CX Book Gems #50: "Taylormaking" by Ken Hughes
Book summary of "Taylormaking: A New Era of Modern Branding and Customer Connection" by Ken Hughes.
Today’s newsletter feature is Taylormaking by Ken Hughes.
📘 Book Summary
In Taylormaking, Ken Hughes argues that the future of branding is radically personal. In a world saturated with digital noise, brands must shift from mass-market messaging to individualized, emotionally resonant experiences. Using “Taylormaking” as a metaphor for crafting bespoke emotional connections, Hughes explores how technology, psychology, and brand intent can come together to create meaningful, measurable moments of value. It’s a manifesto for CX and marketing professionals ready to stop selling products and start building customer connections.
If we’re serious about building Customer Lifetime Value - emotionally, not just economically - then we must push beyond experience and toward intimacy.
💎 3 CX Gems
Connection is the currency of the modern brand
In a sea of sameness, customers crave authentic connection. Brands that design experiences around human intimacy, the emotional bond that builds when a customer feels known, valued, and safe with your brand, will earn trust and loyalty.“Customer intimacy” is the new loyalty driver
CX isn’t just about speed and convenience; it’s about the emotional bond that forms when customers feel known, valued, and safe with your brand. That sense of trust and understanding becomes the foundation for long-term loyalty and deeper brand relationships.Human insight > AI insight
While AI can support speed and scale, it’s the human ability to read context, express empathy, and create story-rich moments that earns loyalty.
💭 Mind Map
✅ 3 Quickstart Tips
Map emotion along the journey
Go beyond journey maps and plot emotional highs and lows. Ask: “Do our customers feel seen, heard, and valued, or merely served? Are we delivering true emotional connection, or just efficient transactions?”Adopt a Taylormaking mindset
For every campaign, ask: “How can we generate authentic and deep customer connections?” Then design backward from that ideal.Infuse story, not slogans
Replace brand taglines with micro-stories that connect personally and create emotional stickiness. Attention follows authenticity.
Connection is the most powerful force in business.
Taylormaking is a call to arms for brands seeking relevance in a distracted world. Ken Hughes shows that customer connection is not a tactic, it’s a mindset. With deep insight and creative energy, he empowers CX leaders to move from generic to genuine, from marketing to meaning, and from transactions to transformations. A must-read for those ready to transform customer experience into customer intimacy.