Organisations have been told that AI is the key to unlocking unparalleled customer experiences. Yet, as we move toward 2026, a significant gap remains between the promise of AI and the reality for consumers. Many businesses are investing heavily in AI, but those investments largely sit behind the scenes, optimising internal processes rather than delivering the benefits that customers can actually touch and feel.
This disconnect is fuelling a growing trust deficit.
Qualtrics’ Customer Experience Trends Report shows that only 23% of Aussies trust organisations to use AI responsibly. This isn’t surprising when their main concern is the misuse of personal data. In the world of today’s “personalisation” is a self-serving exercise designed to sell more, not serve better.
With little firsthand experience of AI that meaningfully improves their interactions, consumers see AI as a black box.
The brands that will win in 2026 are those that deploy beneficial AI: that is AI that reduces effort, improves clarity, resolves complexity, and strengthens the human connection rather than replacing it. These brands will build durable, trust-led relationships – ones that become significantly harder for competitors to replicate.
To secure customer loyalty, organisations must move away from using AI solely for internal efficiencies and start using it to solve real customer problems. The greatest market advantage lies in using AI to earn trust by delivering a superior experience, time and time again.
Passive feedback to proactive service
One of the most pressing challenges CX challenges is survey fatigue. Consumers are less likely than ever to respond to feedback requests – even after particularly positive or negative experiences. The same Qualtrics’ Trends Report finds that after a poor experience only 3 in 10 customers tell the brand what went wrong, while 5 in 10 reduce their spending. This shift leaves organisations with dangerous blind spots around churn and dissatisfaction. Customers still act, but they no longer signal.
AI has the potential to completely redefine this dynamic. Instead of static feedback mechanisms, AI can turn surveys into genuine interactive, real-time conversations. Imagine a customer providing feedback reporting a faulty product within a survey and an embedded AI agent instantly initiating a refund, arranging a replacement, or scheduling a support call – all within the same interaction.
When purpose-built generative AI is used to acknowledge concerns, escalate issues, provide resources, and express genuine appreciation, customers will quickly recognise the value of sharing feedback because the benefit is immediate and tangible.
This approach is one step toward rebuilding trust by rewarding customers for their input and enabling businesses to deliver faster, more personalised resolutions. Organisations that embrace AI-powered service and multi-signal listening – integrating surveys, behavioural data, operational indicators, and unsolicited feedback – will be the ones that retain an engaged and loyal customer base.
Loyalty is being redefined
For many years, good value for money has been the number one driver of loyalty, and the Qualtrics’ Consumer Experience Trends Report confirms it remains the top reason consumers stay with a brand.
However, a major shift is emerging: value alone will no longer be enough to secure customer loyalty. Value now sits alongside expectations of a good product or service and convenience, and consumers increasingly judge brands on whether the overall experience aligns with the brand promise. Any mismatched expectations, when a brand fails to deliver what customers were led to expect, erode trust rapidly.
Loyalty is becoming more fragile and more dependent on how reliably organisations deliver consistent, trustworthy experiences. In 2026, loyalty will be redefined from a primarily value-based decision to a trust-and-experience-based relationship, shaped by:
- Transparency around how data is used and collected
- Generative and agentic AI that genuinely improves customer experiences
- Proactive, multi-signal listening that reduces blind spots and identifies issues before customers churn.
Organisations that succeed will use technology to strengthen human connection, not automate it away. AI can resolve routine queries, freeing human teams to handle complex, high-stakes, emotionally charged situations – like the difference between assisting with a billing question versus helping someone who has missed a wedding due to a flight delay. In those moments, empathy, not automation, becomes the true engine of loyalty.