Increased Expectations, Declining Loyalty; Qualtrics Announces 2025 Consumer Experience Trends

PR Newswire · 10/15 13:00

Hype about AI gives way to skepticism with consumer trust in short supply

Feedback reaches a new low as consumers increasingly stay silent about their experiences

PROVO, Utah and SEATTLE, Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's fickle consumers are sensitive to privacy concerns and less inclined to offer feedback than they previously were, setting up a tightrope walk for companies in 2025 as they seek to meet expectations, according to the 2025 Consumer Trends Report from Qualtrics. The fourth annual report draws on insights from nearly 24,000 consumers in 23 countries around the world.

The five consumer experience trends for 2025 are:

  • Heightened expectations fuel a decline in loyalty: Despite fewer bad experiences, consumers are more likely to pull back on spending after a negative interaction.
  • Feedback falls to a new low: Consumers are increasingly staying silent about their experiences, whether good or bad.
  • AI hype gives way to skepticism: Only 26% of consumers trust organizations to use AI responsibly.
  • Today's consumers want privacy and personalization: Consumers want a tailored experience, yet they are uncomfortable with companies using unsolicited data to personalize their interactions.
  • Consumers are clear – go back to basics: Trust is highly correlated with loyalty, so the best way for organizations to keep customers is to do what they say they're going to do.

Heightened expectations fuel a decline in loyalty

"As companies selling discretionary goods and services up their game to win over customers, consumers are less willing to let poor experiences from more necessary services slide," said Isabelle Zdatny, customer loyalty researcher at Qualtrics. "The bar has been raised – consumers know what is possible, and they are ready and willing to look for alternatives if companies don't keep up."

Consumers are ghosting companies due to poor experiences and the consequences are costly. Compared to last year, people are less likely to share with a company that they had a bad experience, and they are more likely to cut their spending after a recent negative interaction.

Consumer response to poor experiences



Consumers had a

poor experience

Cut spending

(combined)

Decreased spending

Ceased spending

entirely

Global

12 %

53 %

38 %

15 %

2-year change

-5 points

+6 points

+6 points

0 points

Customers cite the following causes for a bad experience:

  • Service delivery issues (selected in 46% of bad experiences)
  • Communication problems (45%)
  • Employee interactions (39%)
  • Pricing concerns (37%)
  • Product quality/failure (35%)
  • Post-purchase support (21%)

Consumers are more likely to say they had a bad experience with industries offering critical services such as public utilities, banks, and hospitals, than they are with more discretionary industries such as airlines, hotels, and fast food restaurants.

However, perhaps due to the essential nature of their services or lack of alternative options, consumers are less likely to cut spending after a negative interaction with "must have" industries than they are with "nice to have" industries.



Share of consumers reported 

a poor experience

Of those, the share who

decreased or entirely

ceased spending

Of consumers that cut

spending, the share that

ceased spending

entirely

Must-have industries

(bank, university, hospital, internet, public

utilities)

14 %

48 %

27 %

Nice-to-have industries

(airline, hotel, online retail, department

store, fast food)

9 %

60 %

28 %

Consumers are less likely than ever to share feedback 

People are increasingly likely to stay silent about both good and bad experiences. Compared to 2021, consumers are 7 points less likely to say something about a good experience, and 8 points less likely to say anything after a bad experience.

When people did say something after a good or bad experience, the most common response was to tell family or friends about it. Less than a third of consumers give feedback directly to a company, and they are least likely to post something on social media.

Consumer response after a very good experience



Posted on social

media

Told family or

friends directly

about it

Sent feedback

directly to the

company

Posted on a 3rd

party ratings

platform

Did not tell

anyone about

the experience

% of consumers who

took action

(respondents could

select multiple

actions)

18 %

49 %

31 %

26 %

21 %

1-year change

-4 points

0

-1 point

-5 points

+1 point

Change from 2021

-6 points

-4 points

-7 points

-4 points

+4 points

Consumer response after a very bad experience



Posted on social

media

Told family or

friends directly

about it

Sent feedback

directly to the

company

Posted on a 3rd

party ratings

platform

Did not tell

anyone about

the experience

% of consumers

who took action

(respondents

could select

multiple actions)

16 %

45 %

32 %

22 %

24 %

1-year change

-4 points

0

-1 point

-3 points

+2 points

Change from 2021

-7 points

-5 points

-8 points

-4 points

+6 points

"In a world full of surveys constantly asking for feedback, people are increasingly less willing to answer them, leaving businesses with little to work with in their efforts to meet consumer expectations," said Zdatny. "Leaders can still gain an understanding of their customers, but it will require a more sophisticated listening program to make up for the lack of direct feedback."

