{"id":622003,"date":"2026-04-02T08:21:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/resources\/top-cx-trends-in-2026"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:19:10","slug":"top-cx-trends-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/resources\/top-cx-trends-in-2026","title":{"rendered":"Top CX trends in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Five trends shaping customer experience in 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Customer experience (CX) is undergoing a fundamental transformation \u2013 from reactive service to proactive orchestration; from individual channels to end-to-end journeys; and from efficiency metrics to real value for customers \u2013 all powered by artificial intelligence (AI). <\/span><\/p>\n

Join our experts to explore the trends that are shaping CX in 2026: Winning with strategic experience orchestration; transforming how CX is built and delivered with agentic AI; enabling transparency by design; empowering the hybrid AI and human workforce; and evolving enterprise metrics from snapshots to systems. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hear from industry experts about what these trends mean for your business. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Watch the webinar<\/a><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″ offset=”vc_hidden-md vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_single_image image=”596408″ alignment=”center” css=”” si_max_width=”150″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/4″ offset=”vc_hidden-md vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_single_image image=”589800″ alignment=”center” css=”” si_max_width=”150″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/4″ offset=”vc_hidden-md vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_single_image image=”585793″ alignment=”center” css=”” si_max_width=”150″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/4″ offset=”vc_hidden-md vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_single_image image=”458435″ alignment=”center” css=”” si_max_width=”150″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Elevate your CX in 2026<\/h2>\n

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1. <\/strong>Experiences become the strategic differentiator. <\/b><\/strong><\/h5>\n

We\u2019re no longer in a service economy where organisations can largely focus on operational efficiency. In today\u2019s experience economy, customer expectations are higher than ever before. In fact, 30% of consumers say they\u2019ll abandon a brand after just one poor experience. Organisations need to do more than be empathetic. They must learn how to compete and succeed in an economy where experience drives trust, loyalty, and growth.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t about managing AI point solutions and channels; it\u2019s about designing and managing experiences just like you would a product. Successful organisations consider what kind of experience they\u2019d like to provide \u2013 effective, efficient, and personalised from the customer\u2019s point of view \u2013 and then deploy the right technologies to provide that end-to-end experience. And they use an AI strategy that encompasses their data, company knowledge, and systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we see happening is that as the industry matures and as AI matures, delivering an end-to-end experience on top of a hodge-podge of different technologies is just extremely difficult,\u201d said Peter Graf, Senior VP of Strategy at Genesys. \u201cAnd so we see leaders go and standardise across a couple of strategic platforms in their organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peter Graf<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senior VP of Strategy, Genesys<\/p>\n<\/div>

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2. Humans and agentic AI, working together. <\/b><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Agentic technologies are redefining what AI-powered systems can accomplish in CX: Understanding context, moving autonomously, and acting towards goals. Agentic AI is truly different from previous technologies, with an ability to take action and drive towards business goals. It\u2019s also an opportunity for organisations to reassess their overall AI strategies and ensure they\u2019ve got a clear view on how to measure the value and ROI of AI in CX.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve come to the point in this AI maturation process that there is not a one-size-fits-all model,\u201d said Alex Ball, Senior VP of Genesys Cloud. \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be one enterprise LLM or model that solves everything, so you need to have systems that work together and that interact with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball added that organisations need to think about the building blocks of agentic AI in terms of interoperability. \u201cThe APIs of today will become the MCP servers and A2A protocols of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of your industry, you should be asking: \u201cHow do I make this an orchestrated experience where things happen in a purposeful sequential manner?\u201d When it comes to human-AI collaboration, it\u2019s critical to consider the handoffs. Virtual agents can now handle routine tasks; humans must handle more difficult tasks and need to be empowered with effective copilots and support tools.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alex Ball <\/strong><\/p>\n

Senior VP of Genesys Cloud<\/p>\n<\/div>

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3. AI transparency should be a design principle.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Consumers rank trust in how AI uses their personal data as the most important factor in interacting with AI systems, according to a Genesys survey. CX leaders need to ensure systems are built and deployed with responsible AI practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way to differentiate yourself from the pack is having AI that is explainable; having AI that your customers and clients can trust; and thinking through all of those variables that can make it be real<\/strong> [bias] or perceived as bias,\u201d said Ben Leonard, Customer Service Strategy Consultant at Deloitte.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important for your frontline employees to trust the AI they use to interact with customers. So you should keep humans in the loop throughout the process of designing, building, and deploying your AI tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the key things here is understanding how the tools came to that conclusion and how confident they are in that,\u201d said Leonard. \u201cI think customers really appreciate when they\u2019re interacting with an AI tool if they understand the logic behind why it\u2019s making a recommendation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben Leonard<\/strong><\/p>\n

