The coming year had better be about improving customer experience because customers are not happy CX right now. They’re experiencing more problems and having a harder time getting help. And they are not keeping quiet about it.
There is a “National Customer Rage Survey,” 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’s the highest number the survey has recorded since it began — up from 74% in 2023 and way up from 66% in 2020. By comparison, in 1976, it was 32%.
But it’s not just more problems — it’s the experience of solving them that’s breaking down. In the same survey, 68% of customers reported that the process of complaining required “high” or “very high” effort. Their top frustrations? Long recorded messages and figuring out how to contact someone in the first place.
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 — 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.
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And here’s where it gets even more complicated: Companies think AI is helping, but customers don’t.
A 2025 Kinsta and Propeller Insights study 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 — not to improve their experience — and you have a growing trust gap between what brands are doing and how customers feel about it.
Strangely enough, the solution may be more AI.
From fixing issues to getting ahead of them
Artificial intelligence is moving beyond support bots and chat scripts. It’s now being used to anticipate friction, interpret signals and take action before the customer even knows there’s a problem.
“In 2026, AI stops observing and starts operating,” said Glenn Nethercutt, CTO at Genesys. “The next generation of AI will change state before friction emerges… the leaders will be the organizations whose intelligence anticipates reality faster than it arrives.”
That’s a massive shift — from reacting to what went wrong to shaping experiences so things go right the first time.
Think about the number of customers who never complain at all — they just leave. Or the ones who try to solve a problem and hit a wall. A proactive approach doesn’t just improve experience — it prevents churn.
Orchestrating CX in real time
What’s making this shift possible isn’t just better AI — it’s smarter orchestration. AI agents are now coordinating the customer journey across marketing, service and operations.
“Every interaction will become part of a dynamic journey, shaped in real time by a catalog of specialized AI agents,” said Olivier Jouve, chief product officer at Genesys.
These agents don’t just answer questions — 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.
Dig deeper: Consumers want less digital, more real world from brands in 2026
That’s especially important in a climate where customers are fed up with friction — and not being able to reach a human is their biggest frustration with automated systems.
Customers expect things to connect
Here’s the thing: customers don’t think in terms of workflows or architecture. They expect experiences to just work. If they talked to a chatbot yesterday, they don’t want to repeat themselves today. If they’re trying to check a loyalty reward or complete a return, they expect the brand to recognize them and keep context.
“Consumers will expect every touchpoint — onboarding, payments, loyalty, tipping, rewards — to operate as one seamless journey,” said Jenn Reichenbacher, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Genesys.
But that’s not happening often enough. According to Verizon’s 2025 CX Annual Insights report, 88% of consumers are satisfied with mostly human-led interactions, but only 60% say the same about AI-led interactions.
That doesn’t mean customers don’t see any value in AI. It means they don’t trust AI to own the experience. They want the technology to assist — not replace — the human connection.
Real-time data is the engine behind proactive CX
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.
“In 2026… every interaction delivers clear, measurable value,” said Rob Giglio, chief customer officer at Canva. “Data becomes embedded directly into workflows, prompting immediate actions, closing loops in real time and enabling predictive customer success.”
Dig deeper: AI is turning personalization into a two-way conversation
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.
The warning signs are clear: if brands don’t fix the trust gap, the tech itself won’t matter.
What this means for marketers and CX teams
If you’re working on CX today, you’re not just fighting for attention — you’re fighting for trust. Customers are no longer impressed by chatbot popups or AI assistants that sound vaguely human but can’t solve their problems.
They want transparency. They want empathy. And they want to feel like the experience is built for them — not for internal efficiency charts.
That’s why the smartest brands aren’t using AI as a gatekeeper. They’re using it as infrastructure: something that routes, summarizes and supports human agents so that customers get what they need faster — with less friction.
“If you only look at your survey scores, you’ll think the bots are doing fine,” said Anirudh Agarwal, CEO of digital PR agency OutreachX. “The real damage is in the customers you never hear from — the ones who drop off mid-chat and quietly decide not to come back.”
Bottom line
AI can absolutely improve CX — but only if it’s 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.
In 2026, companies that get this right will earn more than those that focus on efficiency. They’ll earn trust.
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