Now in its 16th year, our 2025 research reflects feedback from 13,100 UK consumers across 441 organisations, including your own.

This year, we focus on agentic AI - technology that senses intent, acts autonomously, and combines deep personalisation with empathy. Agentic AI is moving from pilot projects to real-world use, helping organisations deliver smarter, more human experiences.

In this year’s report, you’ll find:

How agentic AI is reshaping customer experience design, delivery and measurement
Which organisations are leading with seamless, empathetic customer journeys
Practical advice for building trust and balancing automation with human connection

A new era for customer experience is coming, where agentic AI and human empathy work together to deliver value at scale.

To find out which brands are in the UK’s 2025/26 top 100, what sets them apart, and how they are embracing AI achieve that accolade, download our latest Customer Experience Excellence Report UK 2025/26.

Download the 2025/26 Customer Experience Excellence report

This year’s report highlights how organisations can prepare for the dawn of the agentic customer experience. We explore how blending the intelligence of AI with the empathy of people is crucial and draw lessons from organisations leading the way.

Download the report

Our Customer Experience Excellence Data

16

years of research

41

Global markets

4,838

Brands evaluated globally

441

2025/26 UK brands ranked

13,100

2025/26 UK consumers interviewed

Customer Experience Excellence 2025/26: UK Top 10

1. Richer Sounds
2. Nationwide
3. first direct
4. Emirates
5. John Lewis & Partners

6. Specsavers
7. Ocado
8. M&S Food
9. Yorkshire Building Society
10. ao.com

The Six Pillars of Experience Excellence

For the last 20 years, offers have been synonymous with experience. The Six Pillars of experience excellence have been repeatedly established as the universal set of emotional qualities. They define every outstanding customer experience which can create loyalty and drive growth. More relevant than ever, these pillars are providing businesses with an essential way to navigate the coming change.

Organisations that understand and deliver against The Six Pillars have always showcased enhanced outcomes, quick growth and greater shareholder value.

Integrity: Being trustworthy and engendering trust

Integrity is an outcome of consistent organisational behaviour that demonstrates trustworthiness. There are trust-building events where organisations have the need to publicly react to a difficult situation, and trust building moments where individual actions by staff add up to create trust in the organisation as a whole. For all customers, it is the degree to which the organisation delivers on its promises that is consistently top of mind.

Resolution: Turning a poor experience into a great one

Customer recovery is highly important. Even with the best processes and procedures things will go wrong. Great companies have a process that not only puts the customer back in the position they should have been in as rapidly as possible, but also make the customer feel really good about the experience. A sincere apology and acting with urgency are two crucial elements of successful Resolution.

Expectations: Managing, meeting and exceeding customer expectations

Customers have Expectations about how their needs will be met, increasingly set by the best brands they have encountered. Understanding, delivering and, if possible, exceeding Expectations is a key skill of great organisations. Some organisations are able to make statements of clear intent that set Expectations (e.g. “never knowingly undersold”) while others set the Expectation accurately (“delivery in 48 hours”). And then delight the customer when they exceed it.

Time and Effort: Minimising customer effort and creating frictionless processes

Customers are time poor and are increasingly looking for instant gratification. Removing unnecessary obstacles, impediments and bureaucracy to enable the customer to achieve their objectives quickly and easily have been shown to increase loyalty. Many companies are discovering how to use time as a source of competitive advantage. Equally, there are clear cost advantages to saving time, as long as the other Pillars are not compromised.

Personalisation: Using individualised attention to drive an emotional connection

Personalisation is the most valuable component of most experiences. It involves demonstrating that you understand the customer’s specific circumstances and will adapt the experience accordingly. Use of name, individualised attention, knowledge of preferences and past interactions all add up to an experience that feels personal.

Empathy: Achieving an understanding of the customer's circumstances to drive deep rapport

Empathy is the emotional capacity to show you understand someone else’s experience. Empathy creating behaviours are central to establishing a strong relationship and involve reflecting back to the customer that you know how they feel. Then going that one extra step because you understand how they feel.

Customer Experience Excellence 2025/26: Sector Overview

Master the evolving retail landscape. Learn how to understand customers "in the moment" and adapt your strategy for the age of AI-driven agentic customer experiences

From connectivity to ecosystems: AI is reshaping the TMT landscape. Explore how agentic AI, edge computing, and hyper-personalisation are defining the future of connected consumer experiences.

AI is reshaping the UK energy landscape. From customer experience to net-zero goals, explore how technology is driving transformation in a sector facing immense pressure.

