Beyond the Hype: The Gap Between CX Claims and Reality

While nearly all businesses claim to prioritise CX, few actually deliver. A new study reveals a trust gap between organisations’ ambitions and execution.

Every brand today talks a big game when it comes to customer experience (CX). Slick websites, polished mission statements, and AI-powered chatbots all promise seamless, human-like conversations. 

But when customers actually reach out, frustrated, curious, or ready to buy, they’re often met with robotic replies, dead ends, or long wait times.

New findings by Infobip from a new study conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services (HBR-AS) show this widening gap. While an overwhelming 93% of leaders acknowledge the importance of creating meaningful conversational experiences, only 36% believe their organisation is doing it well. 

And when it comes to leveraging AI to replicate human-like interactions? A mere 11% say they’re truly effective. 

This isn’t a tech gap; It’s a trust gap. And customers are the ones falling through it.

Untapped Potential of AI in Customer Engagement

The report, “Conversational Experiences: The Untapped Potential of AI in Customer Engagement,” highlights a gap between organisations’ ambitions and execution: while many use SMS, messaging apps, email and chatbots at key points, most still fail to deliver the seamless, intuitive conversations customers expect.

“While everyone talks CX, almost no one delivers,” said Ben Lewis, VP Marketing and Growth at Infobip.

“When brands can’t deliver meaningful, human-like conversations, they don’t just lose efficiency – they lose trust. It’s time to rethink what CX really means in the AI era.”

Why are So Many Organisations Falling Short?

The study identifies critical roadblocks standing between brands and the modern customer. Here are some of them:

• Poor visibility across platforms (48%) makes it hard to understand the full customer journey.
• Difficulty capturing data at every stage (46%) leaves companies guessing what customers want.
• Challenges integrating AI-powered features (44%) stall efforts to make conversations more human.
• Nearly half struggle with a lack of best practices (49%) and insufficient investment (48%) in advanced conversational tech.

Put simply, while brands want to personalise and automate, fragmented systems and outdated strategies hold them back.

Bridging the CX Gap with Smarter Automation, AI and Integration

Encouragingly, many companies now see the urgency to improve. Over the next 12 months:

• 50% are prioritising more automation,
• 41% aim to boost the use of AI in conversations,
• 39% plan better integration of communication platforms.

This marks a shift from scattered, channel-specific efforts to more unified, intelligent engagement.

“This isn’t about tools – it’s about trust,” said Ben Lewis. “Every message, chatbot and notification should feel like it understands you. That’s what we help brands deliver – across every channel, at any scale.”

Because at the end of the day, customers don’t remember the technology. They remember how it made them feel, listened to, understood, and cared for. 

That’s the real promise of AI: not colder, faster interactions, but warmer, more meaningful ones. And that’s where the future of CX truly lies.

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