Today on Behind the Mic 🎤, we welcome Agata Bas, Marketing & CX Advisor and Former Director of Creative Commerce at Dentsu

Agata Bas is an accomplished Entrepreneur & Brand Advisor, and former Director at Dentsu & Mindvalley. She is a customer growth expert with over 9 years of experience in digital marketing and customer retention. She has led innovative strategies at Dentsu in Malaysia, Zalora, and Mindvalley. Now advising entrepreneurs on digital marketing strategy, Agata holds Master’s Degrees in Business Management and Psychology. Originally from Poland, she has called Malaysia home for over 9 years.

With her vast experience and insights in the world of branding and entrepreneurship, Agata is set to deliver an engaging session that you won’t want to miss. She will share her expertise on leveraging conversational AI to build powerful brands and create exceptional customer experiences.

We had the pleasure of engaging with Agata to learn from her experiences and gain valuable insights into her career journey and industry perspectives. Here are her thoughtful responses:

Q1. What motivated you to pursue a career in customer experience, and what key steps did you take to enter this field?

I’ve always felt customer experience was underestimated and not given the priority it deserves. When I heard CX being confused with just customer service (CS), I realized there was a lot of education and awareness to be done. I worked at a company that excelled in customer acquisition but struggled with retention. I became intrigued by what made people come to the company but leave shortly after. After a lot of digging, analyzing data, forming hypotheses, and conducting customer interviews, I wanted to lead change. I often spoke to the CEO about the opportunity to focus on customer experience and connect the dots across departments to ensure we understood what customers wanted at every stage of their journey and delivered it. Eventually, I was given my first CX role to lead this project, and I’ve been a CX aficionado ever since.

Q2. How have you leveraged emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, and blockchain to enhance customer experience in your organization?

When I worked in CX, AI and machine learning were just emerging, so much of the analysis and correlation had to be done manually. AI solutions back then were still far from perfect, but I worked with recommendation engines powered by AI and customer support chatbots, which were enormously helpful. They provided value to customers and quickly improved campaign performance and optimized operational time for the customer service team.

Q3. What are some of the most significant challenges you've faced in improving customer experience from a product management perspective, and how did you overcome them?

I’ve consistently encountered two major challenges while working with companies: 1. Silos within the organization – CX is not an isolated project or initiative but a collaborative effort that requires orchestration across departments. It involves marketing, product, tech, customer service, and even finance teams to improve the end-to-end customer experience. Breaking down these silos is critical for success. 2. Top-down approach – CX efforts need to start with the management team. They need to understand the importance of CX and treat it as a priority, not an afterthought. When the right mindset and direction are cascaded from the top, everyone is on board and knows how to adjust their KPIs and priorities accordingly.

Q4. What role does customer feedback play in your product development process, and how do you gather and incorporate it effectively?

We build products and services for customers, so not collecting their feedback regularly is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make. While most companies collect feedback, many don’t analyze it properly or act on the suggested improvements. I’m a strong advocate for having a dedicated team that constantly analyzes customer sentiment, categorizes feedback, and derives actionable insights. Nowadays, real-time feedback tools allow us to tweak offers, copy, customer journeys, and even branding on the fly.

Q5. What strategies have you found most effective in delivering exceptional customer experiences through your products and services?

Always take a step back and look at the whole customer journey before zooming in on specific episodes. I’ve seen many teams go too granular too quickly, losing sight of the bigger picture or the root cause of customer issues. Be clear on your brand promise and the problem you’re solving, then ensure every touchpoint is an opportunity to address it as smoothly as possible. Simplify and minimize. When you’re inside the organization, it’s easy to assume customers know as much as you do or hope they’ll figure things out. In reality, customers have less and less patience and attention. Your goal is to remove any friction, confusion, or hesitation. I also always challenge myself and my teams to think how can we exceed the expectations in a memorable and meaningful to customer way. Great CX isn’t just about meeting customer goals seamlessly, it’s about adding value, building relationship and recognizing the loyalty.

Q6. Can you describe a specific instance where data analytics helped you identify customer pain points and drive product enhancements?

At one organization, we faced an issue with low engagement rates. Customers would buy access to all digital products but only use one before becoming inactive. After deriving multiple hypotheses and analyzing the data, we realized customers didn’t know what the next best step was. By mapping out the favorite paths of engaged customers and recommending those to others, we significantly improved engagement. Today, AI could probably do this much faster and more accurately.

Q7. Which methodologies or frameworks do you use to prioritize feature development and ensure alignment with customer needs and business goals?

It always comes down to the brand promise, customer goals and revenue potential. I look closely at customer feedback—its quantity and quality—and dig deeper into issues. With relevant teams, we list feature ideas and improvements, and after analysis, dividing them into must-haves and nice-to-haves. We then create sub-buckets of high-impact features, necessary fixes, and experimental ideas. Depending on scope and capacity, we plan development on a quarterly or monthly basis.

Q8. How do you collaborate with cross-functional teams, such as engineering, design, and marketing, to ensure seamless customer experiences?

Frequent and efficient scrums, communication channels, and update processes are key to delivering seamless customer experiences. All teams align on strategy and direction, regularly sync for updates, and conduct pulse checks and adjustments.

Q9. How do you balance the need for innovation with the necessity of maintaining user-friendliness in your products?

Everything we develop must be user-friendly and serve a purpose for the customer. We don’t build products for internal teams or PR. Innovation should always have a clear customer benefit. Sometimes we take moonshots, but even then, we align with customers and release new features in batches for specific segments before rolling them out to all users.

Q10. How do you stay updated with the latest trends and developments in customer experience and product management?

Listening to customers, using your own product or service, keeping an eye on the competition, industry trends and tech updates are the best ways to ensure you don’t get too comfortable and continue growing alongside your customers and their evolving needs

Conclusion

Agata Bas’s journey in customer experience and product management highlights her deep passion for understanding and meeting customer needs while driving innovation. Her insights reflect a thoughtful approach to breaking down organizational silos, leveraging emerging technologies, and prioritizing customer-centric strategies. Agata’s ability to balance data-driven decisions with empathy and a strong brand promise underscores her expertise in delivering exceptional customer experiences. Her advice to simplify processes, listen actively to feedback, and align cross-functional teams resonates as a blueprint for creating impactful and sustainable customer journeys. Agata’s blend of strategic foresight and hands-on experience is a testament to her leadership in shaping the future of customer experience and branding.