AI is transforming UK banking. Discover how renewed confidence, strategic growth, and the rise of agentic AI are reshaping customer experience and operational efficiency

Unlock the future of public services. See how strategic investment in technology and data is helping government meet rising citizen expectations and achieve value for money

Customer experience insights

A Vision for Agentic AI for Customer Experience Transformation: Professor Mohamed Zaki.

This document explores the transformative potential of agentic AI in customer experience, moving beyond traditional AI applications to systems that sense intent, act in real-time, and embody empathy, personalisation, and trust.

It highlights how organisations can orchestrate these AI agents across customer journeys and channels to drive significant improvements in customer satisfaction, sales conversions, and operational efficiency, turning customer service into a strategic growth engine.

Download

Spotlight on Nationwide: Putting Genuine Care at the Heart of Customer Experience

This document highlights Nationwide's commitment to customer experience, detailing their strategy of offering choice and clarity in banking channels, their empathetic approach to customer service, and their digital transformation efforts.

It also discusses Nationwide's unique approach to AI adoption, focusing on support rather than replacement of human roles, and their relevance across generations, ultimately positioning them as a trusted financial brand in the UK.

Download

Spotlight on Octopus Energy: Scaling Integrity and Innovation for Customer Experience Transformation

This document highlights Octopus Energy's approach to transforming customer experience through a combination of integrity and innovation.

It details their strategy of focusing on fundamental customer interactions, empowering front-line teams, building trust through transparency and fairness, and leveraging their Kraken platform for personalised service at scale.

The document also emphasises their commitment to innovation that delivers real value, such as flexible tariffs and low-carbon technology adoption, to drive the energy revolution.

Download

Lessons in AI: Governance, Value, Agentic AI, and the Future of ERP

This document summarises insights from Benedetto Conversano, former CIO at Diageo/Avon/Jeronimo Martins, on how AI is transforming consumer industries.

It covers key areas such as the importance of strategic governance for AI efforts, focusing on effectiveness over mere efficiency, the democratising potential of agentic AI, and AI's role in process mining and the future replacement of ERP systems.

The document also emphasises the critical need for leadership education in AI.

Download

UK top 100 results 2025/26

1 - 20
21 - 40
41 - 60
61 - 80
81 - 100

1. Richer Sounds

2. Nationwide

3. first direct

4. Emirates

5. John Lewis & Partners

6. Specsavers

7. Ocado

8. M&S Food

9. Yorkshire Building Society

10. ao.com

11. Jet2

12. Lakeland

13. Chanel

14. Samsung Store

15. Apple Store

16. InterContinental Hotels and Resorts

17. Starling Bank

18. Coventry Building Society

19. DoubleTree by Hilton

20. LOOKFANTASTIC

21. M&S

22. Sheraton

23. Waitrose & Partners

24. Bank of Scotland

25. Air France

26. Waterstones

27. Next

28. Virgin Holidays

29. Burberry

30. KLM

31. Simplyhealth

32. TUI

33. Cult Beauty

34. Pharmacy2U

35. Principality Building Society

36. Skipton Building Society

37. Amazon

38. American Express

39. Bonmarché

40. giffgaff

41. Lush

42. Crowne Plaze

43. Fitness First

44. Argos

45. The Perfume Shop

46. Boden

47. Tesco Mobile

48. Appliances Direct

49. Everyman Cinemas

50. Haven Holidays

51. PayPal

52. Monzo

53. Holland and Barrett

54. Virgin Active

55. Timpson

56. Octopus Energy

57. Marriott

58. Cook

59. M&S Bank

60. Sainsbury's

61. Atom Bank

62. Sony

63. Leeds Building Society

64. Virgin Active

65. Tesco Bank

66. AA

67. Selfridges & Co

68. Moonpig

69. Marcus by Goldman Sachs

70. Screwfix

71. Gymshark

72. Premier Inn

73. Hargreaves Lansdown

74. Tesco

75. NS&I

76. National Trus

77. Dunelm

78. ASOS

79. M&G

80. Clarks

81. The Co-operative Travel

82. LG

83. Nutmeg

84. Boots

85. Saga

86. Bupa

87. Holiday Inn Express

88. Booking.com

89. Space NK

90. Aldi

91. AXA

92. IKEA

93. Holiday Inn

94. Nespresso Store

95. Green Energy UK

96. QVC UK

97. Aviva

98. The Body Shop

99. Flaming Grill

100. Zara

Global report: Total Experience: Redefining excellence in the age of agentic AI

This year’s Global Customer Experience Excellence (CEE) research highlights how leading organisations are responding. Drawing on a global sample of over 80,000 consumers, the findings show that organisations are moving beyond reactive service to orchestrate proactive, predictive experience powered by agentic AI.

Go to report page