{"id":10689,"date":"2026-01-09T18:40:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=10689"},"modified":"2026-01-09T18:40:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:40:53","slug":"why-2026-is-the-year-customer-experience-has-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=10689","title":{"rendered":"Why 2026 is the year customer experience has to change"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The coming year had better be about improving customer experience because customers are not happy CX right now. They\u2019re experiencing more problems and having a harder time getting help. And they are not keeping quiet about it.<\/p>\n

There is a \u201cNational Customer Rage Survey<\/a>,\u201d and just the fact that it exists should tell you a lot. In the latest one, 77% of customers said they had a product or service issue in the past 12 months. That\u2019s the highest number the survey has recorded since it began \u2014 up from 74% in 2023 and way up from 66% in 2020. By comparison, in 1976, it was 32%.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just more problems \u2014 it\u2019s the experience of solving them that\u2019s breaking down. In the same survey, 68% of customers reported that the process of complaining required \u201chigh\u201d or \u201cvery high\u201d effort. Their top frustrations? Long recorded messages and figuring out how to contact someone in the first place.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Customer Experience and Communications Consumer Insights survey found that 71% of U.S. and Canadian consumers think most companies need to improve their customer experience \u2014 a record high. The survey, by Broadridge Financial Solutions, reported that average CX scores have dropped for the fourth consecutive year, reaching a low of 68.3 out of 100.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: Why today\u2019s buyer journey no longer fits the funnel<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And here\u2019s where it gets even more complicated: Companies think AI is helping, but customers don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

A 2025 Kinsta and Propeller Insights study<\/a> found that 93.4% of U.S. consumers prefer interacting with a human over AI for customer service, and nearly 50% would cancel a service if AI-only support was their only option. Add to that the 80.6% who believe AI is being used mainly to save companies money \u2014 not to improve their experience \u2014 and you have a growing trust gap between what brands are doing and how customers feel about it.<\/p>\n

Strangely enough, the solution may be more AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Source: Verizon\u2019s 2025 CX Annual Insights<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From fixing issues to getting ahead of them<\/h2>\n

Artificial intelligence is moving beyond support bots and chat scripts. It\u2019s now being used to anticipate friction, interpret signals and take action before<\/em> the customer even knows there\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2026, AI stops observing and starts operating,\u201d said Glenn Nethercutt, CTO at Genesys. \u201cThe next generation of AI will change state before friction emerges\u2026 the leaders will be the organizations whose intelligence anticipates reality faster than it arrives.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a massive shift \u2014 from reacting to what went wrong to shaping experiences so things go right the first time.<\/p>\n

Think about the number of customers who never complain at all \u2014 they just leave. Or the ones who try to solve a problem and hit a wall. A proactive approach doesn\u2019t just improve experience \u2014 it prevents churn.<\/p>\n

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Source: Verizon\u2019s 2025 CX Annual Insights<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Orchestrating CX in real time<\/h2>\n

What\u2019s making this shift possible isn\u2019t just better AI \u2014 it\u2019s smarter orchestration. AI agents are now coordinating the customer journey across marketing, service and operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery interaction will become part of a dynamic journey, shaped in real time by a catalog of specialized AI agents,\u201d said Olivier Jouve, chief product officer at Genesys.<\/p>\n

These agents don\u2019t just answer questions \u2014 they connect systems, route actions and adjust experiences based on live data. When working right, they make the entire experience feel smoother and more intuitive.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: Consumers want less digital, more real world from brands in 2026<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially important in a climate where customers are fed up with friction \u2014 and not being able to reach a human is their biggest frustration with automated systems.<\/p>\n

Customers expect things to connect<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: customers don\u2019t think in terms of workflows or architecture. They expect experiences to just work. If they talked to a chatbot yesterday, they don\u2019t want to repeat themselves today. If they\u2019re trying to check a loyalty reward or complete a return, they expect the brand to recognize them and keep context.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumers will expect every touchpoint \u2014 onboarding, payments, loyalty, tipping, rewards \u2014 to operate as one seamless journey,\u201d said Jenn Reichenbacher, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Genesys.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not happening often enough. According to Verizon\u2019s 2025 CX Annual Insights<\/a> report, 88% of consumers are satisfied with mostly human-led interactions, but only 60% say the same about AI-led interactions.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean customers don\u2019t see any value in AI. It means they don\u2019t trust AI to own the experience. They want the technology to assist \u2014 not replace \u2014 the human connection.<\/p>\n

Real-time data is the engine behind proactive CX<\/h2>\n

So, how do you move from reactive to proactive? It starts with real-time, contextual data. Knowing when a customer is stuck, what their intent is and how to take the next step immediately is what turns AI from an automation tool into an experience engine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2026\u2026 every interaction delivers clear, measurable value,\u201d said Rob Giglio, chief customer officer at Canva. \u201cData becomes embedded directly into workflows, prompting immediate actions, closing loops in real time and enabling predictive customer success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: AI is turning personalization into a two-way conversation<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And yet, a growing disconnect exists between what companies believe AI is delivering and how customers actually experience it. While 75% of marketers say AI is more critical to their strategy than ever, only 19% of consumers say they feel excited about it, according to the Kinsta and Propeller Insights study.<\/p>\n

The warning signs are clear: if brands don\u2019t fix the trust gap, the tech itself won\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

What this means for marketers and CX teams<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re working on CX today, you\u2019re not just fighting for attention \u2014 you\u2019re fighting for trust. Customers are no longer impressed by chatbot popups or AI assistants that sound vaguely human but can\u2019t solve their problems.<\/p>\n

They want transparency. They want empathy. And they want to feel like the experience is built for them \u2014 not for internal efficiency charts.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the smartest brands aren\u2019t using AI as a gatekeeper. They\u2019re using it as infrastructure: something that routes, summarizes and supports human agents so that customers get what they need faster \u2014 with less friction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you only look at your survey scores, you\u2019ll think the bots are doing fine,\u201d said Anirudh Agarwal, CEO of digital PR agency OutreachX. \u201cThe real damage is in the customers you never hear from \u2014 the ones who drop off mid-chat and quietly decide not to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bottom line<\/h2>\n

AI can absolutely improve CX \u2014 but only if it\u2019s built to support the customer, not wall them off. That means designing for continuity, context and clarity. It means letting customers reach a human when they need to. And it means using AI to anticipate needs, not just deflect tickets.<\/p>\n

In 2026, companies that get this right will earn more than those that focus on efficiency. They\u2019ll earn trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The post Why 2026 is the year customer experience has to change<\/a> appeared first on MarTech<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The coming year had better be about improving customer experience because customers are not happy CX right now. They\u2019re experiencing more problems and having a harder time getting help. And they are not keeping quiet about it. There is a \u201cNational Customer Rage Survey,\u201d and just the fact that it exists should tell you a … <\/p>\n

Read more “Why 2026 is the year customer experience has to change”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"medium":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"inspiro-featured-image":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_square":["https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-12-at-1.13.46-PM.png",0,0,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}