Customer Experience 
A survey of 362 firms carried out by Bain shows that 80% of organizations felt they provided a “superior experience” to their customers. Yet, only 8% of customers agreed with this statement.
Wake-up call, right? Obviously, there’s a disconnect between what we think we’re doing well and how our customers feel about what we’re doing.
So, whether you’re designing a customer experience (CX) strategy from scratch, considering where to take your CX strategy next, or searching for methods to add a more customer-centric mentality to your corporate culture, we’ve got a solid reading list that is worth your time.
These books cover real-world case studies, best practices, professional experiences, and innovative thoughts about customer experience from some of the most accomplished experts in the field.
Our tip picks for customer experience books to read:
1. The Experience Maker: How to Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait to Share
by Dan Gingiss
The Experience Maker helps top management focus on customers who are frequenting their business, instead of investing more money in acquiring new customers. Author Dan Gingiss asserts that giving customers a memorable experience will guarantee that they become a company’s best salespeople and marketers.
In The Experience Maker, Dan sets out a strategy for differentiating yourself from the competition and winning at business with customer experience. This book will become your go-to resource for giving your customers exceptional experiences such that they tell everyone about it.
2. Customer Experience 3.0: High-Profit Strategies in the Age of Techno Service
by John Goodman
Customer Experience 3.0 is a reflection of how far the field has come in the last ten years, and its chapters show the global community of CX thought leaders’ emotional intelligence, intellectual development, and creativity.
The authors come from many different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. Still, they are all connected by a shared objective: to increase our understanding of the customer experience’s numerous facets and strengthen our organizations’ dedication to it.
The book contains a cutting-edge framework for customer experience and a detailed road map that teaches readers how to, among other things, design and deliver flawless services and products while maintaining open communication with customers, develop and put into practice a strong customer access strategy, and gather and use customer feedback to improve products.
3. The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive Advantage
by David Spinks
The Business of Belonging was written by David Spinks, the founder of CMX, a community of community experts. In this book, David explains how a company can develop a customer community and utilize it as an extension of its teams to provide measurable outcomes across all business functions, including product development, content creation, customer support, and marketing.
The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive shows that the brands that succeed in the future will be those that build genuine connections with their customers, giving them a sense of true belonging and enabling them to reach unprecedented scale.
Related: Top 10 Business Communication Books You Can’t Miss in 2025
4. The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences
by Matt Watkinson
This customer experience book outlines ten principles you can apply, regardless of what your company does or who you are, actually to improve the customer experience.
The book shows managers, executives, and entrepreneurs that implementing improvements that customers would value doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
The authors emphasize the significance of CX in the book’s opening and say that many attempts at the practice fail because businesses do not fully comprehend the craft.
5. The Cult of the Customer: Create an Amazing Customer Experience that Turns Satisfied Customers into Customer Evangelists
by Shep Hyken
The Cult of the Customer is a masterclass in captivating customers. In this book, the author, Shep Hyken, encourages readers to strive to wow customers rather than merely satisfy them.
In The Cult of the Customer, Hyken reveals how to create a plan that guides customers and staff through five unique cultural phases, from “uncertainty” to “amazement.” Hyken outlines the crucial internal and external adjustments that allow great organizations to develop a Cult of the Customer through the presentation of numerous case studies and reveals how you can achieve the same.
6. Getting Service Right: Overcoming the Hidden Obstacles to Outstanding Customer Service
by Jeff Toister
Instead of providing yet another list of helpful customer service tips, Getting Service Right adopts a fresh strategy by identifying the true causes of employees’ inconsistent failure to provide the expected level of service.
The book contains examples from renowned organizations, real-life stories from employees on the front lines, and the most recent scientific findings. These potent, perhaps counterintuitive insights can be applied at individual, corporate, and departmental levels to help the entire team deliver exceptional customer service.
Related: 13 Customer Service Books to Skyrocket Customer Satisfaction
7. Winning Her Business: How to Transform the Customer Experience for the World’s Most Powerful Consumers
by Bridget Brennan
In her book Winning Her Business, Bridget Brennan discusses how to create positive customer experiences for women. The book emphasizes the purchasing power of female audiences and urges businesses to develop customer experiences for this demographic using research rather than making assumptions. Bridget Brennan identifies the four primary drivers of consumer behavior—connection, inspiration, confidence, and appreciation—and discusses how businesses can tailor these components to appeal to women.
Related: What Is a Contact Center? Definition, Features, and Uses
8. Be Our Guest: Protecting The Art Of Customer Service
by Theodore Kinni
The new edition of Be Our Guest, a book by Theodore Kinni for the Disney Institute, emphasizes the need to go above and beyond customers’ expectations. The book also describes some of the top businesses and the customer experience initiatives that contributed to their success.
9. More Is More: How the Best Companies Go Farther and Work Harder to Create Knock-Your-Socks-Off Customer Experience
by Blake Morgan
More Is More is one of the most basic books you can find on customer experience. This book begins with a definition of customer experience, followed by an overview of current practices and forecasts for the near future. More Is More acts as a rallying cry to continually enhance the practice’s execution and shows how customer experience is a constantly developing concept.
Related: Must-Read Books to Improve Customer Experience
10. Chief Customer Officer 2.0: How to Build Your Customer-Driven Growth Engine
by Jeanne Bliss
Chief Customer Officer 2.0 will stimulate you into action right away with a unified leadership team and change your company’s focus to earning the right to growth by making customers’ lives better. In this book, the author, Jeanne Bliss, bravely provides her tools and leadership “recipe cards” for leading and facilitating your business transformation. This book follows the five-competency paradigm that Jeanne Bliss uses when coaching C-Suite and Chief Customer Officers members.
11. Built to Win: Designing a Customer-Centric Culture that Drives Value for Your Business
by Annette Franz
Currently, it’s a challenge to stand out from the crowd, especially due to the oversaturated business environment we face today.
Annette Franz talks about rethinking the way that a company culture exists and reforming it to be based on the needs of its customers. She explains that a customer-centric culture intertwines a customer’s wants, needs, and perspective within the organization’s process: “They are, literally, at the center of every decision, conversation, action, process, and strategy.”
Final Thoughts
Businesses that don’t follow through on promises, make customers’ lives easier, or set themselves apart from competitors will eventually fall behind.
If you’re ready to invest in customer experience strategy, Nextiva has the tools to get you there. Whether you need a VoIP phone service or a full-blown contact center, our tools are designed to help you provide simpler, faster, and more effective customer service.
Talk to an expert to see how Nextiva can help you succeed.
Related: How to Turn Customer Experience Transformation Into a Business Asset
