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A hand holding a crystal ball to symbolize the CX predictions for 2024 that our experts shared.

As we begin a new year, it’s time to look at customer experience predictions for 2024 from some of the world’s top experts. (If you’d like to check back in with last year’s predictions, you can do so here.)

Not surprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically Generative AI products such as ChatGPT, were front and center in many of our experts’ customer experience predictions for 2024.

Related: How Use ChatGPT to Enhance Your Customer Experience

Customer Experience Predictions

What should CX professionals expect for 2024? We turned to eight CX experts — thought leaders, authors, speakers, and consultants — and asked for their 2024 customer experience predictions across a variety of elements.

First, we wanted to know what is one thing CX professionals need to be prepared for in 2024. Three experts went broad with their answers:

AI In The Spotlight

The other five experts focused their answers on AI:

My take: I do think Generative AI is the biggest thing to happen to customer experience in a long time, and companies cannot ignore its impact. However, we have to learn from the initial introduction of chatbots, when some companies immediately concluded that they could —and should — replace entire Customer Service departments. That obviously didn’t turn out well. The best technology enhancements, particularly with AI, will complement human skills and not replace them.

Technology Will Help Shape CX In 2024

Next, we asked how our experts envision the role of technology in shaping CX in 2024.

My take: Aside from AI, self-service tools will continue to be of critical importance — especially for younger generations. Most customers prefer to at least attempt to self-serve first, but too often those attempts are thwarted by clunky and complicated website or mobile app UX.

Customer Satisfaction Challenges

Next, we asked: What are the biggest challenges you foresee in maintaining or improving customer satisfaction in 2024?

My take: Making customer feedback more actionable. Most companies do two of three things right when it comes to customer feedback: They collect it, and they analyze it. But creating a report highlighting the latest NPS or customer satisfaction scores alone doesn’t get at the core question of why. Why did our scores go up or down, and what are we doing about it. Hence, the third step in customer feedback: taking action. We need the surveys and numbers to actually mean something, so we must take action as a result of what we learn. This can be doing more of what customers love, stopping what they hate, or starting to do something new based on their suggestions. Finally, it’s called a feedback loop for a reason: When we return back to the customer with our findings — especially when we’ve listened to and implemented their suggestions — we can solidify long-term loyalty.

The Best Brands For Customer Experience

When I host workshops with clients, I love asking people what their favorite brand is and why. Some people name the “obvious” choices Amazon, Disney, Starbucks — which is just fine because those companies have mastered CX by becoming truly customer-centric cultures. Others mention their local hardware store or independent movie theater or even a taco truck, which is also great because small businesses can be excellent examples of CX. So let’s see what our experts said when we asked them the same question:

My take: Starbucks because of its welcoming and comfortable environment, consistent drink preparation, and endless personalization options. I feel like I could be blindfolded and know I was in a Starbucks anywhere in the world just from the smells, the sounds, and the comfy furniture. They also really know their customers what they did during COVID was genius — and do their best to make every guest feel special.

Customer Experience Book Recommendations

We asked our experts for their most-recommended CX book. Below are three of their favorites, notwithstanding several mentions of their own works (more on that momentarily). The links to purchase generate a small referral fee for this site but do not affect your cost.

Just in case you missed last year’s list, here it is again:

And here is one critical read from each of our esteemed experts who are also authors:

My take: See all of The Experience Maker’s favorite business books in one place on our Amazon Storefront.

Customer Experience Voices

Finally, we asked for one CX voice that isn’t being heard enough in the industry. The answers, in alphabetical order, along with links to their LinkedIn profiles:

What Are Your Customer Experience Predictions?

What do you think? Did our experts nail their 2024 customer experience predictions, or did they leave something out? We want to hear from you, too! Just share this article on your favorite social media site and add in your own predictions. Be sure to tag Dan Gingiss or The Experience Maker so we can see — and engage with — your post.

Photo by Anika Huizinga on Unsplash.