18 Customer experience predictions for 2026

By Adrian Swinscoe  
Text below includes excerpts from an article originally published by Adrian Swinscoe  For the full story, click here.  

This is the seventh year that I’ve compiled a set of customer experience-related predictions  for the coming year. 

This year, the number of predictions submitted and the number of people submitting predictions for consideration increased by 96% and 80% respectively, resulting in me receiving 777 different predictions from 374 leaders in the service and experience space. 

Following my process, I’ve selected 61 predictions and have arranged them around 18 different themes. 

So, without further ado, here goes with 2026’s predictions: 

Max Schwendner, Co-CEO at Alorica, predicts that trust and governance will become key differentiators for leading brands: 

“In 2026, trust will overtake technology as the true differentiator in CX. As AI drives more customer interactions, transparency around how it makes decisions will become non-negotiable. Customers will expect clarity—how data is used, how accurate it is, when humans intervene, and how bias is prevented. The most successful brands will treat AI governance as a competitive advantage, building loyalty through openness, accountability, and explainable automation. In the age of intelligent systems, trust is the new experience metric.”