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Customer Service Winners and Losers of 2023: What Business Leaders Can Learn From Uniqlo, MLB, Disney, and More

Customer service is often discussed as a frontline function. In practice, it is much bigger than that. It shows up in pricing, process design, speed, access, communication, and whether an organization makes it easy or frustrating to do business with them.

In this episode, the discussion centers on which organizations improved customer service in 2023 and which ones undermined it. Drawing examples from retail, sports, hospitality, and government, the conversation makes one point clear: the organizations that won made the experience faster, easier, and more aligned with what customers actually want. The organizations that lost added friction, ignored loyalty, or failed to act on obvious opportunities.

The main idea is simple but important for business leaders: customer service improves when organizations design for customer ease rather than internal convenience.

What This Episode Covers

This episode breaks down the best and worst customer service moves of the year across multiple industries. It looks beyond traditional support functions and examines how operational decisions shape the full customer experience.

• Why Uniqlo stood out for improving store experience through operational innovation
• How MLB’s on-field rule changes strengthened the fan experience
• What In-N-Out gets right when expanding into new markets
• Why Disney damaged loyalty by over-monetizing the guest relationship
• How MLB still missed major engagement opportunities despite improving its core product
• Why government bureaucracy is also a customer service issue
• The broader business lesson: winners remove friction, losers create it

Key Insights

1. The fastest way to improve customer service is to remove friction

The strongest pattern across the episode is that service winners simplify while service losers complicate. Friction can take many forms: long checkout times, confusing policies, hidden fees, slow processes, excessive restrictions, or unnecessary red tape.

Uniqlo is highlighted as a winner because it improved the overall in-store experience. The takeaway is not just that the company introduced better technology, but that it used it to make shopping faster and easier. That is what customers notice. When a business reduces waiting, confusion, or inconvenience, service quality rises immediately.

By contrast, organizations like Disney and the state of California are criticized for layering on complexity. In both cases, the issue is not only dissatisfaction but trust erosion. Customers begin to feel that the organization is optimizing for itself, not for them.

2. Technology matters most when it improves both convenience and operations

Technology does not create customer value simply because it is new. It creates value when it improves the customer experience and strengthens the operational engine behind it.

Uniqlo’s use of technology is a strong example. The benefit is not limited to customer convenience at checkout. Better systems can also improve inventory visibility, transaction speed, and accuracy across the operation. That combination creates leverage: customers get a smoother experience, while the business runs more efficiently.

This is a critical point for leaders making technology investments. The best returns come from tools that reduce friction on the front end and improve execution on the back end. Customer service and operations should not be treated as separate functions. In strong businesses, they reinforce each other.

3. Listening to customer complaints can unlock growth

One of the clearest examples in the episode is MLB’s response to fan frustration around the pace of games and lack of in-game action. As noted in the conversation, “Fans started complaining that there wasn’t enough in-game action.” MLB responded with meaningful rule changes rather than minor cosmetic adjustments.

The result was a better fan experience and stronger business performance. “The numbers are fantastic” captures the outcome. This is an important lesson for any established organization: customer complaints are often a roadmap to growth if leadership is willing to act decisively.

Too many businesses dismiss recurring complaints as noise, especially when they are rooted in long-standing traditions or internal assumptions. The smarter move is to identify repeated customer pain points and ask whether solving them could improve engagement, retention, and revenue.

4. Loyalty breaks when companies treat core customers like revenue targets

Disney is presented as a clear loser because it alienated some of its most loyal supporters. As the episode puts it, “They really alienated some of their biggest supporters and fans.” This is a warning sign for any business with a strong brand and a passionate customer base.

Loyalty is fragile when companies begin extracting more value without protecting the benefits customers already count on. New fees, reduced perks, more restrictions, and pay-to-access mechanics may improve short-term yield, but they can weaken the long-term relationship.

This is especially dangerous because loyal customers are not just repeat buyers. They are advocates, promoters, and a source of organic growth. Once they feel taken for granted, the damage extends beyond churn. It affects reputation and word-of-mouth as well.

5. Expansion requires culture transfer, not just process replication

In-N-Out is highlighted as a winner not simply because it grows, but because it expands in a way that protects consistency. The episode emphasizes the importance of sending experienced employees into new locations so that “The new employees will embrace the culture.”

This is a major lesson for scaling businesses. Standard operating procedures are necessary, but they are not enough. Service quality often depends on informal habits, expectations, standards, and behaviors that top performers model every day.

When companies expand without transferring culture, quality tends to drift. The process may be documented, but the customer experience becomes inconsistent. Leaders who want to scale successfully need to treat culture as an operating asset and move it intentionally into new markets.

