Qualtrics 2026 report finds AI, personalization, and privacy gaps erode trust, showing CX improvements alone aren’t enough to retain customers.
On the surface, customer experience is improving. Satisfaction, trust, and loyalty behaviors are all improving, according to the Qualtrics 2026 Consumer Experience Trends Report. Yet underneath these gains, trust in specific organizational practices remains dangerously low, with significant financial implications.
While 76% generally trust the companies with which they do business, trust fractures when it comes to how organizations deploy new technologies. Only 29% of consumers trust organizations to use AI responsibly. Just 39% trust companies to handle their personal data responsibly.
The trust gap reflects how organizations design new capabilities to serve themselves rather than customers. They promise better experiences through AI and personalization, but optimize for cost reduction and data extraction instead.
This misalignment creates poor experiences that erode trust in the organization as a reliable partner. Relationships become transactional, and customers defect when opportunities arise. One in two customers now decreases or stops spending after a negative experience.
As switching barriers continue to fall, trust increasingly determines which organizations retain customers. Yet companies are systematically failing to earn it across four critical areas: AI customer service, feedback collection, pricing competition, and personalization.
AI-powered customer service: where efficiency kills credibility
AI-powered customer service should be an easy win — many tasks are routine, and the benefits to the customer should be clear. Yet consumers rank it among the worst AI applications for convenience, time savings, and usefulness. It’s four times as likely to “deliver no benefits” compared to other AI use cases.
This failure isn’t technological; it’s a strategic issue. Organizations often prioritize cost reduction over customer value, deploying chatbots that frequently lack access to account information or previous interactions. This results in customers being directed through scripted responses before being transferred to agents who must start from scratch. Even when AI functions adequately, 50% of consumers fear losing human connection, and 53% worry about data misuse.
When AI genuinely helps customers accomplish their goals, they choose it willingly, allowing organizations to reduce costs while building trust. But when misaligned with customer value, the opposite happens – customers avoid AI entirely, forcing volume back to expensive human channels.
Tips for CX leaders:
- Before launching AI customer service, ask, “Does this help customers accomplish their goals faster?” If it saves the company money but adds steps for customers, redesign.
- Make the benefit to customers explicit in AI interactions (“This bot handles password resets in 30 seconds”), and then deliver on those expectations.
When trust erodes, customer silence gets louder
Customer silence is a troubling trust indicator lurking beneath improving CX metrics. Thirty percent of customers now say nothing after negative experiences, up 9.2 points since 2021; yet, nearly half cut their spending, creating invisible churn before companies can respond.
This silence isn’t apathy, but rather a learned behavior. When customers don’t see their input driving meaningful improvements, they stop providing it, shifting from active participants in service improvement to passive observers waiting for alternatives. Why spend time explaining problems to organizations that appear unwilling or unable to address them?
Tips for CX leaders:
- Expand listening to include support calls, chat transcripts, social media, online reviews, and richer survey feedback through AI-powered follow-up questions. Combine these insights with operational data and behavioral patterns to build early warning systems that help prevent problems, not just document them.
- Close the loop when customers do provide feedback, showing the specific actions you took as a result.
Trust follows exceptional service, not just competitive pricing
While 46% of consumers choose companies primarily based on value for money, those who choose based on great customer service show markedly higher trust — 89% compared to 83%. This trust helps determine retention as switching barriers fall.
Service-driven relationships create accumulated goodwill. When companies consistently meet expectations, customers tend to interpret occasional missteps as exceptions rather than betrayals. Value-driven relationships, meanwhile, center on price. Customers stay only until better options appear. Price competition without trust creates a race to the bottom, eroding margins and fostering relationships that dissolve with the next better offer.
Tips for CX leaders:
- Compete on both price and service. Maintain competitive pricing through operational efficiency, without sacrificing the service quality that fosters lasting relationships.
- Invest in the basics that demonstrate reliability: ensure customers receive consistent answers across all channels, resolve issues promptly and completely, and follow through on every commitment.
Consumers want personalization but don’t trust companies with their data
Sixty-four percent of consumers want companies to tailor their experiences to their individual needs. Yet, only 41% believe that the benefits of personalization justify the associated privacy costs, and just 39% trust companies to use their personal information responsibly.
The trust deficit stems from treating personalization as a data collection problem. Organizations often capture expansive information across platforms to build detailed customer profiles, which customers see as surveillance rather than service. Trust changes this dynamic. When companies earn trust through transparency and demonstrated value, comfort with personalization increases by 6 to 12 points across various methods (e.g., learning habits, connecting information across platforms).
Tips for CX leaders:
- Shift from personalization to contextualization. Collect the information you need to help customers accomplish their current goal (e.g., accessing interaction history during a service call) rather than stockpiling personal details for potential future use.
- Make data exchange visible and controllable. Explain what you collect and its purpose, provide easy deletion options, and demonstrate how their data made their experience better.
The trust advantage
Organizations that align capabilities with customer value build competitive advantages that can’t be easily replicated through pricing and features alone.
In 2026, trust will determine the fundamental outcomes that drive business growth – whether customers stay when alternatives emerge, speak up when problems arise, choose you over lower-priced competitors, and share data when asked. It’s not just another metric. It’s the foundation that makes every other customer experience strategy possible.
Read Qualtrics’ 2026 Consumer Experience Trends Report for more data insights and practical advice from experts on turning insights into actions that drive business success.
