Moneypenny

The Customer
Experience Divide

Same conversation.
Different story.

About the research

To understand the gap between what businesses believe they’re delivering and what customers actually experience, Moneypenny commissioned research among two complementary audiences across the UK in January 2026.

Business decision-makers: 2,000 senior decision-makers
UK consumers: 5,001 adults, nationally representative

Both surveys were conducted online. Where themes overlap, questions were aligned to enable direct comparison - with gaps reported as percentage-point differences to quantify the customer experience divide.

Results are shown as percentages. Figures may not total 100% due to rounding; totals may exceed 100% for multi-select questions.

Research conducted by Censuswide, a member of the MRS and British Polling Council, in line with the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles.

2,000

senior decision-makers surveyed

Foreword

"We're navigating unprecedented change in the way people communicate, both personally and professionally, at a time when trust and clarity matter more than ever. In a world of noise, change and uncertainty, how you show up for your customers is one of the few things that can set you apart.

We commissioned this research because we’re in a rare position. We handle customer conversations every day on behalf of tens of thousands of businesses, and over time that’s built up into hundreds of millions of interactions across a diverse mix of sectors. We wanted to understand the gap between what businesses believe they're delivering and what customers are experiencing, and what we found was consistent. Across every single contact method we tested, businesses scored themselves significantly higher than customers.

The bar for "good" isn't set by your industry. It’s set by every effortless experience people have had elsewhere; the playlist that anticipates your mood, the returns process that took less than thirty seconds.

A journalist asked me recently when I'd last had a truly memorable customer experience. It made me reflect, because even now, genuinely brilliant experiences are rarer than they should be. It highlighted the reality businesses are up against: expectations keep rising, and that’s exactly why this research matters.

The future of customer experience isn't about deploying every trend or automating everything you can. It's about listening to your customers, acting on what they tell you, and delivering speed, clarity and human connection in the moments that matter. The opportunity is to make every interaction personal, relevant and contextually right."

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01:54

Jesper With-Fogstrup

Chief Executive Officer

Moneypenny

The Customer Experience Divide

About the research

The Customer
Experience Divide