6. Customer experience is a year-round engagement strategy

MLB improved its core product during games, but the episode also points out a missed opportunity in the offseason. The critique is straightforward: audience engagement cannot stop when the primary event ends.

For any organization with a seasonal, event-based, or cyclical business model, this matters. Customer service is not limited to the transaction itself. It includes how the brand stays relevant, accessible, and valuable between major moments.

This applies well beyond sports. Retailers, hospitality brands, subscription businesses, and media companies all need a plan for maintaining attention and engagement across the full customer lifecycle. If the audience already cares, the job is to keep serving that interest rather than going silent.

7. Missed attention is missed revenue

One of the sharpest business observations in the episode is that some engagement opportunities are obvious, low-cost, and highly valuable. Referring to underused content and marketing moments, the episode notes, “It’s sort of easy and cheap content.”

This reflects a broader truth: if customers are already paying attention to a moment, organizations should package, promote, and extend it. Failing to do that leaves revenue and engagement on the table.

Many companies spend heavily to acquire attention while neglecting the moments they already own. Strong operators do the opposite. They maximize existing interest, build content and communication around it, and turn audience attention into deeper loyalty and monetization.

8. Bureaucracy is a customer service failure

One of the most important ideas in the episode is that customer service principles apply outside traditional business settings. The criticism of California makes that explicit: “They’re not listening to their residents, right? And their residents are their customer.”

Complexity, bureaucracy, and red tape are not just administrative issues. They are customer experience failures. Whenever people have to work harder than necessary to access services, complete processes, or get answers, trust declines.

This is relevant to both public and private sector leaders. A confusing application process, a slow onboarding flow, excessive approvals, and fragmented communication all create the same effect: the organization shifts effort onto the customer. That is poor service, regardless of industry.

Framework

Friction Reduction as Service Strategy

• Identify where the customer journey is slow, confusing, or inconvenient
• Remove unnecessary steps, delays, or manual processes
• Use technology to accelerate transactions and improve accuracy
• Extend those efficiencies into inventory, supply chain, and operations

Customer Feedback to Revenue Loop

• Listen to repeated customer complaints
• Make structural changes to improve the experience
• Measure impact through time savings, engagement, and revenue lift
• Continue refining based on results and customer response

Culture Transfer Expansion Model

• Deploy top-performing employees into new locations
• Give them clear incentives and a fixed onboarding window
• Use them to teach both formal playbooks and informal service habits
• Build local team independence while preserving brand consistency

Loyalty Preservation Principle

• Protect core customer benefits before introducing new fees or restrictions
• Avoid eroding value for your highest-frequency users
• Recognize that loyal customers are brand advocates and growth drivers
• Reverse policies quickly when trust begins to erode

Key Takeaways

• Customer service is the total design of the experience, not just frontline support
• The fastest gains come from removing friction from the customer journey
• Technology creates more value when it improves both convenience and operations
• Customer complaints often point directly to revenue opportunities
• Loyal customers should be protected, not over-monetized
• Scaling successfully requires culture transfer, not only process documentation
• Audience engagement should continue beyond the core transaction or event
• Bureaucracy and complexity are service failures that damage trust
• Organizations grow when they design for customer ease rather than internal convenience

Who This Is For

This episode is especially relevant for:

• CEOs and founders looking to improve customer experience at a strategic level
• Operations leaders responsible for process design and efficiency
• Customer experience and service executives focused on loyalty and retention
• Retail, hospitality, and consumer brand leaders managing scale and consistency
• Sports, media, and entertainment executives building year-round engagement
• Public sector and service-oriented leaders working to reduce bureaucracy and improve access

Watch the Full Episode

Watch the full episode to hear the full breakdown of 2023’s customer service winners and losers, including the lessons business leaders can apply to improve loyalty, reduce friction, and drive growth through better experience design.

FAQ

What is the main customer service lesson from this episode?

The main lesson is that customer service improves when organizations remove friction. Businesses that make experiences faster, easier, and clearer tend to strengthen loyalty and growth. Businesses that add complexity, fees, or unnecessary barriers tend to damage trust.

Why are companies like Uniqlo and In-N-Out considered winners?

They are considered winners because they improved the customer experience in practical ways. Uniqlo used technology to make the in-store experience smoother, while In-N-Out protected consistency during expansion by transferring culture through experienced employees.

Why are Disney and California discussed as customer service losers?

They are presented as examples of what happens when organizations create friction and fail to listen. Disney weakened loyalty by alienating core customers through over-monetization, while California was criticized for making it too hard for residents to navigate services and processes.