Recently we had a conversation with Pegah Valeh, who leads the customer experience and analytics program at Meta's Reality Labs division. Reality Labs is on the cutting edge, covering virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality and Meta's vision for the metaverse, including Horizon World. It was fascinating to learn about her team's data-driven approach to understanding the customer experience. Here's what we discussed:

You may remember that just a few years ago, Under Armour was considered one of the biggest sportswear brands in the world, valued at over $5 billion and equivalent to frontrunners like Nike and Adidas. Now, the company is facing exceptionally weak sales, a valuation sliced in half since its peak, paired with a single-digit stock price that’s been on the decline for the past decade. But why?

This week, we sat down with Jordan Hooker, the founder of Tavolo Consulting, a firm specializing in helping early to mid-stage startups build world-class customer support programs. Our conversation delved into the key pillars of an effective support operation, the importance of data-driven decision making, and how to future-proof your customer experience as you scale. Here are the key takeaways from our discussion:

Sephora shattered glass ceilings by surpassing a record of $10 billion in sales in 2023. And it’s no surprise when we think about just how well Sephora has been building out their omnichannel experience over the years. When it comes to customer experience, there’s no doubt that Sephora is a clear leader in the industry. Sephora doesn’t just meet customer expectations — they go above and beyond to connect with their customers and make every touchpoint personable in a unique, exciting way.

This week, we had the pleasure of chatting with Sarah Nohe, a customer experience expert with a unique focus on the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our conversation delved into the complexities of understanding and optimizing the customer journey across physical and digital touchpoints, the challenges of data consolidation, and the untapped potential of personalization in the restaurant space. Here are the key takeaways from our discussion:

Everyone is talking about Netflix — and for good reason. Just a year ago, Netflix began to really crack down on password-sharing. And while users were infuriated and threatened to cancel their subscriptions, the opposite ensued. This quarter, Netflix ended up adding 9.33 million new subscribers to their customer base — 5x their results from last year. And while there are lots of reasons it played out this way, one underlying reason this decision didn’t negatively affect their CX journey too badly was because this decision actually aligns very well with their overall value proposition.