In a year expected to be fraught with surprises, how will brands tweak their customer experience strategies? Here are some predictions…
In the field of customer engagement trends and strategies in 2025, what can the world expect in the months ahead?
Here are six trends contributed by our senior staff…
- The future of brand relationships will be built on an ‘Ecosystem of Trust’
Trust has always been the cornerstone of brand loyalty, but in 2025, consumer trust is poised to hit an all-time low, due to:
- Consumers growing increasingly cynical and scrutinizing every interaction, demanding brands to demonstrate greater respect by putting themselves in their customers’ shoes.
- Organizations having earned some reputation for not keeping promises; following through; and delivering reliable and supportive experiences, during key moments of truth in past years.
To redefine customer experience, marketing, and technology strategies for building lasting customer relationships, more brands will turn to Chief Trust Officers. AI will continue to be a key driver in solidifying this effort. Brands will increasingly bet on predictive AI as they strive to eliminate guesswork, refine recommendations and improve communications.
–Robert Woolfrey, VP, Communications (APJ)
- More brands will turn away from traditional “earn-and-burn” models
Customer loyalty programs driven mainly by discounts and cashbacks are on their way out. Instead, brands will shift towards creating experiences that surprise and delight customers, to value individual preferences and behavior patterns. For instance, instead of offering financial incentives, brands could surprise loyal customers with preferential access to new products, or send exclusive invites to product previews — which cost retailers little, but provide genuine value to loyal customers.
A key priority will be around strengthening ‘phygital’ loyalty programs that combine in-store activations with special offers for loyalty members. Brands will become more intentional about leveraging data to test, iterate, and quickly refine their loyalty strategies.
Finally, in the new year, brands will use data not only to create meaningful moments for customers, but also to remove friction from the journey — including streamlining checkout processes and simplifying rewards redemptions.
– Ben Chamlet, Senior Director, Solutions Engineering (APJ)
- Bots will move away from deflecting, towards genuinely connecting and engaging
Most chatbots today serve as mere stopgaps, deflecting issues until a human agent steps in to provide real solutions. In addition, chatbots trained on static resources such as FAQs or manuals offer generic answers but often miss the opportunity to deliver truly individualized responses tailored to each customer. As they operate based on straightforward rules and predefined content, chatbots struggle to generate responses that truly simulate human engagement. In 2025 a turning point will be reached in front-line communications as the focus shifts towards eliminating friction in such chatbot engagements.
Brands are already adopting conversational AI systems capable of better identification of user intent and generating sentences that mimic the nuances of human conversations. Conversational AI can engage with customers, reference previous interactions, and respond in a way that feels more dynamic and natural.
Beyond conversational AI, brands will realize the potential of intelligent AI agents that can offer and upsell products and services; take action on customer issues; make decisions within constraints; and operate across communication channels. These agents, which are not confined to chat windows, have an in-depth understanding of consumer preferences collected over time; past purchases; and previous customer interactions such as login issues or unresolved concerns. They can tailor their communication style to a specific context across channels. AI agents can even be triggered based on an event in the customer journey.
The holy grail will be to make these AI agents invisible yet highly effective, creating a customer service experience that feels natural, effortless and trusted. Contextual data can help turn this into reality, empowering AI agents to improve performance in anticipating consumer needs, resolving issues quickly, and eliminating the hassle of requiring customers to repeat themselves.
- The future of verification and authentication is inclusive
In 2025, we can expect a significant shift in how brands approach user authentication, driven by the emergence of new messaging protocols. SMS OTPs will not disappear entirely, but will become a mere thread in organizations’ broader, more flexible authentication strategy.
Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all solution, brands will tailor verification methods to suit different scenarios and user needs:
- Rich Communication Services ( RCS) messaging, enables secure, encrypted, end-to-end messaging that eliminates the need for a code — users can simply click to approve their identity.
- While passkeys offer a smoother, frictionless experience, they are rapidly being deployed across all apps, and many developers have yet to fully adopt them. In these cases, SMS-based OTPs will remain an important fallback option, especially when users switch devices or face compatibility issues.
- Silent Network Authentication is also on the rise: it works by checking if the user’s device is both known and connected to the right network in the right place. Unlike other OTP methods, the end-user does not need to interact with the app to enter digits or press buttons.
In 2025, more brands will adopt a combination of verification methods, considering factors such as security requirements, device type, and user location, to create a more adaptive authentication process that balances robust security with a seamless user experience.
– Chris Connolly, Solutions Engineering Lead, Communications (APJ)
- Data will become the X factor as LLMs level the playing field
Smarter practices around data collection and management will take center stage in 2025. As brands recognize the risks of holding excess data while customers grow more protective of their information, one emerging trend is the shift towards data expiration. Moving forward, brands will focus on collecting only essential data while letting temporary or unnecessary data expire.
As brands increasingly integrate AI agents and conversational AI into the customer journey, the importance of having clean and consistent contextual data cannot be overstated. More brands will invest in customer data platforms and scalable data validation frameworks to ensure data reliability and trustworthiness at scale.
- Technology will break down silos and knit teams closer
In many organizations, marketing, sales, and customer service teams often operate in silos — each focused on their own data and objectives. This fragmentation complicates attribution and campaign performance reviews due to the lack of a unified view of the customer.
In 2025, more organizations will move away from isolated, point solutions as they realize the value of breaking down silos. They will adopt more holistic, returns-oriented approaches to resolve issues such as redundant customer retargeting, and work towards better reallocating resources toward initiatives that enhance customer satisfaction. By aligning data seamlessly across business units, these brands will hopefully achieve smarter, more personalized marketing that truly resonates with individual customers.
Emerging technologies such as customer data platforms and data warehouses will continue to gain traction, serving to dissolve the traditional corporate silos. This will boost collaboration, bringing together diverse teams and business units under a common language: data.
Key leaders, including the CxOs, will increasingly contribute to shaping the data strategy and vision of an organization, fostering a comprehensive, unified view of the company and business practices.
– Liz Adeniji, Area Vice President (Asia Pacific & Japan), Twilio Segment
