We expect deliveries in a day, playlists curated instantly, and service that never quits. Convenience is no longer a differentiator, it’s the baseline.
The exponential consumer sets the new standard: always connected, highly informed, and demanding seamless experiences across every channel. They measure you not just against your competitors but against the best experience they’ve ever had, anywhere.
In the recent
Create a NiCE World podcasts, we talked to customer service experts Shep Hyken and Colin Shaw about what it means to meet exponential consumers … everywhere.
Read on for the top insights from their conversations that can help brands know what to do now to blend the speed of tech with emotionally intelligent, human-centered experiences, powered by connected intelligence.
The exponential consumer isn’t coming - They’re already here.
Who are they, and why do they matter now more than ever?
The exponential customer moves faster, expects more, and shapes markets in real time. They are always connected, with multiple devices and channels at their fingertips. They are about more than the products they seek, they chase experiences, demanding seamless interactions that go far beyond the transaction.
If a ride-hailing app offers real-time tracking, people expect the same transparency from their bank. If a streaming service tailors recommendations flawlessly, they wonder why their healthcare provider can’t do the same.
This constant comparison raises the bar for every brand. Competing in this environment means delivering not only against your direct rivals - but against the best experience your customer has ever had … anywhere. That’s what makes the exponential consumer so powerful.
They are:
- Always connected, with multiple devices and channels at their fingertips
- Experience-driven, beyond product-driven
- Expectation-setters, comparing and contrasting brands to the best across every industry
What sets them apart is the speed and scale at which they act. That means the old playbook of incremental change no longer works. For businesses to thrive, it comes down to thinking and moving as exponentially as they do.
As
Shep Hyken said in the recent Create a NiCE World podcast, exponential consumers measure you against the best experience they’ve had anywhere. Whether that’s Amazon, Apple, or the coffee shop down the street, expectations are shaped by every brand they love.
“If we look at the brands we love - big or small - and bring some of those best practices into our own business, we’ll be closer to meeting what the exponential customer expects,” Hyken said. “Because it’s not just about exponential consumers anymore. We need to be exponential companies as well.”
Mastering the CX maturity curve
What’s even more true for this new brand of consumer is how they’re measuring their experiences.
You need to start thinking about your competition as the last
best experience your customer had, Hyken said.
Three barriers can hold companies back:
- Siloed customer service and outdated contact centers
- Reactive issue handling vs. proactive engagement
- Over-focus on efficiency/cost instead of emotional impact
As
Colin Shaw highlighted, exponential consumers have rising expectations shaped by technology, choice, and instant access.
Organizations progress through stages in how they view and treat customers. Most mistakes stem from failing to consider the lifetime value of a customer and instead treating them as short-term transactions.
True maturity in customer experience requires moving beyond rational efficiency to designing experiences that also address emotional, subconscious, and psychological needs. This alignment enables organizations to maximize lifetime customer value and deliver experiences that feel natural rather than forced.
Treating customers only as transactions risks churn, negative word of mouth, and loss of lifetime value.
Moving up the CX maturity curve, by addressing rational, emotional, subconscious, and psychological needs, enables organizations to build loyalty, differentiate in competitive markets, and unlock sustainable growth, Shaw explained.
What exponential consumers expect, and how to deliver
Surveys and feedback provide valuable signals about customer sentiment, while behavioral data captures what customers actually do. Together, they tell two sides of the same story - what people say and how they act.
The challenge lies in connecting those signals to uncover meaningful insights. This is where AI makes a difference by identifying hidden patterns, predicting emerging needs, and enabling businesses to take proactive action that strengthens customer relationships.
“What customers tell you and what they do can be two very different things,” Shaw said.
What really matters is understanding behavior, and behavior is complex. As technology advances, particularly with AI, organizations will be able to better connect what customers say with what they actually do. AI will help identify these patterns and uncover the drivers behind real-world decisions.
The lesson is clear: the most powerful insights come not from listening to what customers say, but from observing how they behave.
This is just one example of how to appeal to the exponential consumer. AI that just works better can help your business adapt and better serve the exponential consumer through these top four ways:
1. Personalization that feels human
- Avoid tech solutions that feel robotic or provide only surface-level personalization.
- Nail that balance where AI agents and human agents can really collaborate to elevate service.
- “Customer experience is a mindset. It's the way that you think about things, and it's the way that you consider the customer in the decisions that you are making,” Shaw said.
2. Omnichannel consistency
- Exceed consumers expectations for a seamless transition during the entire journey.
- As Hyken highlighted, businesses should follow the concept of the “customer service experience paradox,” where resolving a problem can increase customer loyalty if you meet them where and how the customer wants to engage.
- Prioritize self-service and high-touch options.
3. Proactive experience design
- AI is your greatest asset in predicting customer behavior and delivering proactive experiences.
- Case example: The key is being able to predict how a customer is likely to feel or respond. For example, if you’ve just announced a phone service price increase and there’s a specific group of customers who usually reach out afterward, why not contact them first? Proactively addressing their concerns can reduce call volume, lower costs, and lead to a better experience overall.
- “It’s about using data to be predictive, creating a more thoughtful, proactive, and ultimately, NiCE world,” Shaw said.
4. Continuous, invisible improvement
- Create moments of “incremental amazement”- where you’re facilitating small, constant improvements that are in essence more valuable to your business than greater occasional big wins.
- “Make sure your tech vendor has the capability to upgrade, add on, integrate outside programs, so the people on the inside who are taking care of customers have an easier, better experience,” Hyken said. “And when that happens, you're merging technology with people, you're pushing ‘digital first’ with a human backup.”
- Build a foundation where you’re getting feedback loops and incorporating real-time learning.
The exponential consumer has no patience. Time to move.
Exponential consumers are already rewriting the rules of engagement, and competitors who move faster with AI are capturing the advantage.
The sands in the hourglass are running out, with 69% of companies already seeing revenue gains and 39% resolving issues proactively through automation, according to the
Lead the future of AI-powered experiences white paper.
Your customers are silently benchmarking you against the best. Now is the moment to close the gap and seize the opportunity to lead.
Create a NiCE world with customer service made for the exponential consumer
