New data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index reveals nearly a decade of stagnation, a narrowing gap between top and bottom performers, and rising loyalty. Together, these shifts point to one conclusion: customer experience is converging.

In this week's episode of The Modern Customer, Forrest Morgeson, Director of Research at the American Customer Satisfaction Index, explains what this means for leaders heading into 2026.

As AI accelerates and economic uncertainty persists, differentiation becomes harder to sustain and more critical to get right.

If you're shaping your 2026 strategy, this conversation offers a clear, data-backed perspective on where competitive advantage is tightening — and where leaders should focus.

🎧 Listen to the full episode.

Access the full ACSI report to evaluate what these trends mean for your competitive position: https://theacsi.org/news-and-resources/blog/2026/02/17/the-shrinking-distance-between-the-best-and-the-rest/

Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn

For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

Customer conversations generate value. Yet most organizations never connect that value to action.

Context gets lost across channels, and next steps never connect to downstream systems.

This week on The Modern Customer, Ali Tore, RingCentral's SVP & GM of Conversational AI, shares how agentic voice AI closes that gap. He outlines why organizations must move beyond isolated automation and build systems that coordinate conversations, context, and follow-through across every touchpoint.

If you want AI to drive real customer outcomes — not just efficiency — this episode is for you.

👉 Listen to the full episode on The Modern Customer and explore the RingCentral Agentic AI Trends 2026 report to go deeper.

This episode is sponsored by RingCentral.

Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn

For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com

As restaurants scale, preserving hospitality becomes harder to sustain. This week on The Modern Customer, Andrew Rebhun, Chief Experience Officer at CAVA, shares how the Mediterranean fast-casual brand keeps hospitality at the center while scaling to 400+ locations.

The conversation breaks down how experience leadership actually works at scale—from loyalty and social listening to team training and selective use of AI—without losing human connection.

Where do you see the biggest gap today: loyalty design, social listening, or team alignment?

🎧 Listen to the full episode to explore how hospitality translates into loyalty across digital, rewards, and social touchpoints.

Curious to try it yourself? Visit cava.com to learn more.

Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn

For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com