Customer Engagement Examples of Excellence

It’s a simple question, but it might be the most powerful one in your data toolkit. When tickets drop by 3,000 in a month, is that because the problem is fixed, or because customers are finding it harder to get in touch?In this Data, Insight & Analytics panel recorded at the Engage Customer Summit 2026, Gerry Brown of The Customer Lifeguard is joined by Aida Huggins, Customer Recovery Manager at KFC, Cher Lowies, Customer Insights Manager at Interactive Investor, and Ben Smith, Senior Director of Advisory Services at Similarweb.Two self-confessed “people, not numbers” insight leaders and a data expert get candid about closing the gap between collecting data and acting on it. They cover cutting vanity metrics and old reports nobody reads, translating dashboards into plain language every team can act on, and bringing service, product and marketing into the same room. They also discuss how AI is putting data directly into the hands of the people who need it.

What does one of the UK’s biggest banks have in common with a company that services your office washroom? More than you’d think, when it comes to keeping customers.In this Loyalty, Retention & Growth panel from the Engage Customer Summit 2026, Andrew Hough of Cranfield University is joined by Oliver Parsons, Head of Ecosystems, Customer Propositions at Lloyds Banking Group, and Ed Smyth, Commercial Insights Manager at phs Group.Both reject what Oliver calls the “prisoner strategy” of locking customers in and quietly raising prices. Instead, they argue for making it easy to stay. Oliver shares how Lloyds is using data to show up at the right moment in customers’ lives, from managing their car to planning a trip. Ed reveals how simply picking up the phone to at-risk customers, without trying to sell them anything, helped phs cut the number of customers lost by 50%.It’s a refreshingly honest conversation about trust, communication and why the human touch still beats any lock-in contract.

Does your dog sleep in a crate in the utility room or in your bed? For Nestlé Purina, the answer says a lot about how to market to you, and it’s just one example in this lively Marketing & CRM panel recorded at the Engage Customer Summit 2026.Chaired by Scott Logie of the DMA, the conversation brings together three very different perspectives. Michelle Monck, Director of Marketing and Relationship Management at Redwood Bank, speaks from a boutique bank where every broker relationship counts. Aileen Raynos, CRM Lead at Nestlé Purina UK & Ireland, brings a pet care giant with millions of consumers. Isie Marcar, Account Director at Hightouch, shares what she sees across brands throughout Europe.Together they explore how to turn customer insight into campaigns that drive real business outcomes rather than vanity metrics. They cover why you should only collect data you’ll actually use, how to win over the finance director when attribution is messy, and why gut feel still has a place alongside marketing mix modelling and AI. Their parting advice is simple: don’t measure what’s easy, measure what makes the difference.

“If you take away one thing from today: don’t use AI for the purpose of using AI.”That’s the message from Viviane Gabriel, Director Consumer Experience at Philip Morris International, in this candid conversation with Brian Manusama of Actionary, recorded on the CX Management stage at the Engage Customer Summit 2026.Rather than showcasing specific tools, Viviane takes us inside the human side of PMI’s AI journey. She explains why true adoption is about far more than how many people use Copilot every day. She also describes how a two-day kick-off with 23 colleagues from 10 departments, “power couples” pairing tech and business knowledge, and a network of AI champions turned scattered experiments into real momentum.Along the way, she compares AI transformation to building a winning football team: you need a coach who believes in the mission, players with different skills, the resilience to bounce back from a lost game, and a clear goal to score against your business objectives.

Only 3% of Xero’s 5 million customers ever need to raise a case. So what happens when every query that reaches your team is the toughest one?Melanie Fischer, Director of Customer Experience UK & EMEA at Xero, tells the story behind Evo, the custom-built AI assistant that sits alongside Xero’s specialists. Evo drafts first responses from thousands of knowledge articles, while people bring the judgement and empathy. The result is around 25% time saved on every case it handles, with adoption across the team reaching 100% without anyone being forced to use it.Recorded live on the Customer Contact stage at the Engage Customer Summit 2026 and introduced by Nick Brice of Soul Corporations, this is an honest look at getting the human and AI partnership right. Mel explains why Xero switched Evo off when it wasn’t good enough, and how being transparent about that built trust with the team. She also covers how to create “FOMO” for AI instead of fear, and what’s next with agentic workflows and predictive “next best action” support.

Demand spikes, sky-high customer expectations and stretched teams: how do contact centres keep service consistent while scaling fast?Recorded live on the Future of the Contact Centre stage at the Engage Customer Summit 2026, this episode brings together Rachael Carliss, Customer Care Head at Wio Bank, and Cheryl Fuller, Contact Centre Channel Lead, MX Strategy at Samsung Electronics, in conversation with Marcus Hickman Davies of Hickman Research.They share how they balance cost and quality under pressure, why happy agents make for happy customers, and how getting briefed early by marketing and commercial teams helps you get ahead of demand instead of firefighting. There are practical lessons on smarter workforce planning, investing in training, rethinking channels and metrics like AHT, and building real career paths that keep a new generation of agents engaged.

Everyone wants to be ahead of the curve, but what actually stops organisations from moving as fast as they’d like?Recorded live on the Main Stage at the Engage Customer Summit 2026, this episode brings together Jen Sharp, Vice President Customer Service at DHL Express, Pamella Barotti, Global Director of Customer Advocacy and References at AVEVA, and Paul Hamilton, CEO and Founder of Halo, in conversation with Martin Hill-Wilson of Brainfood Consulting.They talk honestly about building the trust, small teams and psychological safety that let people act fast, why the best innovation often starts with a small pilot rather than a big AI bet, and how to build a culture where failing is part of progress. Along the way, they share practical lessons on creating adaptive teams, keeping the customer’s voice at the centre, and why you can only move as fast as your people.

Podcast Description:Join Claudia Nicholls-Magielson from Simplyhealth, Alexander Toft from Moonpig and Richard Pash from Zurich Insurance Company as they explore how modern customer leaders blend empathy, data and technology to drive meaningful customer outcomes and commercial growth. Recorded live on the main stage at our recent Engage Customer Summit, this episode dives into real-world stories of journey redesign, the power of qualitative insight and the mindset shifts needed to keep customers truly at the heart of strategic decision-making.

In this episode, Sam Holley, Senior Messaging Experience & Performance Manager takes us behind the scenes of Lloyds Banking Group’s shift from a telephony-led contact model to a chat-driven, mobile first experience. Drawing on real numbers, hard won lessons, and cultural change at scale, Sam shares how the team grew chat from a niche channel to a core part of customer contact, significantly lifting satisfaction along the way. Recorded live at our recent Engage Customer Summit, this conversation is packed with practical insights for customer contact and CX leaders rethinking how they support customers in a digital first world.

In this episode, we bring you a recording from our recent Engage Customer Summit, Mark Clydesdale, Head of Strategic Consulting at Tap CXM, Oliver Parsons, Head of Ecosystems, Customer Propositions at Lloyds Banking Group and Preyan de Silva Head of Ticketing, All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) at Wimbledon explore what it really takes to design and deliver customer journeys that work in practice, not just on paper. From breaking down silos and aligning teams to balancing digital innovation with real customer needs, this session is packed with practical insights across sport, financial services and beyond. Tune in for an honest, thought-provoking discussion on how to make your customer journey mapping truly matter.