EPISODE 79 OF WHAT WOULD THEY DO? THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PODCAST FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
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Most online business owners believe they’re creating a great customer experience. But are they measuring it?
In this episode, I’m giving you an exclusive sneak peek inside the brand-new State of the Customer Report 2026 sharing three of the biggest gaps emerging across the online business industry.
From confidence without evidence, to loyalty programmes that never get off the ground, to the growing importance of transparency in an AI-powered world, these findings reveal where businesses think they’re succeeding… and where customers are experiencing something very different.
If you’ve ever wondered whether your customer experience has blind spots, this episode is for you.
What we cover:
Why confidence doesn’t always equal customer success
The surprising percentage of businesses tracking absolutely nothing
Why loyalty programmes remain more idea than reality
The buying factor customers ranked above bonuses and urgency
How AI is widening the gap between polished marketing and genuine trust
Why measuring customer experience matters more than ever
Soundbites:
“I’m going to look at three clear findings, clear gaps that I uncovered via the 2026 State of the Customer survey, to make you think and hopefully show you that you’re not alone because I bet you will find yourself in one of these gaps that we’re going to explore in this episode.”
“Finding number one: there is a clear confidence gap 72% of business owners feel confident in their customer experience, ranking themselves at least four out of five. But 45% are tracking nothing in their business, no single metric that would actually back up that statement and confirm that they’re on the right track.”
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Episode Transcript:
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode. This week we are taking a sneaky first look at this year’s brand new state of the customer report with all its findings, opportunities, and clear gaps. What you will walk away with today are three of the many findings from this year’s survey. But before we dive in, let me remind you of
The concept behind this report. The first edition of the State of the Customer report was published roughly 12 months ago. And this year’s report followed the same unique concept because people loved it. And hundreds of you have downloaded your copy since it launched in early September 2025. So this year I again got online business owners.
To take a deep dive survey from two different perspectives. The first perspective is the business owner perspective, and the second one is the consumer in that same space. And this unique perspective has allowed me to see very clearly where the story doesn’t match up and where clear gaps in the customer experience emerge. So
Who took the survey before we get started, just to give you a bit of background. 80% of respondents this year have been in business for more than three years. And 68% of respondents offer more than one offer in their business, whether it’s courses, memberships, masterminds, one-on-one work. So no matter what you offer in your business, there is your perspective included in this report.
So I’m going to look at three clear findings, clear gaps that I uncovered via this survey, the 2026 State of the Customer survey, to make you think and hopefully show you that you’re not alone because I bet you will find yourself in one of these gaps that we’re going to explore in this episode.
So finding number one: there is a clear confidence gap when it comes to the customer experience. 72% of business owners feel confident in their customer experience, ranking themselves at least four out of five. But 45% are tracking nothing in their business, no single metric that would actually back up that.
Statement and confirm that they’re on the right track. in fact, most of us are going on vibes and gut feeling alone rather than hard insights and evidence, which is so important to know whether you’re on the right track, whether you’re actually supporting your customers to that transformation they’re after. Finding number two: there is a clear loyalty gap in the online business space.
35% of online business owners are planning to launch some sort of loyalty mechanic within their business. 14% have something in place and have something running right now. So, as we established in episode 73 a few weeks ago, ideas usually are not the problem. We all have plenty of ideas, and I’m sure if you don’t have a loyalty mechanic in your business, you have ideas to pull something off. The biggest hurdle is.
Actually picking the most strategic one, the one that will resonate most with your audience, and then running with it.
And while loyalty mechanics clearly matter and matter in the decision-making process, very few of us actually have something embedded in our customer journey that makes sense, that is strategic, and that is based on first-hand data and insights. Finding number three: there is a clear transparency gap. 58% off.
Customers say transparent messaging is their number one buying driver in 2026. That’s ahead of urgency bonuses, loyalty mechanics. The problem is that most of us online business owners are leaning towards, polished, produced by AI without any backing or data to brief it properly and picture perfect over raw and
Brutally honest and geared towards what our customer actually needs to hear to make an educated buying decision. And while I could go on for ages in this episode, I’m going to give you three of the many clear gaps.
The report has uncovered. And if you want to dive even deeper into insights around things like AI use in the online business space and customer acceptance on the flip side, then I invite you to grab free access to the report via the link in the show notes. I can talk you through things, but immersing yourself.
In your own time and space, particularly because this year I have gone with an editorial style immersive format that won’t collect dust on your hard drive. it makes much more sense for you to get access and have a look through in your own time and space and really work out what resonates with you, where you see yourself falling into some of those traps.
And if you happen to listen live as this episode airs and you grab the report before the 25th of August, you’ll also get an exclusive invitation to an interactive live workshop where you will diagnose your biggest gap and build one fix with me in real time.
I’ve built very cool interactive tools that we will play with live during the session. So you can actually, you know, walk away with something tangible and self-diagnose during that live session. Plus, I also asked my Retention Lab members to share one customer experience strategy that they’ve implemented recently and successfully in their own business. And these super clever tips are also.
Featured in the report. So that’s it for the teaser episode. Three of the many gaps that the State of the Customer Report 2026 uncovered. before you go back to work or life or whatever you are doing make sure you grab access to the report. It’s absolutely free. And as you go through the findings, be honest with yourself about which of these gaps.
apply to your situation right now. And potentially, yeah, have a think about how you can address those in your business over the coming months. Plus, it can absolutely feel reassuring when you look through the numbers to understand that no, it’s not just you, other people in the online business space are in the same boat as you.
So next week we are back to regular programming. Hopefully you grab the report, have a look through and yeah, have some aha moments along the way. Thank you so much for tuning in and I will see you next week.
