The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth

Before his first trip to Japan, Colin asked his mobile provider's chatbot one simple question — and the confident answer it gave him could have cost him a small fortune. It's a two-minute story, and it cracks open something much bigger.   In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton dig into why so many AI rollouts quietly make the customer experience worse, not better. Colin is convinc...

Colin asked his AI assistant one simple question — what time the film started — and it answered, confidently, wrong. A small thing. But it's the crack that reveals something much bigger. A backlash against AI is building: data-center protests, job fears, "AI slop" everywhere. In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton ask the question most leaders are missing — what happens when that...

Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton tackle the two processes that decide everything in customer experience: how memories get in, and how they get out. If you haven't heard Parts 1 and 2, start there — Colin and Ryan build on the "memories are structured like fishing nets" idea throughout. Here's the uncomfortable truth at the center of this episode: a customer's memory of your experience isn't...

Silos are the silent killer of customer experience — but for years we've only argued that from one side of the coin: the customer's. This episode flips it over. Colin and Ryan are joined by Dan O'Connell, CEO of Front, to look at silos from the side that actually moves a boardroom — the cost. Front's new research, the Coordination Tax, surveyed B2B customer service, operations, and account managem...

In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton continue their deep dive into memory — arguably the most underused idea in customer experience. Because here's the uncomfortable truth: customers don't act on the experience you give them. They act on the memory of it. Ryan introduces a brilliant analogy: memory works like a fishing net. Pull up one memory and you dr...

Nobel laureate Professor Daniel Kahneman said we don't choose between experiences; we choose between the memory of an experience. If that's true — and the science says it is — then most organizations are investing in the wrong thing. In this episode, Colin and Ryan explore how memories are actually formed, the difference between short-term (working) and long-term memory, and why your brand is real...

Episode Summary Trust is the foundation of every customer relationship. But here's the uncomfortable truth: most businesses assume they have it when they don't. PwC's latest research found that 90% of executives believe their customers trust them highly — yet only 30% of customers actually do. That's a 60-point gap. And it's growing. In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton from Emo...

After more than a decade of companies pouring money, technology, and consultants into customer experience, US customer satisfaction sits almost exactly where it did in 2013. Flat. Now AI arrives as the promised cavalry — and leaders are racing to bolt it onto everything before they understand what they're actually trying to fix. In this episode, Colin and Ryan separate the smart play from the slow...

Summary Artificial Intelligence is transforming marketing faster than almost any technology before it. Brands can now create professional-quality advertisements in hours rather than months and at a fraction of the cost. But as AI-generated creative becomes more common, an important question is emerging: Are brands becoming more efficient while losing some of the humanity that customers value? In t...

Nostalgia isn't just "remembering the good old days." It's a bittersweet emotion—the strange mix of warmth, loss, pride, and longing that can make you feel good… even when the memory you're describing sounds objectively terrible. In this episode, Colin and Ryan dig into why nostalgia is so powerful (and why it's everywhere right now). They explore the paradox: people don't just get nostalgic about...

Everyone's racing to be "AI-first." The problem? Customers didn't vote for it. In this episode, we unpack a practical decision framework for when AI should lead, when humans must lead, and how to avoid automating the very moments that drive loyalty (or churn). We also get into a surprising twist: why AI can sometimes sound more empathetic than people—and what that says about how most service teams...

Customer Experience isn't short of activity—it's short of new ideas that actually land. In this episode, Colin and Ryan dig into why genuinely fresh thinking in CX struggles to break through, how industries get stuck in "normal science," and why it feels like we're doing more measurement… without more progress. They explore what a real disruption looks like, the warning signs that a paradigm is re...

In this episode, Ryan Hamilton and I dig into the invisible "scripts" that hold everyday customer experiences together—those unwritten psychological expectations about what happens next, what signals mean, and how both customers and employees coordinate without even thinking about it. The trouble is: when technology (like mobile payments, kiosks, or automation) changes the steps, it can quietly br...

Why do we actively seek out content that makes us angry? In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton explore the idea of consuming anger as an emotional experience. From doomscrolling and rage-bait headlines to viral customer complaints and outrage-driven media, they unpack why anger is such a powerful, bonding, and profitable emotion — and what this means for Customer Experience. Best...

How will customers decide which decisions to hand over to AI? As AI agents move to the front of the customer journey, brands are no longer competing for attention. They're competing for selection. And in many cases, they don't even realize they're being bypassed. This conversation goes beyond tools and technology to examine the psychology of decision-making, trust, empathy, and what happens when A...

What does customer experience look like when AI starts acting on behalf of the customer? As AI agents increasingly understand customer context, remember past behavior, and reduce friction, they begin to insert themselves between companies and customers. That shift has major implications for CX, branding, differentiation, and how organizations stay relevant when customers stop visiting websites, ap...

How are you really using AI — and how does that compare to others? In this episode, Colin Shaw introduces a simple behavioural framework for understanding how people are actually using AI today — not in theory, but in practice — and why this matters enormously for the future of Customer Experience. Rather than treating AI as a technology maturity model, Colin reframes it as a behavioural curve, sh...

Customer satisfaction has barely moved in over 30 years — despite enormous investment in Customer Experience. In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Professor Ryan Hamilton and Morgan Ward speak with Forrest Morgeson from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). ACSI has tracked customer satisfaction continuously since 1994 using the same questions and methodology across the entire US...

In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Professor Ryan Hamilton is joined by Ben Shaw, seasoned brand strategist, to unpack the promises and pitfalls of synthetic audiences - AI-driven research used for faster, cheaper market research. Synthetic audiences, powered by large language models (LLMs), can replicate customer segments and respond to creative concepts or product questions at scale cutt...

Sales and Customer Experience—two critical functions that should work together, but too often operate at odds. This week, Colin and Ryan explore how traditional sales tactics can undermine long-term loyalty and create organisational silos. They share personal stories (including Colin's car-buying nightmare) and practical advice for aligning sales with your desired customer experience. If you want...

Trust in traditional institutions is eroding. As customers lose faith in advertising, government and even online reviews, they're turning to voices that feel most relatable: peers and communities. Edelman's latest Trust Barometer shows the most credible spokesperson for a company is now "people like me." Ben Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton explore the decline of influencer credibility, the rise o...

Episode Overview When everything is one-click easy, do we lose something meaningful? Guest host Dr. Morgan Ward joins Dr. Ryan Hamilton to explore how the right amount of friction in the consumption experience can boost connection, meaning, and long-term use of the product—while the wrong kind just gets in the way.   Quote of the Episode "Consumption, in some ways, has just gotten too easy." — Dr....

In this episode, Colin Shaw shares a recent personal experience with a major brand that imposed a 'gag order' (NDA) after a poor service experience — and how this reflects a deeper organizational issue: silos. Together with Professor Ryan Hamilton, Colin explores why siloed thinking leads to incoherent customer experiences, how internal motivations can conflict with CX goals, and what leaders must...

Episode Overview Ever buy something you couldn't wait to get—and then let it sit in the box for days (or weeks)? You're not alone. Guest host Morgan Ward joins Ryan Hamilton to explore why we often love the pursuit of products more than the possession of them. From unopened tools and "someday" sweaters to the viral Stanley Cup craze, they unpack the psychology of anticipation, dopamine, and why th...