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This spring my new book, Asiakaspalautteen voima (The Power of Customer Feedback in English),will be published. It will probably come as no surprise that several of the Customer Experience trends for 2026 draw directly from themes explored in the book. These ideas have been taking shape on my keyboard for quite some time and now find their way into this article as well.

In fact, one of the trends from 2025 also plays a role here. Towards the end of last year, I gave a keynote titled “Customer Experience Is Dead”, and through that work several new perspectives crystallized for the year ahead.

I hope these ten Customer Experience trends for 2026 offer you ideas, inspiration, and useful provocation for your own work.

1. Updating the foundations of customer experience

In recent years, customer experience has become a concept that seems to include almost everything. We talk about experiences, personalization, technology, artificial intelligence, and metrics. At the same time, we often lose sight of what actually defines a good customer experience from the customer’s point of view today.

From a CX development perspective, 2026 is an excellent moment to revisit the fundamentals. In many organizations, customer experience is still being developed based on assumptions formed in a very different era—one in which digitalization was new, customer expectations were lower, and technology was clearly a tool serving humans rather than an active intermediary.

PwC’s research on 24 customer experience attributes is a timely reminder of this reality. It shows that customer experience is not built on isolated “wow moments” or emotional hooks alone, but on recurring, recognizable foundational elements that shape how the overall interaction feels. These can be distilled into four core dimensions of experience.

The first is a coherent experience. The customer understands where they are, what happens next, and why things are done in a certain way. The experience feels smooth and reliable. This may sound obvious, yet clarity has weakened in many digital services as features, options, and messages have been added without a coherent overall view.

The second dimension is a personal experience. This is not about hyper-personalization or individualized offers, but about the feeling of being treated fairly and understood in one’s situation. The customer feels they are not just passing through a process, but are seen as a person whose perspective matters.

The third element is the engaging experience. A good customer experience evokes emotion—but not necessarily grand or dramatic ones. Often it is a smaller, more meaningful feeling: relief, reassurance, or confidence. These emotions arise when things work as expected and the customer feels safe in the situation.

The fourth dimension is a distinctive experience. In today’s environment, ease alone is no longer a source of differentiation. When technology and AI are available to everyone, baseline performance quickly reaches parity. Differentiation comes from how these core elements are combined and emphasized—not from how many features or channels are added.

In 2026, customer experience development shifts increasingly away from experience rhetoric toward experience structures. Without an updated understanding of CX fundamentals, organizations risk developing things that ultimately fail to register as meaningful improvements for customers.

This is why updating the foundations of customer experience serves as the starting point for the entire 2026 trend landscape. Before talking about AI, measurement, growth, or reducing customer burden, it is worth asking: what kind of experience do we truly want customers to have—and on what terms?

2. Synthetic NPS

Synthetic NPS sounds contradictory. Net Promoter Score has traditionally been based on customers answering a question. In 2026, however, the answer is increasingly not asked—it is predicted.

Synthetic NPS is not a new metric, but a sign of a broader shift in customer understanding. AI models customer experience based on behavior, history, and context. Customer opinion is replaced by probability: how likely a customer is to stay, recommend, or disengage.

This shifts CX measurement from the past to the future. Metrics are no longer primarily about explaining why last month’s result was poor, but about identifying early signals of where the customer relationship is heading.

At the same time, synthetic NPS becomes more tightly linked to business growth and concepts such as Revenue Growth Management. When customer experience is modeled predictively, it informs pricing, prioritization, and growth potential—not just churn prevention. CX metrics evolve from reactive indicators into early signals of growth.

Still, synthetic NPS raises a critical question: who speaks for the customer? Modeled customer insight can be fast and efficient, but it is not neutral. While modeling may reduce the need for surveys, it must not replace genuine listening. In 2026, the key challenge in customer understanding is not measurement accuracy, but how responsibly predictions are interpreted and used.

3. Physical presence as a builder of trust

Have you found yourself buying from fake online store? At first glance, both appeared to be credible brands: clean websites, compelling stories, and professional communication. Later it turned out they were scams—companies that did not actually exist.

Cases like these quickly change customer behavior. The digital environment is no longer inherently trustworthy; customers must constantly assess risk: Is this company real? Who am I dealing with if something goes wrong?

In 2026, trust is one of the most critical elements of customer experience—and surprisingly often, trust leads back to the physical world. Brick-and-mortar is not the opposite of digital; it is its anchor. Trust is not built through promises or visual polish, but through verifiable existence and accessibility.

A strong counterexample to online scams is ICIW’s first global flagship store in central Helsinki. The store is not just a point of sale, but a powerful trust signal: the company is present, tangible, and willing to face its customers. Physical space makes a digital brand real and reduces perceived risk. The same logic applies equally in B2B—perhaps it is time to move some conversations from Teams back into physical spaces.

