Picture Maria, a VP of Customer Experience at a regional bank. While her competitors were reducing customer service hours, she convinced leadership to extend them. Her reasoning was simple: “When everyone else is pulling back, that’s when you have the biggest opportunity to stand out.“
The result? Her bank’s customer satisfaction scores rose 40% during the worst months of the pandemic, while competitors’ scores plummeted. More importantly, customer acquisition costs dropped because word of mouth became their strongest marketing channel.
This wasn’t luck. Maria and leaders like her discovered something powerful: Crisis doesn’t just test your customer experience strategy, it reveals whether you have one at all.
When innovative CX leaders broke the rules
While most CX leaders were frantically plugging holes, the contrarians were busy rewriting the playbook entirely. They realized customers weren’t just changing their buying habits – they were evolving their entire relationship with brands.
Take the story of a furniture retailer who couldn’t keep up with demand during lockdowns. Instead of apologizing for delays, they created a “design consultation” service while customers waited. Rather than losing customers to frustration, they were helping them plan entire room makeovers. Average order values doubled, and customer satisfaction hit record highs despite longer wait times.
The insight: Constraints force creativity. When you can’t deliver what customers expect, you discover what they actually need.
Three mental shifts that separated the elite from the mediocre
The CX leaders who transformed crisis into a competitive advantage adopted three critical mindsets:
1. Sensemaking over certainty
Instead of waiting for clear signals, they turned every customer interaction into market research. A grocery chain noticed customers weren’t just buying more – they were buying differently, seeking comfort foods and family-sized portions. Within days, they redesigned their entire store layout around these new shopping patterns.
The lesson: When the world changes fast, your assumptions become liabilities.
2. Bootstrap ethic over blanket cuts
This is where the pretenders got exposed. While most companies were cutting everything, the winners made surgical decisions. Some slashed advertising budgets but doubled customer service training. Others eliminated fancy office perks but hired more customer success managers.
One software company redirected its entire conference budget into customer success initiatives.
The outcome? Their customer retention rate increased by 23% while the industry average dropped by 15%
3. Stakeholder balance over short-term fixes
The most innovative CX leaders didn’t just ask customers to sacrifice—they showed them how working together created better outcomes for everyone. A storage rental company offered 30 days of free self-storage to college students who unexpectedly needed to vacate dormitories. The short-term revenue hit turned into long-term customer loyalty and massive positive PR.
What actually worked when everyone else panicked
They built bridges instead of walls.
While industry peers were adding rules and approval processes, the winning companies eliminated bureaucracy. One insurance company gave every customer service rep authority to waive fees up to $500 without approval. Claims that used to take weeks were resolved in days.
The breakthrough: Empowered employees create empowered customer experiences.
They made vulnerability a superpower.
Nobody predicted this plot twist. Companies that admitted they were struggling didn’t lose trust – they gained it. But here’s the key: they paired honesty with action.
Instead of corporate-speak about “unprecedented times,” Marriott’s CEO transparently shared performance statistics and announced executive pay cuts while focusing on hope for the future. Customers didn’t see weakness; they saw leadership.
They turned digital transformation into a human connection
Everyone talks about digital transformation, but the winners understood something deeper. Technology wasn’t replacing human interaction – it was enhancing it. Companies that got this right saw 60% of customer interactions move online while satisfaction scores actually improved.
The new challenge: Navigating turbulence
Just as CX leaders were mastering pandemic lessons, 2025 brought a new test: Trump’s sweeping tariff policies. On April 2, “Liberation Day,” tariffs hit everything from electronics to groceries, adding an average of $1,200 per household to annual costs.
But what happened next will surprise you. The pandemic lessons proved invaluable: the CX leaders who learned to play offense during the crisis are now using those same skills.
The smart response: Personalization as protection
Instead of blanket price increases, innovative retailers are using sophisticated personalization. Raley’s grocery chain offers loyalty members tailored discounts that match their buying patterns. As Deirdre Zimmermann their CX officer explains:
“When you open the app, if you have a personalized offer that’s for the brands that you love, that you always buy week after week, that drives price perception. You think you have more value in the cart versus these random CPG offers that just are a mess and not relevant”
The result: 80% of businesses report customers spending 38% more when experiences are personalized – even during inflationary periods.
Turning constraints into connections
Smart CX leaders are using tariff challenges to deepen relationships:
- Transparency over hiding: Explaining price changes while showcasing value
- Localization: Highlighting American-made alternatives as premium choices
- Partnership: Creating bundles that absorb costs while increasing perceived value
The pattern remains consistent: those who see disruption as an opportunity to reimagine customer relationships emerge stronger.
Your framework for the next challenge
Here’s what the data reveals about crisis-ready CX strategies:
Start with rapid learningThe companies that succeeded built learning loops into everything. Every complaint became insight. Every interaction generated data that informed the next decision. They stopped planning for six months out and started adapting based on what they learned this week.
Practice surgical resource allocation.Ask yourself: What are you investing in that isn’t directly improving customer outcomes? The question isn’t “how can we cut costs?” It’s “how can we spend smarter to create better experiences?”
Build stakeholder bridges before you need them.Your next challenge will require everyone to contribute. Start now. Which departments do you need to solve customer problems faster? How can you create win-win scenarios before a crisis hits?
The questions that change everything
Before your next challenge arrives, answer these:
- If you had to improve customer satisfaction while cutting your budget in half, what would you do differently?
- What customer assumption are you afraid to challenge because it might require significant change?
- How could you turn your current biggest limitation into a competitive advantage?
Your next move
The pattern is clear: whether it’s a pandemic, tariff policies, or whatever disruption comes next, those who see crisis as an opportunity to reimagine customer relationships will emerge stronger.
The current tariff situation offers a perfect example. While some retailers are simply raising prices and hoping customers accept it, the innovative ones are using this moment to build deeper data relationships, differentiate through transparency, and leverage technology to make smarter decisions about where to compete and where to collaborate.
As one successful Leader Keith Ferrazzi put it:
“The companies that survive a crisis are the ones that were already thinking about transformation. The companies that thrive are the ones that use crisis to accelerate it.”
The question isn’t whether your next challenge is coming. It’s whether you’ll see it as a threat to endure or an opportunity to leap ahead.
What will you discover in your next challenge?
Sources:
American Customer Satisfaction Index Q4 2020 Report – National customer satisfaction trends during crisis periods
Contentful Personalization Statistics 2025 – Consumer behavior and spending patterns with personalized experiences
HBR Podcast – Why Some Companies Thrived During the Pandemic