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Crescendo Honors Five Companies Defining AI-Powered CX at Inaugural Customer Awards
Grindr, Headspace, Lovepop, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and SQUIRE recognized across five categories celebrating CX innovation
SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crescendo, the only AI-Native customer experience solution built to run CX as one unified system, today announced the winners of the inaugural Crescendo Customer Awards 2026, to be presented live on stage at Crescendo Live: San Francisco. The awards celebrate five organizations whose CX teams are leading the charge in applying AI purposefully and delivering exceptional experiences for their customers.
Winners span five categories: customer obsession, practical AI application, forward-thinking CX vision, speed to value, and breakthrough results.
“We work side by side with our customers every single day, and so many of them are doing incredible things with AI in customer experience that it was hard to narrow it down to just five winners,” said Matt Price, co-founder and CEO of Crescendo. “The teams we're honoring aren't just adopting new technology, they're rethinking how they serve their customers from the ground up. These are trusted partners who push us to be better, and we're proud to celebrate their vision and their results.”
2026 Crescendo Customer Award Winners
Most Customer-Obsessed CX Team: Nothing Bundt Cakes. This award recognizes the CX team that best uses feedback and sentiment data to deepen customer understanding and improve experiences. The Nothing Bundt Cakes team is a great example of what customer obsession looks like in practice. With more than 800 bakery locations across the U.S. and Canada, the brand has built a CX culture centered around listening and translating customer feedback directly into action. By embedding customer feedback loops and sentiment analysis into day-to-day support operations, the team continuously refines the customer experience while maintaining the warmth and personal touch the brand is known for. Their approach extends beyond the corporate team and into franchise operations, creating a consistent, customer-first experience across the entire organization.
Best Practical Application of AI in CX: Lovepop. This award honors measurable use of AI to improve service, efficiency, or customer satisfaction. Lovepop, the premium greeting card and pop-up art brand, deployed Crescendo's AI assistants across voice, chat, and email ahead of the holiday season, its highest-volume period of the year. The results were transformative: the team achieved a 94% overall CSAT score, reduced email response times from 7 hours to 18 seconds, and handled double the volume with fewer people and no seasonal hiring. Beyond support, Lovepop also launched an AI-powered shopping assistant that converts 25% of chat interactions into orders, driving revenue and turning customer service into a growth channel.
Most Forward-Thinking CX Vision: Grindr. This award celebrates a CX team with a clear, actionable strategy grounded in customer value. Grindr, the world’s largest social networking app for the LGBTQ+ community, has demonstrated forward-thinking CX leadership by evolving its support approach to prioritize trust, safety, and scalability for its global user base. Grindr is investing in AI-powered chatbot capabilities to improve how routine user needs are handled, while ensuring more complex issues continue to be addressed through human support. As part of its broader CX strategy, Grindr continues to explore ways to improve support quality and responsiveness across its platform, while maintaining a strong focus on user trust and safety.
Fastest Time to Value: Headspace. This award celebrates teams that achieved the fastest path from deployment to measurable impact. Headspace, the leading provider of mental health and mindfulness solutions, partnered with Crescendo to rapidly deploy AI-powered customer support, going live on voice IVR in just 18 days. In a category where trust, empathy, and accuracy are paramount, the Headspace team moved at exceptional speed without compromising quality, demonstrating that AI can be deployed responsibly and at pace even in the most sensitive customer environments.
CX Breakthrough of the Year: SQUIRE. This award recognizes the biggest measurable improvement in a key CX metric, including resolution rate, CSAT, backlog reduction, or volume handled. SQUIRE, the leading all-in-one business management platform for barbershops, supporting over 30 million client appointments, with 30,000+ barbers each year, delivered standout CX results with Crescendo. In just six months, SQUIRE’s AI-powered CX transformation flawlessly handled nearly double the total support volume, rising from more than 9,000 to over 17,000 conversations, with zero increase in case backlogs. Despite this massive growth, Squire drove a 15% year-over-year increase in CSAT and slashed response times, answering over 79% of all inquiries across channels in under two minutes. By never missing a beat for their busy barbers and clients, SQUIRE is setting a new standard for best-in-class customer experience.
As AI continues to reshape customer experience, Crescendo is committed to spotlighting the teams doing the work and delivering the results that move the industry forward. To learn more about how Crescendo is powering customers’ CX transformations, visit https://www.crescendo.ai/case-studies.
About Crescendo
Crescendo is the only AI-Native customer experience solution built to run CX as one unified system. By combining autonomous AI with embedded CX expertise, performance continues to improve after launch. Founded in San Francisco in 2023, Crescendo powers 500+ AI deployments worldwide across retail, financial services, healthcare, technology, and consumer services. For more information, visit crescendo.ai.
Media Contacts:
Sylvie Tongco, Head of Communications, sylvie.tongco@crescendo.ai
LaunchSquad for Crescendo, crescendo@launchsquad.com
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