8 Ways Retailers Get Customer Experience Wrong and How to Do It Right

Customer experience is something every retailer believes they are getting right, yet so many unintentionally get wrong.

Part of the challenge is that customer experience is not a single moment. It is the entire journey shaped by hundreds of micro-interactions that influence how customers feel and how employees perform.

Much like life itself, you cannot control every moment, but you can intentionally design the journey to be more enjoyable, more consistent, and more human for everyone involved. With the help of Stacy Sherman, we’ll show you eight ways retailers get CX wrong and, more importantly, how to shift toward doing CX right.

Stacy Sherman and the Big Difference Between Doing CX and Doing CX Right

Stacy Sherman is a global customer experience thought leader, keynote speaker, and founder of Doing CX Right®, where she helps organizations humanize business and turn CX into a competitive advantage.

Her own path into CX, as she explains it, is not a straight line whatsoever. She started working in marketing and sales at brands like AT&T and Verizon before she was “thrown the ball on this thing called customer experience and told to go figure it out.”

Over the years, Stacy learned that doing CX right is less about grand gestures and more about intentionally designing the journey end to end. With Doing CX Right®, she helps clients understand the difference between doing CX and doing CX right.

Before we look at Stacy’s eight wrongs, it is worth considering what bad CX really costs retailers.

The Real Cost of Doing CX Wrong

Retailers today operate in a world where switching costs are low and expectations are high. When experiences fail, the financial consequences are immediate and severe.

Financial impact: Studies show that businesses globally risk losing nearly 4 trillion dollars in sales each year because of bad customer experiences. (Source)

External customer impact: 57 percent of consumers will switch after a single bad experience. After two bad experiences, that number rises to 86 percent. (Source)

Internal customer impact: Replacing a single retail employee can cost between 2,000 and 10,000 dollars. For large retailers, annual turnover costs often reach into the tens or even hundreds of millions. (Source)

Poor CX frustrates customers externally and burns out employees internally. The good news is that most of these mistakes are preventable when retailers approach customer experience intentionally.

Eight Common Ways Retailers Get CX Wrong

There are obviously more than eight ways for retailers to get CX wrong, but these are some of the big ones Stacy shared with us.

Wrong #1: Treating Customer Service as the Whole Experience

One of the biggest misunderstandings Stacy sees is when people use customer service and customer experience as if they are the same thing. She is very clear that they are not.

“Customer service is what you think when you are asking for help for a very specific problem,” she said. “Customer experience is a journey.”

That journey includes how a customer learns about your brand and buys it, how they get and use what they purchased, how they pay, and how they get help. It is also shaped by employees, partners, and anyone who interacts with your brand along the way. 

There are many micro-interactions that shape that experience, and it requires designing the whole journey end to end, intentionally. Stacy calls this “journey management.”

The right move: Stop viewing customer service as the experience.

Manage the entire journey, including the moments when nothing appears wrong, but emotions are still forming.

Wrong #2: Limiting CX to Digital UX and Screens

Many retailers hear “customer experience” and immediately think digital: apps, interfaces, or user flows. Digital matters, but as Stacy explains, it is only one part of a much bigger picture.

“Digital is really what people think about when they hear UX,” she said, “but CX is how people interact with your brand everywhere.”

She encourages leaders not to get overwhelmed. “If people say, ‘I don’t even know where to start,’ pick one point in the journey where revenue is declining. Small changes really add up.”

The right move: Zoom out.

Consider every place customers meet your brand — stores, call centers, service environments, and more.

Wrong #3: Designing Experiences Without Validating Them with Real Customers

Retailers often design journeys internally based on assumptions. Stacy sees this mistake constantly.

“Companies create an experience they think customers want,” she said, “but then forget to validate it with real customers.”

Validation is not a one-time step. It is a loop of checking, listening, and refining. “Your customers are on a journey with or without you,” she said. “Design it intentionally — and then make sure it actually works for them.”

The right move: Design, validate, then fix the gaps.

Build continuous learning into the journey.

Wrong #4: Chasing New Customers and Ignoring the Ones Who Already Chose You

New customer acquisition feels exciting. But Stacy warns that many retailers chase new customers at the expense of their loyal ones.

“Getting new sales acquisition is exciting,” she said. “It’s sexy. But you forget to love the ones you have.”

Existing customers are far more valuable — they buy again, refer others, and act as advocates.

The right move: Make loyalty a priority.

Invest in the customers already in your ecosystem.

Wrong #5: Ignoring the Internal Experience and Expecting Great External CX Anyway

Retailers often talk about CX as if it applies only to shoppers. Stacy makes it clear this is not the case.

“The internal and the external customer journeys go hand in hand,” she said.

Employees are on their own journeys too. If they feel frustrated or unsupported, customers will feel it.

“If the internal team does not feel really great about the experience they are having inside the brand, they cannot pay it forward,” she said.

The right move: Treat employees as core parts of the customer journey.

Support them emotionally and operationally.

Wrong #6: Overlooking Emotion and Overwhelming Customers Across Channels

Stacy believes emotion is at the heart of every experience. “If you take the emotions out,” she said, “you have no customer.”

Her lab appointment story shows how small failures — missing emails, unhelpful bots, broken kiosks, poorly timed surveys, and disengaged staff — can add up to a deeply negative emotional imprint.

“The emotion of each moment,” she said, “is what leaves the imprint.”

The right move: Reduce friction and design for emotional awareness.

Simplify channels, align communication, and acknowledge customers as humans.

Wrong #7: Letting Teams Work in Silos with No View of the Full Experience

Retailers forget that the customer journey crosses multiple departments. When teams operate in silos, customers feel the disconnect.

“Companies are so siloed,” Stacy said. “Bring all your different departments to the table and help them understand the domino effect.”

“Your customers don’t see org charts,” she said. “They see one company.”

The right move: Unite teams around real customer data.

Create shared rituals that help teams improve the experience together.

Wrong #8: Treating CX as the Responsibility of One Team Instead of Everyone

Stacy is adamant: CX cannot live in a single department.

“Everyone from CEO to interns must be accountable for customer experiences,” she said.

She encourages executives to get close to the customer by listening to service calls, walking stores, and buying from their own company.

The right move: Make CX a leadership behavior.

When leaders participate in the journey, they show that CX truly matters.

The Bottom Line: Doing CX Right Begins with Avoiding What Goes Wrong

Customer experience is ultimately a collection of human experiences. Because humans participate in every step of the journey, there are countless opportunities for error, but just as many opportunities to improve.

Doing CX right requires intentional collaboration, active listening, and shared accountability from the C suite to interns and everyone in between. Do it right, and the results follow.

About Stacy Sherman: 
Stacy Sherman is an award-winning international keynote speaker, author, and customer experience expert who has generated $2.4 billion in savings and hundreds of millions in revenue for companies across multiple industries. She is the creator of the Doing CX Right® methodology, which is implemented by organizations worldwide. She is also the host of a business podcast ranked in the top 2% globally with 200+ episodes. Learn more: DoingCXRight.com.

Learn more about how these retail solutions can work for you.