year to improve the shopping experience as Michael Fiddelke prepares to take the helm.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 20, 2025

Home Depot focuses on faster deliveries to boost satisfaction

Dedicated associates and machine learning-driven efficiency improvements helped the retailer achieve its fastest ever delivery speeds during the second quarter, executives said.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 19, 2025

NPS has its flaws — but when is it the right tool for the job?

The fluidity of customer experiences means a single label or number often doesn't tell the whole story. For CX teams, that requires looking beyond NPS.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 19, 2025

Cava deploys tech to free up workers’ time to connect with guests

The company is investing in automated food production for digital orders only, as “technology should enhance, not replace the human experience,” CEO Brett Schulman said.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 13, 2025

Customer dissatisfaction over quality, price and quantity grows

While the dip in Q2 is minor, the trend of declining satisfaction is significant — and concerning, ACSI’s Forrest Morgeson said. 

By Kristen Doerer • Aug. 12, 2025

Wendy’s wants good experiences to drive frequency as consumers pull back spending

Customer satisfaction on orders were up significantly year over year, but it wasn’t enough to offset a negative quarter.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 11, 2025

Stressed, bored and curious: How consumers are approaching food shopping right now.

Shoppers don’t just want retailers to echo their economic anxieties — they want help discovering new food and beverages, the Kearney Consumer Institute found.

By Jeff Wells • Aug. 11, 2025

Warby Parker to end home try-on program as it focuses on stores, digital experience

The eyewear company said the vast majority of the program’s users live within 30 minutes of one of the retailer’s 300 stores.

By Caroline Jansen • Aug. 8, 2025

Burger King, Tim Hortons see highest customer satisfaction in years

The burger chain's customer satisfaction rose following improvements in areas like friendliness and order accuracy, while Tim Hortons’ focus on faster speed of service paid off.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 7, 2025

Starbucks sees a CX future in its coffeehouse roots. Is that enough?

Though there are signs of improvement, the coffee chain is up against a changed customer base. The standards pioneered during its rise are now table stakes for any coffee vendor.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 5, 2025

Wayfair’s curated product program boosts customer satisfaction

“The verified checkmark provides a guidepost for shoppers as they navigate our endless aisle, and the response from customers has been very positive,” CEO Niraj Shah said.

By Kristen Doerer • Aug. 4, 2025

Amazon zeroes in on delivery speed, pursues greater AI ambitions

The digital retailer is sharpening its experience with faster delivery while rolling out Alexa+ to more users ahead of what CEO Andy Jassy sees as an AI-driven future.

By Bryan Wassel • Aug. 1, 2025

Ebay CEO: AI ‘continues to fundamentally change’ customer experience

Agentic commerce is a small part of the digital retailer’s business, but “it has a nice growth rate,” CEO Jamie Iannone said on a Q2 2025 earnings call.

By Bryan Wassel • July 31, 2025

Southwest, after overhauling customer offerings, fails to see a ‘measurable’ impact

The airline's passenger revenue fell, and executives acknowledged its Rapid Rewards loyalty program has not done as well as they would like.

By Kristen Doerer • July 31, 2025

4 takeaways from Starbucks’ customer experience plans

The company is laying the foundations to make Starbucks “once again the gold standard in customer service” and is planning to revamp its loyalty program next year, CEO Brian Niccol said.

By Bryan Wassel • July 30, 2025

Starbucks puts human connection at the forefront of new service strategy

As the coffee chain prepares to deploy the Green Apron Service plan nationwide, it is building on an eight-week pilot across 1,500 stores.

By Bryan Wassel • July 29, 2025