The Companies That Win in a Crisis Are the Ones That Were Already Focused on CX
Global events have a way of sneaking up on organizations. It could be a policy change, a supply chain disruption, or a war. An economic shift that seems far away until it hits your customers’ wallets. How global events influence customer experience is not always obvious at first, but the effects tend to arrive faster than most companies are prepared for.
I’ve been writing and speaking about customer experience during times of crisis for years, including a dedicated chapter in the second edition of my book, Becoming The Experience Maker. And every time a new crisis emerges – whether it’s a pandemic, a government shutdown, or global economic uncertainty – the same patterns show up. The companies that thrive are rarely the ones with the fanciest technology or the biggest budgets. They’re the ones that were already focused on creating remarkable experiences for their customers.
The ones that weren’t? They scramble. And their customers notice.
When the World Gets Shaky, Customer Expectations Shift
When uncertainty rises, customers don’t suddenly become unreasonable. They actually become remarkably clear about what they want: they want things to work. Orders to arrive on time. Services to run smoothly. Support that’s easy to reach and staffed by people who can actually help.
In calmer times, companies compete on features, promotions, and pricing. During a crisis, the competition shifts to reliability. And reliability, frankly, is boring. But boring – in the best possible way – wins.
As McKinsey noted during the pandemic, a customer’s interaction with a company during a crisis can have an immediate and lasting effect on their sense of trust and loyalty. That’s not just a research finding. It’s a warning. Because the flip side is also true: companies that fumble during a crisis often lose customers permanently.
Communication Is the Experience
Here’s where most companies get it wrong. They treat communication as a separate line item from the customer experience, something the marketing or PR team handles. But during a crisis, communication IS the experience. It’s often the only touchpoint a customer has with your brand.
We saw this play out vividly during the US flight reductions in late 2025, when the FAA directed airlines to cut 10% of flights in 40 markets due to air traffic controller staffing shortages. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby sent a direct, transparent, empathetic email to customers that set clear expectations and offered full refunds – even on non-refundable tickets. Other airlines sent corporate boilerplate that read like a legal disclaimer. Same crisis. Vastly different experiences. (I wrote a full analysis of how the airlines responded.)
The lesson is consistent across every crisis I’ve studied: customers don’t expect perfection. Delays happen. Systems break. Shipping gets weird. What customers can’t tolerate is silence. A quick heads-up, a clear update, or a simple explanation goes a long way toward keeping frustration in check. But that communication has to be written from the customer’s perspective – focused on how it affects THEM, not on all the things “we” are doing internally.
Simplicity Becomes a Competitive Advantage
If a process is confusing during normal times, it’s twice as confusing when people already have a lot on their minds. During a crisis, clear policies, simple steps, and easy-to-find answers feel like small acts of heroism.
This is one of the core principles behind my WISER methodology. The “R” in WISER stands for Responsive – and responsive doesn’t just mean fast. It means making it easy for customers to get what they need without jumping through hoops. That includes helpful self-service options, responsive chat, real-time updates, and proactive outreach before a customer even has to ask.
These interactions also create opportunities for companies to listen to customer feedback, which often reveals small friction points before they turn into bigger problems. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from helping companies collect and act on customer feedback, it’s this: most companies are pretty good at collecting it and analyzing it. Where they fail is taking action on it. In a crisis, that failure gets amplified.
How Global Events Influence Customer Experience Long After the Crisis Ends
Maybe the most important thing to understand about how global events influence customer experience is that the impact doesn’t end when the crisis does. Customers remember how you treated them when things were hard. They remember whether you checked in with them personally or sent a recycled email. They remember whether you made it easy to get a refund or buried them in fine print.
I wrote about this during the early days of COVID-19, and the principle hasn’t changed: the middle of a crisis is the single most important time for companies to connect with customers and cement long-term relationships. (For more on that, check out Why Customer Experience Is Critical in a Time of Crisis and Stay Connected with Customers During a Crisis.)
And don’t forget your employees. Happy employees equal happy customers – and the inverse is painfully true. You can’t expect your team to create remarkable experiences for customers if they haven’t had a remarkable experience themselves. Take care of your people first, and they’ll take care of your customers.
The Bottom Line About Global Events and Customer Experience
Companies can’t control global events. (If they could, CX teams would probably have already fixed most of them.) But they can control how easy they are to work with, how clearly they communicate, and how they treat people when the stakes are high.
The best time to prepare for a crisis is before one happens. The second-best time is right now.
Because when the world feels unpredictable, the way global events influence customer experience comes down to something surprisingly simple: reliability, clarity, and good old-fashioned humanity.
That’s what defines a remarkable experience – in a crisis and beyond.
About the Author: Dan Gingiss, CSP, is a top customer experience keynote speaker and strategist who works with corporations, associations, and franchises to create remarkable customer experiences that drive word-of-mouth. His engaging keynotes, hands-on workshops, and proven WISER™ methodology help organizations drive customer loyalty and business growth. Contact him directly to inquire about bringing him to your organization or your next event.