In 2026, physical presence becomes especially important in situations involving large financial commitments or novelty. Customers are not just looking for ease; they want reassurance that the company will take responsibility when things do not go as planned. In this sense, brick-and-mortar increasingly functions as a trust builder rather than a channel choice.

At the moment, many high streets suffer from empty premises. Instead of searching for a single large tenant, could landlords aim to enable pop-up stores for a wide range of companies?

4. Technology makes customer experiences more similar

AI promises personalization, efficiency, and better customer experience. One of its side effects, however, may be the opposite: customer experiences start to resemble one another. The same language models, tools, and best practices increasingly produce average, standardized CX.

Website copy sounds similar, chatbots respond with the same logic, and service processes unfold identically across industries. The experience is often smooth—but also unremarkable. Customers may not experience anything particularly bad, but neither do they encounter anything memorable.

This marks a critical turning point for customer experience. When technology is available to everyone, it no longer differentiates. Instead, it homogenizes experiences. Solid baseline performance quickly becomes a hygiene factor, not a competitive advantage.

Technology does not differentiate when everyone uses the same models and capabilities. In such conditions, customer experiences inevitably converge.

The counterforce to homogenization is not abandoning technology or AI, but human interpretation and deliberate strategic choices. Differentiation comes from how technology is used, what is emphasized, and what is consciously left undone. Not everything should be automated, and not everything needs to be optimized. Often, boundaries are what make an experience recognizable.

In 2026, I hope CX development is not only about technology decisions, but also about value choices. What do we respond to? How do we speak to customers? What tone do we cultivate? These are not AI decisions—they are human ones.

Customer experience differentiation does not come from doing everything right, but from doing the right things in one’s own way. When AI raises the average, competitive advantage emerges where experience is interpreted uniquely.

5. A culture of listening

Customer experience is often discussed through measurement. We collect feedback, track numbers, and build dashboards. Yet customers increasingly feel they are not truly heard. In 2026, this contradiction becomes more visible: the problem is not lack of feedback, but lack of listening.

Listening is not the same as asking. Surveys, NPS scores, and open comments are only raw material. Real listening begins with what the organization does with that input—and how it responds. Customers quickly notice whether feedback leads anywhere or disappears into processes and reports.

Listening is fundamentally human. It requires psychological safety, openness, and shared rhythm. Customer feedback is often incomplete, emotional, and sometimes uncomfortable. That is precisely why receiving it requires more than analytics—it requires willingness to understand the customer’s perspective as it is, not as it fits a measurement model. Too often organizations default to explaining away feedback, minimizing it, denying root causes, or blaming customers or “other units.”

A culture of listening differentiates organizations more than any single metric. It is not about how much feedback is collected, but about:

• who hears the customer’s voice

• how feedback is received

• when and how responses occur

• and whether behavior truly changes

Listening is ultimately a leadership issue. If feedback is seen as a disturbance, it is ignored. If leadership treats it as input to decision-making, priorities shift. Customers see this—not in words, but in actions.

Synthetic NPS and predictive analytics can help identify signals, but they do not replace genuine encounters. AI can interpret data, but it does not carry responsibility for customer experience. Ultimately, customers judge companies by whether they feel heard.

In 2026, smarter customer experience will not come from asking customers more questions, but from improving how organizations listen, respond, and learn. CX improves when listening is not a project or campaign, but part of everyday operations and decision-making.

6. Digital Detox

In recent years, customer experience has often been developed by adding more: more messages, more touchpoints, more reminders and notifications. For many customers, the result is the opposite of what was intended—experience feels heavier, not better.

Digital detox is not an anti-technology movement, but a responsible way of using technology.

Digital detox does not mean abandoning channels; it means shifting control back to the customer. Customers increasingly want to decide:

• when they are contacted

• through which channel

• and in which situations communication is genuinely useful

A good customer experience is not built on constant presence, but on knowing when to be silent. Timing is now as important as content. Customer life cannot be optimized according to company processes. A message that is right but poorly timed feels intrusive—especially on mobile and in multi-device contexts.

Digital detox forces organizations to ask when communication adds value and when it subtracts it.

Digital detox is also closely tied to trust. Companies that respect customers’ time and attention are perceived as responsible and humane. Excessive communication erodes trust quickly, even if individual touchpoints are technically flawless.

In 2026, digital detox is not a single initiative, but part of CX fundamentals. It is reflected in what is intentionally left undone, what is automated with restraint, and where customers are allowed to act in their own rhythm. Customer experience does not automatically improve by adding more—it often improves by narrowing and clarifying.

7. The “Messy” Customer Experience

Customer experience has long been described as clean journeys: awareness, comparison, decision, progression. In reality, customer experience is often non-linear, fragmented, and unfinished—messy.

Customers interrupt, return later, switch devices, ask advice elsewhere, and make decisions after long delays. Some decisions are quick; others linger. This is not an exception—it is the normal shape of interaction and buying. Yet many organizations still try to force customers into neat, predefined paths.

