For ten years, Symbos has tracked how Australians experience customer service; what matters, what shapes perception, and how expectations continue to evolve.
In May, we release the 10th edition of The State of Customer Experience in Australia.
This milestone edition brings together a decade of insight, offering a long-term view of how customer expectations have developed and how service delivery has progressed alongside them.
Over time, customer expectations have become more defined and more consistent and Australians are clear about what underpins excellent service. Access to accurate information, knowledgeable representatives, and the ability to connect with a human when needed continue to sit at the centre of service expectations.
The report reflects a customer experience landscape that has evolved gradually. Service performance has improved across industries, and overall sentiment is now at its most positive level in ten years.
At the same time, customer expectations have continued to rise, shaping how service quality is experienced and evaluated. Perceptions of how organisations prioritise service excellence have remained relatively consistent over the past decade, providing an important reference point for understanding how customers interpret service delivery today.
As digital channels and AI-enabled tools continue to expand, customers are engaging with service in more ways than ever before. Digital channels are now firmly embedded in everyday service interactions, particularly for simple enquiries. At the same time, human support remains central for more complex interactions, where expertise and reassurance are most valued.
Confidence in AI-powered tools continues to build in areas such as accessibility and speed, while expectations around accuracy and resolution remain important considerations in how these tools are experienced.
Looking across the full ten-year dataset, one theme becomes clear; that customer expectations are well established, widely understood, and consistently expressed. This provides organisations with a strong foundation to shape customer experience strategies that are aligned to what customers value most.
Coming May 2026
The full 2026 report will be released in May.
It includes insights drawn from a nationally distributed survey of over 500 Australians, conducted in partnership with Swinburne University’s CXI Research Group, alongside ten years of longitudinal data.
This edition reflects not only where customer experience stands today, but how it has evolved over time; offering a clear perspective for organisations looking to shape the next phase of customer experience in Australia.