I've read approximately 47 "predictions for 2026" posts in the last two weeks. AI will do this. Customer expectations will shift to that. The role of CS will evolve into something else entirely.

Here's the thing: none of us actually know what's going to happen.

But we do know what we want to make happen. We know what we're committed to building, what we're willing to fight for, and what we think customer experience should become.

So together let’s set some intentions for 2026. What do we want to make happen in Customer Experience and how can we do it together.

Let’s manifest this together.

AI is not a strategy. It's a tool that enables strategy.

In 2026, I'm committing to conversations that start with "What customer outcome are we trying to drive?" not "How can we use AI here?"

The question isn't whether to implement AI in your customer experience—it's whether you've defined the experience you want to create first. AI amplifies your strategy. If your strategy is unclear, AI just helps you scale confusion faster.

I'm done with "AI transformation" initiatives that lack clarity on what we're actually transforming toward. Smooth is fast. Fast is smooth. Let's be deliberate.

I want 2026 to be the year we collectively stop measuring customer education success by completion rates, engagement scores, and certificates issued.

Instead, let's measure: retention impact, expansion revenue influenced, time-to-value reduction, support ticket deflection that actually improves customer experience (not just cuts costs), and NRR contribution.

Customer education is not a "nice to have" content library. It's a revenue and retention lever. If we can't connect our work to MRR, NRR, and customer outcomes, we're not doing strategic work—we're doing expensive content production.

This year, I'm measuring what matters to the business, not what's easy to track in an LMS.

Onboarding assumes learning has an end date. Everboarding acknowledges that customer success is continuous.

In 2026, I want to see customer experience teams move away from the "90-day onboarding plan" mentality and toward contextual, lifecycle-based learning that shows up when customers need it—in the product, in the workflow, at the moment of decision.

This means education isn't a phase. It's woven into every stage of the customer journey. It means we stop asking "Did they complete onboarding?" and start asking "Are they continuously growing in their ability to achieve outcomes with our product?"

Everboarding is my north star. I'm building toward it, and I hope you will too.

Let's call it what it is: these teams are doing the same work with different titles.

Both are orchestrating customer journeys. Both are using data to trigger the right message at the right time. Both are trying to drive engagement, adoption, and expansion.

In 2026, I want to see organizations embrace what I'm calling "Outcome-Driven Lifecycle Orchestration"—the convergence of digital customer success, lifecycle marketing, and customer education into a unified strategy that puts customer outcomes (not departmental ownership) at the center.

This isn't about org chart changes for the sake of it. It's about acknowledging that our customers don't care which team sends them an email. They care whether we're helping them succeed.

This one's personal, but I think it matters for all of us.

Too many customer experience leaders operate from scarcity—scarcity of resources, scarcity of executive attention, scarcity of credit for wins. It creates defensive, territorial behavior that ultimately hurts our customers.

In 2026, I'm choosing abundance. Abundance means believing there's enough credit to go around. Abundance means collaborating with teams who might traditionally be "competitors" for budget or headcount. Abundance means sharing frameworks, playbooks, and learnings openly because rising tides lift all boats.

I've spent too much of my career in scarcity mode. This year, I'm leading differently.

The pace of change in customer experience—especially with AI—means none of us have all the answers.

In 2026, I want to normalize saying "I don't know, but here's how I'm thinking about it" as a leadership stance. Vulnerability isn't weakness. Pretending to have certainty when you don't is what creates bad strategy.

I'm committing to leading with curiosity instead of false confidence. I'm committing to doing the verb, not the noun—actually practicing transformation instead of just talking about it.

These aren't predictions. They're commitments.

They're the work I'm doing at AlignedCX with our clients. They're the conversations I'm having in the CX Signals community. They're the frameworks I'm building and testing and iterating on.

And they're the future I think customer experience deserves.

What are your intentions for 2026? Not what you predict will happen—but what you're committed to making happen?