Across my past three Customer Experience conference keynotes, leaders have asked a similar question: what does good CX look like now, as we move into 2027 and beyond?
These keynote briefs reveal a broader business priority: helping teams understand changing customer expectations, connect their work to customer value and turn good customer experiences into stronger business performance.
My central keynote message: CX is good for the business and good for customers too.
It’s timely, with CX Day falling on 6 October and the theme, “Good CX delivers better outcomes for customers, employees, and organisations.”
Before I step onto the stage, three priorities are shaping the conversation.
SHIFTING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR
Customers are using AI to help research, compare and choose products and services. The next question for leaders is how quickly their own customers are adopting it, where it influences purchasing and switching decisions, and what that means for the business.
Your customer data provides the starting point: changes in discovery channels, identifiable referrals from AI tools, enquiry patterns, product usage and purchasing behaviour. Direct customer research helps establish whether AI helped customers discover, compare or choose your business, or switch to a competitor.
TRUST AND THE POWER OF RECOMMENDATION
Trust is becoming more personal. Edelman’s 2026 research shows trust shifting away from national political leaders and major news organisations towards family, friends and colleagues. AI adds another source of advice, but adoption does not equal trust.
For leaders, the question is whose recommendation customers trust enough to act on. Friends and peers bring a valuable layer of confidence to decision-making. As customer advocacy becomes more commercially valuable, delivering on your product and service promises gives customers experiences they can confidently endorse and recommend.
REDESIGNING THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY AND EXPERIENCE
Adding AI to existing touchpoints can improve efficiency. The bigger opportunity is to rethink the experience around what customers are trying to achieve and the work they currently have to do themselves.
Walmart’s Sparky helps shoppers prepare for occasions and identify relevant products. Instacart’s AI assistant can turn a meal idea into a ready-to-buy grocery cart, taking account of preferences and available stock. These capabilities connect customer needs with planning and purchasing.
For leaders, the starting point is deeper customer understanding. Which decisions are difficult? What must customers research, coordinate or repeat? What could a newly designed experience resolve for them? Understand the need first. Then design the journey, deciding where AI, people and connected services can create greater customer value.
Good CX delivers: “Today’s customer experiences are tomorrow’s value and growth.”— Alex Allwood
Alex Allwood is a go-to customer experience keynote speaker, strategic workshop facilitator, recognised two-time author, and a leading voice on AI-driven customer experience.