The Customer Experience (CX) Crisis: What Brands Must Do to Turn the Tide in 2025?

Here are the findings from the recently released Forrester Customer Experience Index (CX Index) 2024:

• For the third year running, consumer perceptions of CX quality have dropped, reaching their lowest point since the inception of the index.
• Performance fell across all three dimensions of CX quality: effectiveness, ease, and emotion.
• Nearly 39% of brands experienced significant declines, a jump from 17% in 2023.
• Industry-level declines also reached unprecedented levels, with ten industries faltering.
• Even elite brands in the top 5% struggled to maintain their status.

What these findings clearly bring out is that brands need to overhaul their CX strategies. While these are findings from the US, brands across other countries won’t be faring any differently.

How can brands reverse this trend and deliver experiences that resonate with consumers?

Let us explore the possible challenges and what brands must do to ensure CX’s success.

Where Did Brands Go Wrong in 2024?

Experience – Expectation Gap

Today’s customers crave experiences that are seamless, personalized, and emotionally engaging. However, the Forrester findings reveal a gap between expectations and the experiences that brands delivered.

For instance, 80% of customers say they value personalized interactions, and only 50% feel that brands deliver on this promise.

Let me give you a hypothetical example.

A retailer known for its in-store service starts to provide chatbot-driven online help but fails to resolve simple issues. The retailer would face heavy backlash as it would leave the customers feeling undervalued and underserved.

Systemic Decline Across Industries

Brands haven’t been able to keep pace with rising customer demands.

Consider the healthcare industry, where patients want easier options to book appointments and also opt for telemedicine consulting. However, they often encounter clunky platforms and long wait times, which becomes very frustrating.

Similarly, in retail, the rush to implement digital solutions often led to fragmented experiences, frustrating customers who looked for a seamless experience they are used to in-store.

The Three Must-Haves for Better CX in 2025!

1. Customer-Centricity

You should prioritize customer needs instead of chasing trends. Brands that excel in CX understand their customers deeply and customize their strategies.

Here is an example. Starbucks’ AI-powered app tracks customer preferences and offers personalized recommendations. This blend of technology and customer-centricity has made it a benchmark for loyalty programs.

Take, for instance, you are trying to order school supplies online. What should the platform do to make your experience great?

A smart platform would analyze your past purchases, suggest relevant items, and offer bundled discounts, saving time and offering a stress-free experience. That’s the kind of experience consumers appreciate.

What should you do?

Invest in AI and predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs and resolve issues before they arise. The travel app I use uses past booking data to suggest vacation packages and enhances the overall experience.

2. Omnichannel Integration

Consumers typically interact using multiple channels. But are those interactions cohesive and seamless? Do they have to repeat themselves whenever they switch channels or interfaces?

Fragmented experiences have eroded trust for brands in 2024, which they need to address with omnichannel capabilities in 2025.

Let us assume you implement a CRM system that enables agents to have a single view of your customers by accessing all their interactions on phone, chat, and email. This would help you reduce your resolution time for customer queries and also improve the customer satisfaction scores.

Imagine you visiting a retail website and adding a few shirts to your cart. However, you are worried about the fit, and so you decide to visit their physical store. If the in-store associate can pick up from where the website left off, you will feel valued and understood. I am sure you would never shop anywhere else for your needs.

What should you do?

Implement omnichannel capabilities as a part of your customer experience platform. Ensure you unify data and provide a 360-degree view of the customer journey.

3. Build Emotional Resonance

Emotion is the glue that binds customers to brands. This is a major thing that brands lack, and they need to look at building meaningful connections.

Here is an example. Zappos is known for its empathetic customer service. One anecdote goes that an agent spent hours helping a customer find the perfect pair of shoes for a wedding, even recommending styles from other retailers when Zappos’ inventory fell short. That’s emotional resonance in action.

Take, for instance, a bank’s customer, recently widowed, calls to sort out their joint account details. Instead of treating it as a regular transaction, you, as an agent, express empathy and guide the customer through the process. You even send a handwritten condolence note. What have you done here? You have created a lifelong advocate.

What should you do?

Train your agents and customer-facing people to recognize and respond to customer emotions. Equip them with soft skills like active listening and empathy, and empower them to go the extra mile.

The 2024 Forrester CX Index is a reminder that brands have to evolve with customer demands. The path to CX excellence in 2025 lies in ensuring customer-centricity, building omnichannel capabilities, and ensuring strong emotional connections.

It’s not just about fixing what’s broken; it’s about creating experiences that delight. You will have to make decisions that align with customer demands, and the status quo is the fastest way to fall behind in CX.

The time to act is now to reverse the trend of customer perceptions.