Bringing Retail Heart to Digital CX with Lisa Yarrow of Everlane

Here’s something I’ll never stop saying: the best CX leaders almost always start in retail. Because nothing teaches empathy, problem-solving, and pattern recognition like being face-to-face with customers all day long.

This week on Above the Fold, I sat down with Lisa Yarrow, Senior Manager Of Customer Experience at Everlane, to talk about what it really means to bring retail-level connections into a digital world. Lisa’s story is part curiosity, part data, and all heart. It’s a reminder that great CX isn’t about dashboards or tickets. It’s about people.

From the Floor to the Inbox

Lisa didn’t start in tech. She started in stores: visual merchandising, leadership, all of it. When the pandemic hit, she shifted from in-person service to digital experience and realized the two worlds weren’t so different. Both are about understanding why people feel the way they do.

Now she leads Everlane’s CX team with that same mindset, asking deeper questions, building smarter feedback loops, and telling better stories with data. Because data is only powerful if it makes people care enough to act on it.

The Storytelling Side of CX

One of my favorite parts of our chat was how Lisa described data storytelling. She talked about turning something that sounds dry, like sentiment analysis, into something people actually want to fix. That’s the real work. Making people feel the customer’s pain (and joy), not just see it in a spreadsheet.

And honestly, it’s an art form. Getting execs to care about CSAT isn’t easy. Lisa’s trick is to connect insight to emotion. When someone reads a real customer quote or watches a video of someone struggling on your site, it changes the game.

Retail Lessons that Still Apply

We also geeked out over how similar retail and e-commerce really are. A store layout and a website funnel are basically the same thing. In-store, it’s the jeans table and the impulse-buy minis by the register. Online, it’s your checkout upsells and product bundles. Both are designed experiences meant to guide and delight.

That’s the big takeaway: retail instincts still win online. Empathy, flow, and storytelling all translate.

Brand Voice, Loyalty, and Knowing your Lane

Everlane’s tone is intentional, grounded, thoughtful, and transparent. It’s not trying to be the loudest brand in the room, just the most trustworthy. Lisa talked about how that intentionality shapes everything from CX scripts to survey questions. It’s not about being funny; it’s about being human.

We wrapped the convo talking about loyalty and how the brands that build community, not just points programs, are the ones that stick. When your team listens deeply and your brand acts on what it hears, that’s when loyalty really happens.

Digital Strategy and Consumer Behavior

We also talked about consumer trends, especially around AI. While executives are quick to get excited about AI’s efficiency, consumers are skeptical of content that feels inauthentic. Minou’s take is that AI can be a useful tool, but it cannot replace human empathy and creativity. She sees a gap between corporate enthusiasm and consumer trust that brands will need to navigate carefully.

The TLDR

Lisa Yarrow is proof that CX magic happens when you mix retail instincts with digital strategy. If you’re building a CX team (or leading one), remember that empathy is your best data source. And sometimes, the best way to improve your customer journey is to step back and actually walk it.