In yesterday's Promotional Consultant Today, we looked why some companies have hit a wall in trying to improve their customer experiences. Primarily it's because of higher expectations. By delivering amazing experiences, a few rock star companies are accelerating expectations on customer experience, widening gap that consumers have become to expect from all companies, irrespective of product, service or industry.

Is your company on track when it comes to delivering a top-of-the-line customer experience, or are you derailed? Today's issue takes a closer look at what specifically can derail companies in their pursuit of improving the customer experience from a recent post by Carrie Johnson, Forrester senior vice president of research.

Separation. The gap between consumer expectations of experience and what most companies can deliver will continue to grow. "There is a nerve-wracking separation between customer expectations and the experiences most firms can deliver," Johnson says. "When any company in any industry introduces a significantly improved experience for customers, consumers will expect this same level of experience from all companies with whom they do business."

Speed. The pace of change for consumer appetites to adopt new experience technologies, like artificial intelligence agents, will continue to outpace the time it takes companies to deploy these experience-driving technologies.

Money. Because of the separation and change, companies that have invested in customer experience may not see the financial returns of the changes they have made, which may affect future investments.

Time. As the gap widens, the window has closed on the opportunity for a slow, methodical transition in delivering a superior customer experience. The time to act is now or risk being left behind.

These are the elements driving the trend toward lower customer experience scores for so many companies. But don't be too quick to throw in the towel. In tomorrow's Promotional Consultant Today, we will look at some ways you can buck this trend and start moving toward customer experience nirvana.

Source: As Forrester's senior vice president of research, Carrie Johnson leads a global research organization responsible for creating powerful ideas and objective, courageous and relevant content that helps Forrester's clients win, serve and retain customers. Prior to this role, she held various research positions in Forrester's research organization over the past 18 years, most recently was a group director for the e-business, channel strategy and B2B marketing roles.