#800: Five9 VP of CX Jenn Edwards on building great customer experience when behavior shifts

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

The Agile Brand

Marketing, Business

4.9 • 113 Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When 62% of your customers are making decisions based on deals and discounts, is investing in premium customer experience a luxury you can still afford, or is it the only thing that can actually save you? Agility requires brands to move beyond seasonal planning and into a state of continuous listening. It’s about having the insight and infrastructure to pivot your customer experience strategy in real-time based on economic signals and shifting consumer priorities. Today, we're going to talk about decoding the often-conflicting signals consumers sent during the last holiday season. Five9 posted some of their findings in a report that we’ll link out to in the show notes. We'll explore how deep-seated economic pressures are reshaping shopping habits, and how AI is moving from a back-office tool to a front-line differentiator that can deliver both the savings customers crave and the experiences that build loyalty. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Jenn Edwards, VP of Customer Experience at Five9. About Jenn Edwards Jenn Edwards is an accomplished professional in customer experience and marketing, currently serving as the VP of Customer Experience at Five9. With a robust background that includes roles such as Marketing and Customer Experience Advisor at JME Consulting and Co-Founder of Community Art Collaborative, Jennifer has demonstrated strong leadership and innovative thinking. Previously, Jennifer held the position of Americas Field Marketing Leader at Cisco and served as VP Global Demand at WalkMe™. Educationally, Jennifer holds a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management from UCL and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing/International Business from Manhattan College. Jenn Edwards on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermaciveredwards/ Resources Five9: https://www.five9.com/ The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://www.thecrmc.com/ Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://ratethispodcast.com/agileConnect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Agile Brand
0:02.3	Welcome to Season 8 of the Agile Brand podcast.
0:10.1	This season we're going all in on expert mode
0:12.7	MARTEC, AI, and customer experience, talking with the people and
0:16.8	platforms behind the brands you know and love.
0:19.4	I'm Greg Kilstrom, your host, and I help Fortune 1000 companies make sense of
0:23.8	Martec, AI, and marketing ops.
0:26.6	Hit subscribe or follow to make sure you always get the latest episodes and leave us a rating
0:30.8	so others can find us as well.
0:32.8	And make sure you check out our sponsor, Tech Systems, an industry leader in full-stack
0:36.8	technology services, talent services, and real leader in full-stack technology services,
0:38.3	talent services, and real-world application. For more information, go to teK-systems.com. Now let's dive in.
0:49.3	When 62% of your customers are making decisions based on deals and discounts,
0:54.0	is investing in premium customer experience a luxury you can still afford?
0:58.0	Or is it the only thing that can actually save you?
1:01.0	Agility requires brands to move beyond seasonal planning and into a state of continuous listening.
1:07.0	It's about having the insight and infrastructure to pivot your customer experience strategy in real time based on economic signals and shifting consumer priorities.
1:15.6	Today we're going to talk about decoding the often conflicting signals that consumers sent during the last holiday season.
1:22.6	Five Nine posted some of their findings in a report that we'll link out to in the show notes.
1:26.6	We're going to explore how deep-seated economic pressures are reshaping shopping habits,
1:32.3	and how AI is moving from a back office tool to a frontline differentiator that can deliver both the savings that customers crave and the experiences that build loyalty.
1:42.3	Tell me to discuss this topic. I'd like to welcome Jen Edwards, VP of Customer Experience at 5-9. Jen, welcome to the show. Hey, Greg, thanks for having me. It's great to be here. I'm looking forward to our discussion today. Yeah, looking forward to it, definitely. And before we dive in, though, why don't you give a little background on yourself
	...

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