To Win in 2026, CMOs Must Ground Strategy in Insight Now
Customer loyalty has never been more fragile. The Qualtrics 2025 Consumer Trends Report shows that more than half of bad experiences lead customers to cut their spending, while even making slight improvements to customer experience makes people 68% more likely to buy again.
For CMOs, the message is clear: When small shifts in customer experience have such dramatic impacts, brands cannot afford to rely on insular assumptions about what works and what doesn’t. It is critical to operate with insight-driven strategy, rooted in understanding what customers value, what frustrates them, and where trust is at stake.
Loyalty Is Harder to Earn and Easier to Lose
In today’s environment, functional performance alone does not keep customers around. People expect brands to anticipate their needs, live up to promises, and recover quickly when things go wrong. Trust is fragile capital, and once broken it is far harder to rebuild. An insight-driven approach gives leaders the visibility to spot pain points before they become churn.
Value Is Being Redefined in Real Time
With an unsettled economy and a volatile political climate, consumers are recalculating value in real time. Some trade down to save, others splurge selectively, and many balance convenience, price, and values in new ways. These redefinitions are happening quickly. Without continuous customer insight, brands risk anchoring strategy to an outdated picture of what matters most.
Personalization Is the New Baseline
Consumers are accustomed to platforms that anticipate their next move: Spotify suggesting their next favorite song, Amazon predicting their next purchase. That expectation now extends across industries. Customers assume the brands they buy from will tailor communications, offers, and experiences. Personalization without insight feels hollow; only real customer understanding makes it meaningful.
Misalignment Carries Bigger Risks
Boycotts, call-outs, and quiet churn are on the rise. Recent Harris Poll data shows that nearly half of Americans boycotting brands in 2025 are doing so because of perceived values missteps or inclusion rollbacks. When brands fall out of step with their audiences, the cost is more than lost sales. It can mean long-term reputational damage. Insights reduce this risk by grounding decisions in what customers truly care about.
What CMOs Should Do Next
For CMOs, the next step is clear. Treat insight not as a report, but as the engine of strategy. Build structures that keep you close to your customers, translate what you learn into decisions, and rally the business around it. That is how brands earn loyalty among today’s consumers.
