As artificial intelligence moves from backend automation into direct customer interactions, brands are facing a new challenge: maintaining trust while scaling personalization. The newly released 2026 Global Customer Engagement Review from Braze highlights a growing divide between marketer expectations and consumer experiences, signaling a critical moment for the future of customer engagement strategies.
Braze, a customer engagement platform provider, published its annual report examining how AI is reshaping relationships between brands and consumers. The findings identify what the company calls a “Trust Gap,” revealing that while 93 percent of marketing leaders believe AI helps them accurately understand customer needs, only 53 percent of consumers feel brands successfully predict their preferences. The report suggests this disconnect reflects a broader shift toward AI driven interactions that require stronger human centric design and real time contextual understanding.
The study also found that although 60 percent of marketers currently use AI to support personalization across channels, nearly half lack the orchestration tools needed to deliver coordinated experiences. This operational gap highlights challenges organizations face as engagement expands across messaging platforms, commerce environments, and digital touchpoints.
“As AI reshapes the landscape of customer engagement, the rise of agentic commerce can feel like a moment where marketers’ direct customer relationships are slipping away. But this shift likely represents the most significant opportunity for marketers in a generation,” said Astha Malik, Chief Business Officer at Braze. “To succeed in this new frontier, we must stop viewing AI as a standalone tool and start approaching it as a complete ecosystem where predictive analytics, reinforcement learning, and agents work together to deliver experiences that resonate. In times of disruption, the competitive advantage belongs to those who use new technology to connect more deeply with consumers. By centering the human need for value, convenience, and connection while taking a composable approach to data and intelligence, marketers can build loyalty and lay a sustainable foundation for engagement—no matter what the future holds.”
The report predicts rapid growth in AI agent adoption, suggesting consumer interactions may soon shift toward automated “bot to bot” engagement. Currently, 19 percent of consumers use AI agents to interact with brands, a figure expected to rise to 46 percent by the end of 2026. Gen Z consumers are leading adoption, with 64 percent reporting that brands maintain a human touch when using AI compared to 46 percent overall.
Industry applications highlighted in the report include AI powered styling assistants in retail, personalized finance agents in financial services, and automated replenishment systems in healthcare. However, the findings also reveal persistent skepticism around data privacy. Twenty seven percent of consumers refuse to share any data with AI agents, and 43 percent say they would stop engaging with a brand entirely if personal data were misused.
Despite these concerns, the 2026 Global Customer Engagement Review indicates strong business benefits for organizations that prioritize trust and contextual personalization. According to the report, consumers are 30 percent more likely to remain loyal and 26 percent more likely to recommend brands that effectively anticipate and meet their needs.
The findings underscore a pivotal industry transition in which AI success depends not only on automation but on transparency, relevance, and trust. As AI becomes central to customer engagement, brands that balance technological innovation with human value are expected to gain a lasting competitive advantage.
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