Podcast Summary: Experts of Experience

Episode: 4 Trends That Will Make or Break Brands in 2026
Date: December 18, 2025
Host: Lacey Pease (B)
Guest: Isabel Zidatny (A), Head of Thought Leadership at Qualtrics XM Institute

Overview

In this episode, Lacey Pease hosts Isabel Zidatny to break down Qualtrics’ 2026 Experience Trends report. The discussion focuses on four pivotal customer experience (CX) trends—AI-powered service, feedback decline, the evolving meaning of value and loyalty, and the paradox of personalization versus trust. With real-world examples and actionable advice, the episode explores how brands must adapt to rising expectations, shifting trust landscapes, and the challenges of leveraging AI and data responsibly.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Big Picture: A Surprising Uptick in CX Metrics

• Context: Despite global challenges and instability, CX metrics improved worldwide between 2024–2025.
• Stats: Satisfaction, trust, likelihood to recommend, and likelihood to repurchase all increased by at least 3 percentage points.
• Insight: Gains are concentrated in industries where switching brands is easy (e.g., retail/airlines), not sectors with captive customers (e.g., utilities).
• Quote:

  “Those are not the vibes it seems like right now.” – Isabel Zidatny (05:25)

00:49–07:45

• Key Segment: Setting the scene with data from 20,000+ consumers across 14 countries, 18 industries; reporting a notable $3T in sales at risk globally due to poor CX in 2026.

2. Trend 1: AI-Powered Customer Service is Failing

08:38–19:41

Paradox of AI in CX

• Consumer Comfort With AI is Rising: 73% use AI for daily tasks; 50% believe AI will benefit society (+9% from 2024).
• But CX is the Weak Link:
  • 1 in 5 found no benefits from AI-powered customer support—the highest failure rate among AI apps.
  • AI fails on the core promises of convenience, usefulness, and time-saving in customer service.
  • Customers trust organizations to use AI responsibly only 29% of the time.
• Key Quote:

  “Often customer service is the only time that customers know that they are engaging with AI. So it becomes a litmus test of whether brands can actually deliver on their AI promises, and they are failing that.” – Isabel Zidatny (11:11)

• Implication: Overuse of AI to deflect costs leads to customer frustration, eroding trust.
• Strategic Advice: Use AI to enhance—not replace—human support; map AI deployment to customer goals, not just cost savings.
• Memorable Moment:

  “If my one experience that I know to be AI is through customer service and it’s not a good one…it does make you skeptical of any AI tool moving forward.” – Lacey Pease (12:35)

• Best Practices:
  • Example: Healthcare provider automates claims processing using computer vision and AI chatbot, reducing claim time from 2 days to instant, while keeping human support for complex needs (15:08–16:39).
  • Urges companies to “imagine new ways of delivering value,” not just automate current processes.

3. Trend 2: Customers Are Staying Silent—Feedback Decline

19:41–34:29

Systemic Decline in Feedback

• Stats: Only 29% of consumers offer direct feedback after a poor experience (all-time low). Sharing on social media/third-party sites also down by 5+ percentage points; 7.5% decline in direct feedback since 2021.
• Consequence: For every 10 poor experiences, 5 result in lost spend, but only 3 generate feedback—businesses are “left guessing.”
• Driving Factors:
  • Survey fatigue (“why bother” effect).
  • Lack of follow-up/action from companies.
  • Lengthy/irrelevant surveys.
• Quote:

  “It’s not worth their time to go scream into a void.” – Isabel Zidatny (22:31)

• Insight: Not just surveys—direct and indirect forms of feedback are declining, especially among the “silent middle.”
• Shifting Solution:
  • Leading organizations combine sparse surveys with unsolicited data (support chats, behavioral signals) and use AI-powered models to predict and preempt churn.
  • Example: Financial services firm turned 8% survey response rate into a predictive model, generating “synthetic NPS” for 100% of its customer base (25:06–27:13).
  • Conversational AI surveys uncover root causes of churn—e.g., Fiserv using AI-survey follow-ups to distinguish between service failures and regulation challenges (28:02–31:06).
• Quote:

  “Surveys need to evolve…they should be one tool in your toolkit rather than the whole of your customer listening program.” – Isabel Zidatny (31:54)

4. Trend 3: Value Won’t Ensure Loyalty—Trust & Service Matter More

34:29–42:42

Redefining Loyalty Amid Economic Pressure

• Stat: 46% of customers choose companies for value (price), but quality service is what builds lasting satisfaction (92% for service vs. 87% for value) and trust (89% vs. 83%).
• Trap: “Race to the bottom” on price erodes margins and brand equity; when cheap options fail on service, customers regret their choice.
• Quote:

