Hard-Won Insights Drive Growth

Generative AI’s potential to reshape marketing and customer experience sparked bold experimentation in 2024, producing mixed outcomes and underscoring the reality that true transformation takes time. In 2025, leading brands will leverage these hard-won lessons to optimize data infrastructure, boost efficiency, and enhance customer insights. The stakes are high: companies that successfully restore customer loyalty and improve CX have a significant opportunity ahead.

This guide equips B2C marketing, digital, and CX leaders with insights to navigate 2025’s defining trends. Discover how AI will evolve, martech and loyalty tech will integrate, and agencies will fuse creativity with scalable execution. You’ll also find essential guidance on bolstering customer loyalty programs and why one key media channel investment is worth holding onto.

The foundation of our 2025 predictions is clear: use the lessons from testing and adaptation to build a sustainable path to growth. Steer clear of short-term thinking and stay committed to meeting customer expectations, as the steps you take now will set the stage for long-term success.

Prediction: Many Enterprises Focused on AI ROI May Pull Back Too Soon

While enterprises are seeing positive impacts from AI—such as enhanced customer experiences, increased productivity, and new revenue opportunities—an AI “reset” is on the horizon. Common use cases trialed last year have become standard and are embedded within business software. Leaders are realizing that AI ROI may take longer to materialize, shifting toward a more gradual ROI approach. Forrester’s Q2 AI Pulse Survey, 2024, reveals that 49% of US generative AI decision-makers expect ROI within one to three years, while 44% anticipate it in three to five years. Premature cutbacks could be a setback; instead, AI leaders should align AI investments with their business model, selecting use cases that capitalize on unique data and expertise, and creating a roadmap to balance immediate and future ROI.

Prediction: Investments to Unify Loyalty and Marketing Data Stacks Will Surge

Forrester’s Q3 B2C Marketing CMO Pulse Survey, 2024, highlights that 78% of US B2C marketing executives admit their loyalty and marketing tech stacks are siloed. With the pressures of efficiency demands and consumers’ desire for seamless experiences, the convergence of loyalty and martech is imminent. Unifying data between these functions offers substantial value—bridging this gap enables improved customer insight, better personalization, and cost savings on redundant data infrastructure. B2C leaders should prioritize an integrated data strategy to achieve unified data visibility across loyalty and marketing functions.

Prediction: Brand Loyalty Will Drop 25%, Yet Loyalty Program Engagement Will Rise

With rising prices impacting consumer behavior—such as a 22% increase in food costs in the US since the pandemic—price sensitivity is driving more brand switching. Shein and Temu’s competitive pricing strategies showcase the appeal of budget options. As brand loyalty wanes, loyalty program participation is increasing, offering consumers perceived value through benefits like “instant discounts” and “loyalty currency.” In 2025, anticipate a general decline in brand loyalty, but heightened loyalty program engagement among consumers seeking value beyond just price.

Unlock the trends and strategies shaping B2C growth and CX in 2025. Download the report now for essential insights!

Related report: Predictions 2025: B2B Marketing & Sales | Forrester

• Hard-Won Insights Drive Growth
• Most enterprises fixated on AI ROI will scale back prematurely
• Investment to unify data for the loyalty and marketing tech stacks will triple
• Brand loyalty will decline 25%, but usage of loyalty programs will increase
• GenAI will displace 100,000 frontline agents from the top global outsourcers
• Creative agencies will reunite creative craft with scaled execution
• TikTok will not get banned or divest in the US in 2025
• Activate Our Predictions Within Your Organization

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