Forrester’s 2026 Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) reveals a market defined more by uneven momentum and less by broad progress. While North America shows early signs of recovery following the last few years of decline, Europe and Asia Pacific largely remain in a holding pattern. This year’s just-released results show that CX in the US and Canada improved significantly for most industries and for far more brands than in 2025.

Forrester’s CX Index methodology measures how well a brand’s CX strengthens the loyalty of its customers. Specifically, it evaluates the effectiveness, ease, and emotional quality of customers’ interactions with a brand. This year, we analyzed more than 224,000 customers’ perceptions of 462 brands across 13 industries and 13 countries.

This methodology is part of Forrester’s broader Total Experience Score, which combines brand experience (BX), customer experience (CX), and employee experience (EX). The Total Experience Score is now in its second year, but the EX component is new for 2026.

In North America, improvements in one-quarter of brands rejuvenate most industry averages.

North America stands out for its relative improvement. In the US and Canada, 26% of brands had statistically significant gains in 2026, compared to just 7% that declined. That’s a notable reversal from 2025, but this recovery is far from universal: 68% of North American brands remained unchanged, and three US industries — airlines, credit card issuers, and the US federal government — declined. All six industries in Canada improved, most having dropped in 2025.

In Europe, industry performance creeps higher.

Europe’s performance continues to inch upward but lacks the same momentum as North America. Across the region, 8% of the 72 brands we evaluated in 2025 and 2026 improved their scores, while 1% declined and 91% were statistically unchanged. The banking industry in three countries (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) made significant gains while the remaining industries remained stable.

In the Asia Pacific region, brand performance has stabilized.

In our study of Australia, India, and Singapore, the scores for 7% of the 57 brands we evaluated in 2025 and 2026 improved, 19% fell, and 74% were statistically unchanged. The three Singapore industries (banks, health insurers, and investment firms) declined. Banks in both Australia and India improved.

So Have We Turned the Corner?

For most brands, incremental change — not breakthrough progress — continues to define the state of customer experience. While pockets of improvement are emerging, particularly in North America, global CX performance remains largely stagnant. The widespread increases in scores make it difficult to pinpoint specific patterns of initiatives that improved CX quality, especially since effectiveness, ease, and emotion all improved.

Our analysis of 2026 results continues. Stay tuned as we explore underlying consumer sentiments, driver performance, and relationships across the total experience.

If you’re a Forrester client, read the full report with detailed breakdowns by brand, country, and industry.