Contentsquare Provides 2026 CX Trends Report

By W.B. King

Among findings in Contentsquare’s, What’s Next in CX: 2026 Digital Customer Experience Trends, artificial intelligence (AI) remains the top trend, with a new focus on automation.

“Customer experience (CX) has become one of the most decisive factors in business success. Done right, it fuels loyalty, strengthens brand trust, and accelerates growth. Done poorly, it drives churn, drains efficiency, and leaves companies falling behind faster-moving competitors,” the report noted. “The question isn’t whether CX will shape the future of business. It’s how ready you are for it.”

The New York City-based Contentsquare offers AI solutions that enhance digital experiences. In total, 1,692 CX leaders in marketing, product, user experience (UX), and technology from around the world were polled. As opposed to last year’s survey, the top five digital experience trends for 2026 are:

1. AI and automation (2025: AI)

2. Omnichannel experience (2025: personalization)

3. Digital innovation (2025: customer journeys)

4. Personalization (2025: data)

5. Data-driven insights (2025: content)

“Omnichannel experience climbs to second place, emphasizing connected journeys and consistency across touchpoints. Digital innovation enters the top five as a new trend, reflecting demand for AI-driven competitive differentiation Personalization decreases in importance falling from second to fourth place,” the report stated. “Data slips to fifth position, shifting toward actionable insights and faster testing and decision-making.”

According to leaders surveyed, AI and automation will dominate the 2026 CX agenda, with 40.6% of global leaders ranking it as their top priority, which is nearly three times higher than any other trend. “Design and UX (64.4%), product teams (60.6%), and the C-suite (58.4%) lead adoption rates, highlighting how AI is being used as a tactical tool and an operational strategy,” the report continued. “This year, the momentum around AI centers on three big bets: automation, conversational agents, and generative AI (GenAI).”

Accelerating Decision-Making

When strategically embedded into day-to-day operations, AI automation takes the “heavy lifting out of analysis—surfacing insights, highlighting friction, and recommending the next best action in minutes,” the report noted. By eliminating “analysis paralysis and accelerating decision-making,” companies can move at a pace that was previously impossible, the report added.

Among industry insiders lending expert insights was Snowflake’s Global Vertical Lead Prabhath Nanisetty. The Bozeman, Mont.-based fintech offers cloud data storage solutions. “AI is an awesome tool—but decisions come with accountability, and that can’t be assigned to a machine,” Nanisetty said. “The real benefit is operational AI: speeding up the ability to get data for decisions, revealing connections you might otherwise miss, and freeing marketers to stay focused on the customer’s end goal.”

Connected Journeys

Regarding the omnichannel experience in 2026, the report further noted that 13.8% of leaders named it their top focus.

“This shift signals that after investing in AI, companies move on to building better journeys across every channel and platform,” the report said. “Interest is highest among data and analytics teams (25.4%) and product teams (24.2%), reflecting the importance of tying platforms and data together so experiences don’t break at the handoff.” Additionally, two sub-trends are also standout: connected journeys and touchpoint consistency.

“Customer journeys aren’t linear—they’re horizontal and often messy. While many assume users start on the homepage and move step by step through the site, the reality is far more complex,” Sky Experimentation Lead Natasha Senior noted. The London -based company offers TV, broadband and mobile solutions. “A journey might begin on the homepage, jump to a chatbot, move to a help article, loop back to the chatbot, switch to ‘My Account,’ involve a phone call, and then return to the website,” she added. “We need to stop thinking in straight lines and start designing consistent, connected experiences across all channels.”