  “While value will get people in the door, it’s those high quality services that will keep them coming back.” – Isabel Zidatny (34:55)

• Additional Insight: Customers facing financial insecurity score CX 7 points lower than others—making trust and thoughtful investment even more critical in tough times.
• Advice: Identify experience “moments” that truly drive business outcomes; prioritize investments based on these, not just loud feedback.
• Strategic Recommendation:

  “Companies need to get better at understanding what are those moments across customers journeys that have the most outsized impact on people’s perceptions and behaviors…and then how are you prioritizing investment in those particular areas so you’re not just listening to the loudest customers.” – Isabel Zidatny (40:02)

5. Trend 4: Transparency > Personalization—The Privacy Paradox

42:42–52:13

The Personalization-Privacy Paradox

• Stat: 64% want tailored experiences, but only 39% trust companies to use data responsibly. Only 41% feel privacy trade-offs for personalization are “worth it.”
• Customers uncomfortable with data collection techniques:
  • Only 30% comfortable with companies remembering purchase behavior.
  • Only 16% comfortable with companies listening/watching via devices.
  • 32% uncomfortable with all personalization methods.
• Quote:

  “For years, companies have just assumed that customers would gladly trade their privacy for personalization, and that is just not true.” – Isabel Zidatny (42:59)

• Root Issue: Customers see personalization as “fancy sales tactics”; what’s in it for the company is clear, but not for them.
• Paths Forward:
  • Build trust through transparency, user-controlled data, and clear opt-out/deletion options.
  • European consumers (with strong privacy laws) have more trust and comfort with personalization.
  • Trusted brands can personalize more deeply—trust lifts comfort by 10 percentage points.
• Memorable Exchange:

  “If we were to summarize all these four trends into one, it’s just this big…how do we get our customers to trust us more? 2026 is the year of trust. Customer trust. Let’s get it back.” – Lacey Pease (48:27)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• AI in Customer Service is Failing: 08:38–19:41
• Feedback Is Declining: 19:41–34:29
• Value vs. Loyalty: 34:29–42:42
• Personalization Paradox: 42:42–52:13
• Actionable Advice/Wrap-up: 52:13–end

Actionable Advice for CX Leaders (52:35)

• Pick 1–3 high-priority customer journeys and analyze them thoroughly.
• Identify which journey stages can be automated with AI, and which require human touch.
• Map feedback and listening strategies to key journey moments—not just after-the-fact surveys.
• Focus on linking customer perceptions to their downstream behaviors (e.g., repeat purchase, churn).

Notable Quotes

• “Organizations are using AI to help the business achieve its goals rather than help the customers achieve their goals, which undercuts trust in these new technologies.” – Isabel Zidatny (13:11)
• “It's not worth their time to go scream into a void.” – Isabel Zidatny (22:31)
• “We’re getting very spun up in efficiency metrics and failing to imagine more interesting and differentiating ways of delivering better experiences to customers.” – Isabel Zidatny (17:23)
• “If companies don’t do [transparency and control], consumers are going to remain wary, even if it might genuinely lead to better experiences.” – Isabel Zidatny (47:25)
• “2026 is the year of trust. Customer trust. Let’s get it back.” – Lacey Pease (48:39)

Memorable Moments

• The “silent middle” of customers drying up feedback, leaving companies blind to churn causes (23:55–24:35).
• Fiserv’s conversational AI survey that actually increased feedback quality without hurting response rates (28:02–31:20).
• The distinction between “table stakes” and “delighters”—and how raising customer expectations makes it tougher to stand out (21:09–21:38).

Insights on the Future (54:07–end)

• Isabel’s predictions for next year: either little progress due to messy processes and poor data stewardship, or massive acceleration if organizations do the “boring,” foundational data work.
• The real determinant: companies who have invested in data hygiene and infrastructure are poised to leap ahead; others may lag behind in “pilot purgatory.”

Conclusion

This episode crystalizes the tension between efficiency and experience, charting a roadmap for customer-centered innovation. The key for 2026? Trust—earned through transparent AI use, smarter, less intrusive feedback methods, and a renewed focus on journey moments that foster loyalty.

For more on these insights:
Visit the Qualtrics Experience Trends 2026 Report

Connect with Isabel Zidatny:
LinkedIn: Isabel Zidatny

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