1、The 2026State of Customer Experience ReportWhy competing on experience in 2026 requires proof,trust,and actionBased on insights from 552 CX practitioners,1,522 consumers,and benchmarks from over 600 anonymized enterprise programs,this report shows where experience quality is plateauing,where action
2、is stalling,and what will separate CX leaders in 2026.Research ReportTable of Contents02 Medallia Copyright.Introduction3Key Findings4Experience Quality in 2026:The New Bar for“Good”5Why Progress Stalls:From Insight to Action11AI in CX:Expectations,Trust,and Tradeoffs192026 Outlook:Proof Takes Prior
3、ity28Conclusion33Methodology34Introduction03 Medallia Copyright.Customer experience is under new pressure to prove its value.CX practitioners entering 2026 are not operating in a vacuum.Economic pressure is pushing consumers to scrutinize the value of every purchase.At the same time,rapid advances i
4、n artificial intelligence are expanding what brands can do at scale,while introducing new expectations and new concerns for the people those brands serve.Together,these forces have raised the bar for CX teams.In 2026,those that cannot tie experience to business outcomes will lose priority with decis
5、ion-makers.CX leaders must now coordinate efforts across more sophisticated technologies,align departments,and compete for budget,often without an executive sponsor.In many organizations,the methods used to manage CX have not kept pace.This creates gaps in understanding what customers are experienci
6、ng and friction in how companies respond.To understand how prepared organizations are for this shift,we analyzed the current CX ecosystem from multiple perspectives.We surveyed more than 500 CX practitioners to evaluate readiness,tooling,and strategic confidence.We compared those perspectives with t