In 2026, the challenge is not that customer journeys are messy, but that systems and operating models do not tolerate incompleteness. Experience breaks when customers do not behave as expected. Models assume relationships have ended if customers have not purchased in a year or responded to messages. From the customer’s perspective, this feels rigid and coercive.

Accepting messiness does not mean adding chaos. On the contrary, good CX supports uncertain decision-making by:

• allowing customers to return

• continuing where they left off

• enabling decisions at their own pace.

Customers are not rushed; their rhythm is respected. Competitive advantage in 2026 belongs to organizations that do not try to control customer behavior, but build experiences that tolerate fluctuation. When customer reality is accepted as it is, experience feels human—not procedural.

8. AI as a gatekeeper

A quiet but fundamental shift has taken place in customer experience. Increasingly, customers are not interacting with people—or even directly with companies—but with AI or its interpretations. AI answers questions, recommends options, prioritizes messages, and determines what customers see.

In 2026, AI is no longer a background optimization tool; it is an active intermediary between customer and company. Customers encounter decisions and responses whose origins are not always clear. Is it a human, automation, or a combination? And on what basis were decisions made?

This changes the nature of customer experience. Customers evaluate not only outcomes, but also whether they can influence the situation. If a decision feels final, non-negotiable, or unexplained, experience deteriorates—even if the solution is technically correct.

Customer experience does not suffer from AI itself, but from unclear and opaque roles.

In 2026, trust and clarity become central in AI use. Good CX requires customers to understand who makes decisions, why, and whether intervention is possible.

AI as an intermediary connects directly to listening culture and synthetic NPS. When experience is modeled and decisions are made based on predictions, organizational responsibility increases. The question is not just efficiency, but accountability for customer experience.

In 2026, the best customer experience does not come from AI doing as much as possible, but from its role being understandable and controllable. Customers accept AI as part of experience—but not when interaction becomes faceless and inflexible.

9. Experience system

Customer experience has traditionally been developed through projects: a new digital service, a new journey, a new concept, a new KPI. In 2026, this approach is reaching its limits. Individual solutions age too quickly in a world where expectations, technology, and environments constantly change.

Experience system thinking replaces this. CX is no longer something to be built once, but a capability to change.

An experience system is not a perfect journey, but a structure that endures:

• new channels

• new technologies

• evolving customer needs

• unfinished situations

Static experiences are fragile. Living systems adapt. Touchpoints and content change, but the underlying structure remains.

From the customer’s perspective, experience system shows up as continuity. Experience does not reset when channels change. Things do not start from scratch. Customers are recognized in context, not just through data fields. Experience feels evolving, not fragmented.

For organizations, this is an architectural shift. CX development becomes about information flow, decision-making, and change mechanisms—not isolated initiatives. Experience system is systems thinking applied to customer experience: a dynamic, learning whole, not a controllable process.

This trend brings together many 2026 themes. Synthetic NPS and predictive insight feed signals into the system. Listening culture determines what triggers action. AI is part of the system, not its owner. Messiness is accepted as default, not deviation.

In 2026, the key CX question is no longer what experience should we design, but what kind of system do we build around experience. Organizations that succeed here do not just deliver better experiences—they create a sustainable foundation for CX development.

10. The customer does not want to be at the center

Customer-centricity has become an end in itself. Customers are invited to participate, co-create, share, and stay engaged. The intention is good—but increasingly, customers respond with fatigue. What if the customer does not want to be at the center—what if they simply want things to work?

One reason is cognitive load. CX is full of choices: options, settings, approvals, decisions. Every “you decide” moment shifts responsibility to the customer. Choice turns into decision fatigue. Control becomes burden.

Another overlooked issue is how CX transfers work to customers. Fill out the form. Describe your problem. Choose the right path. Track your own order. Customers do not feel centered—they feel like part of a process that demands constant effort. Experience becomes invisible labor.

A third misconception relates to participation. CX often assumes customers want to be involved, tell their story, and co-create solutions. In reality, most customers want outcomes, not processes. They do not want co-creation in everyday life; they want things to work.

Here it is crucial to distinguish between control and participation. Customers want a sense of control, but not an obligation to be constantly involved. They want the ability to intervene—not the duty to engage.

AI makes this tension more visible. It enables anticipation, defaults, and fewer choices. At the same time, it introduces a new risk: customers do not want to be at the center, but they do not want to be sidelined either. Good CX emerges from balance—customers can stay at peace while knowing they are considered.

In 2026, customer-centricity needs reinterpretation. It is not about placing customers at the center of everything, but about respecting their time, attention, and energy. Low-effort, unobtrusive experiences often feel better than loud, participatory ones.

Perhaps the most important CX question is no longer how do we involve customers more, but when should we leave them alone.

As always, customer experience trends are a collection of ideas and inputs—sometimes even contradictory ones. My goal is to offer perspectives that help you think differently about CX development. I hope at least one of these trends finds its way into your CX toolkit for 2026. And, of course, I welcome comments and discussion on this piece.

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