Customer Service Strategy Consultant, Deloitte<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"2026<\/div>

Contact centre buyer\u2019s guide<\/p>\n<\/div>

Get the guide<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top”][vc_column width=”1\/2″]
4. Hybrid human\/AI workforces can deliver empathy at scale.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The question isn\u2019t whether to adopt AI, it\u2019s how to create a hybrid workforce that improves agent capacity and satisfaction, whilst continually making AI-powered capabilities smarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a customer perspective, we\u2019re very intentional about making it clear what our virtual agents will be able to do during the lifecycle of the interaction \u2013 and this is consistent regardless of the channel,\u201d said Adam Mitchell, Head of Enterprise Business Solutions at Voya Financial, adding that Voya keeps a human in the loop throughout the customer journey.<\/p>\n

Voya also empowers its employees with an AI hub for learning, exploring, and applying AI responsibly across the business. Frontline employees are helping Voya understand what\u2019s working well at the organisation, along with potential friction points for customers and employees alike. In turn, Voya is using these friction points as use cases for AI and automation. AI now handles simple tasks like password resets whilst humans are handling more emotional interactions like beneficiary claims.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam Mitchell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Head of Enterprise Business Solutions, Voya Financial<\/p>\n<\/div>

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5. Metrics are evolving beyond contact centre measures. <\/strong><\/h5>\n

Traditional contact centre metrics were based on human time constraints. They were about time, not quality; about transactions, not an overall journey. And they looked backward, not forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an AI world, we really have to look at quality,\u201d said Rebecca Wettemann, CEO and Principal Analyst at Valoir. \u201cWe have to look at the quality of the AI outputs, thinking about things like success rate and \u2013 if an AI agent isn\u2019t successful \u2013 effective escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, organisations need to evaluate the quality of the overall journey, not just the outcome of a siloed interaction. Capabilities like real-time sentiment analytics and journey tracking are enabling businesses to course correct live experiences, not just evaluate them afterwards. But this requires a fundamental shift from reactive measurement to proactive intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just about improving customer service,\u201d said Wettemann. \u201cThis is about improving products. This is about having greater insights and understanding to be able to deliver new products to market based on what customers are really telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rebecca Wettemann<\/strong><\/p>\n

CEO and Principal Analyst, Valoir<\/p>\n<\/div>

Discover more<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section background_color=”bgc-lgray” m_background_color=”bgc-lgray” flair=”%5B%7B%22flair_type%22%3A%22f_type_image%22%2C%22hide_mobile%22%3A%22yes%22%7D%5D” css=”.vc_custom_1736543576490{padding-top: 6rem !important;padding-bottom: 6rem !important;}”][vc_row][vc_column width=”5\/6″ offset=”vc_col-sm-offset-1″][vc_column_text css=””] Five trends shaping customer experience in 2026 Customer experience (CX) is undergoing a fundamental transformation \u2013 from reactive service to proactive orchestration; from individual channels to end-to-end journeys; and from efficiency metrics to real value for customers \u2013 all powered by artificial intelligence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":890,"featured_media":571361,"template":"","tax_priority":[],"tax_contenttheme":[14850],"tax_bundle":[],"tax_contenttheme2":[16186],"tax_capability_sitewide":[],"tax_products_programs":[],"tax_buying_job":[16642],"tax_buyer_persona":[],"tax_sector":[],"tax_segment":[],"class_list":["post-622003","resources","type-resources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_contenttheme-improve-customer-experience-en-gb","tax_contenttheme2-level-up-your-technology-en-gb","tax_buying_job-job-1-problem-identification-en-gb","tax_content_type-interactive-en-gb"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/622003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resources"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/890"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/622003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622008,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/622003\/revisions\/622008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_priority","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_priority?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_bundle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_bundle?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme2?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_capability_sitewide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_capability_sitewide?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_products_programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_products_programs?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buying_job","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buying_job?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buyer_persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buyer_persona?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_sector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_sector?post=622003"},{"taxonomy":"tax_segment","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_segment?post=622003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}