AI hype gives way to skepticism

Only a quarter (26%) of consumers say they trust organizations to use AI responsibly. Consumers are also increasingly concerned about the lack of a human agent to connect with when companies use AI to automate customer interactions; more than half (51%) of consumers identified this as a concern, up two percentage points from last year.

"Companies are more excited than consumers are about using AI for customer interactions, at this point," said Zdatny. "They will have some work to do to persuade their customers that AI offers a benefit to both parties."

When asked about using AI to achieve a specific goal, nearly half (46%) say they would be comfortable using it in specific use cases.

Consumer comfort using AI for specific tasks



Overall

Checking the

status of an

order

Getting

technical

support for

computer

Booking an

airplane ticket

Resolving an

issue with a

bill

Getting

advice about

a medical

problem

% of

consumers

who are

comfortable

using AI to

complete

tasks

46 %

63 %

49 %

48 %

39 %

30 %

1-year

change

-11 points

-9 points

-9 points

-11 points

-11 points

-13 points

Today's consumers want both privacy and personalization

Consumers want to feel catered to; almost two-thirds (64%) prefer to buy from companies that tailor experiences to their specific needs. However, they are uncomfortable with sharing the information that would easily enable such customization – just 27% of consumers are comfortable with organizations using unsolicited data for personalization, and only a third trust the companies they've shared personal information with to use it responsibly.

As Zdatny explains, "companies are in a tough spot. Consumers want personalized experiences, but give less feedback than ever and don't want to share their data. Businesses must find a way to gain their customers' trust, so they can meet consumer expectations without overstepping and turning them away instead."

When consumers do trust companies with their personal information, they are much more comfortable with their data being used to tailor experiences for them.

Impact of trust on consumer comfort with information being used to personalize experiences



Purchase

history

Website

visits

Chat bot

interactions

Personal

info

(name,

phone

number,

age)

Customer

service

interactions

via phone

Location

Social

media

posts

Financial

information

None

High trust in

companies

50 %

48 %

31 %

33 %

31 %

22 %

21 %

18 %

9 %

Low trust in

companies

42 %

39 %

24 %

21 %

23 %

17 %

14 %

10 %

20 %

Gap in comfort

for consumers

with high vs. low

trust in

companies

12 points

9 points

7 points

12 points

8 points

5 points

7 points

8 points

-11 points

Consumers are clear – go back to basics

What consumers care about most is that they can trust what a business tells them. Setting accurate expectations is more valuable to consumers than speed or convenience.

 Loyalty is harder to come by, so it will be even more important in 2025 for organizations to prove they are reliable. Organizations cannot risk losing the consumer trust they have already earned by hastily rolling out new products and services. Why? Because trust is highly correlated with consumers' likelihood to become a repeat buyer of a company and recommend it to others.

Consumer priorities when interacting with organizations



Trust the

information

provided

Complete the

interaction

quickly

Convenient

Treated with

empathy

Enjoy the

experience

Global

61 %

46 %

44 %

33 %

15 %

"Following through on their basic commitments carries the most weight with customers. New initiatives rolling out are outside customers' comfort zones, so it is essential to have the basics in place and uphold them. Customers are more fickle than ever, and it's dangerous to assume that existing customers will stay loyal without intentional effort to keep them."

For the full report and methodology, click here.

About Qualtrics

Qualtrics, the leader of the experience management category, is a cloud-native software platform that empowers organizations to deliver exceptional experiences and build deep relationships with their customers and employees. With insights from Qualtrics, organizations can identify and resolve the greatest friction points in their business, retain and engage top talent, and bring the right products and services to market. Nearly 20,000 organizations around the world use Qualtrics' advanced AI to listen, understand, and take action. Qualtrics uses its vast universe of experience data to form the largest database of human sentiment in the world. Qualtrics is co-headquartered in Provo, Utah and Seattle. To learn more, please visit qualtrics.com.

Contact:

Lauren Braun, Qualtrics

press@qualtrics.com 

Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/increased-expectations-declining-loyalty-qualtrics-announces-2025-consumer-experience-trends-302276253.html

SOURCE Qualtrics, LLC