How a “root beer in a cola can” moment shaped CX philosophy | Eli Weiss (VP Advocacy, Yotpo)

In this episode of How to Love a Customer, Eli Weiss — longtime DTC operator and now a leader at Yotpo — shares how a single customer email at OLIPOP exposed a major production error: root beer accidentally canned as Vintage Cola. What could have been written off as a confusing complaint instead became a defining moment in how fast, empowered CX teams can protect a brand from disaster. Acting quickly prevented the wrong product from hitting shelves nationwide — and reinforced just how much customer insight matters long before dashboards detect a problem.

Eli unpacks how that moment shaped his philosophy on customer experience: meet expectations before you try to exceed them, move quickly when customers raise alarms, and build cultures where CX voices carry all the way to the founder. He contrasts meaningful listening with performative “surprise and delight,” explains why most brands try to build peaks before filling the valleys, and shares how expectation-setting — not gimmicks — is the real engine of LTV in DTC.

Drawing from his time at Olipop, Jones Road Beauty, and now Yotpo, Eli breaks down why some brands scale sustainably while others burn through cash, how DTC has evolved across three generations, and why CX is often the invisible differentiator behind profitable growth. He also offers candid takes on AI, why most metrics miss what customers actually feel, and how brands can avoid delighting the wrong people with the wrong gestures.

Tune in to learn why listening deeply, acting fast, and empowering CX teams isn’t just “good service” — it’s a competitive advantage. And why, in Eli’s words, sometimes the customer isn’t wrong… you just haven’t caught up yet.