The customer experience paradox – and how to overcome it

This post is sponsored by Qualtrics.

In 2025, delivering exceptional customer experiences (CX) will be the difference between growth and decline. As consumers tighten their spending after poor experiences, brands face mounting pressure to prioritise CX or risk losing market share.

Qualtrics’ fourth annual Consumer Experience Trends report reveals the stakes: despite fewer negative interactions, Singaporean consumers are quicker to cut spending after bad experiences, while trust, loyalty, and satisfaction have all fallen over the past year.

At the heart of the challenge lies a CX paradox and a crisis of trust. A critical competitive advantage for brands is being able to understand and deliver against the evolving needs of customers, and yet the reality is those same consumers are sharing less direct feedback than before. Consumers are giving brands the “silent treatment”, depriving businesses of the insights needed to improve.

Singaporeans’ confidence in AI has also dropped 11% in the past year, signalling trust issues that brands must address to bridge the gap between innovation and customer expectations. The situation is compounded by high discomfort from consumers around data privacy and the misuse of personal information, which further undermines trust and impacts efforts to personalise services and experiences.

To rebuild confidence, businesses must go beyond surface-level fixes, consistently deliver on their promises, and demonstrate responsible stewardship of customer data.

Four ways to improve customer experience in 2025

After much talk and excitement in recent years about the potential for AI to improve the customer experience, 2025 is the year the hype becomes reality. Organisations are increasingly using modern CX tools to:

1. Make it easy for front line employees to meet customer needs – Customer-facing roles have an outsized impact on exceptional customer experiences. However, whether on the shop floor, in call centres, or managing digital chats, they face significant challenges while working to create positive experiences. By streamlining processes, improving communication, and investing in training and technology, organisations can empower these teams to solve problems, personalise engagements and enhance overall customer satisfaction across the entire journey
2. Capture every voice and respond with impact - Faced with declining levels of direct customer feedback, modern technologies allow brands to extract meaningful insights from diverse sources such as customer care logs, chat transcripts, emails, and social media. The result is a more authentic view of the customer experience brands can meaningfully respond to.
3. Modernise your research practices - Synthetic responses are revolutionising market research. Over 70% of market researchers believe synthetic data will dominate the field within three years, addressing challenges such as budget constraints, privacy concerns, and survey fatigue. These AI-driven personas help brands predict behaviour and preferences without relying solely on direct input. Notably, 87% of researchers who’ve adopted synthetic data report high satisfaction, particularly for testing product names, packaging, and messaging.
4. Ask smarter questions at the moments that matter - Conversational feedback tools are changing how brands capture feedback, with tools now able to prompt respondents for clarification when answers are incomplete or vague. This is enriching the quality of feedback, uncovering nuanced perspectives, and helping drive more actionable outcomes. Early industry results suggest this approach can capture deeper insights without increasing respondent burden or dropout rates.

Looking ahead

As the consumer landscape evolves, one thing remains constant: the importance of forging genuine, lasting connections with customers, whether that be face-to-face, on the phone to an agent, or scrolling through your website. And 2025 will be no different.

Building lasting connections starts with building trust. To earn this trust, CX leaders will need to develop a deeper understanding of their consumers, which will allow them to make confident decisions that improve experiences and consistently meet expectations.

It means organisations must redefine how they engage with customers by balancing privacy, personalisation, and ethical practices. They must innovate in ways that resonate with customer values, embracing technologies and approaches that empower, not alienate. Delivering consistently, authentically, and with a future-focused mindset is what will set businesses apart – and keep customers coming back.

The writer is Eleanor O’Dwyer-Duggan, customer experience solutions strategist, Qualtrics.