Customer experience quality reached an all-time low in 2025, according to Forrester's Global Customer Experience Index, which was released last month. However, some companies bucked the trend.
Chewy, Zappos and grocery chain H-E-B maintained their status among the 10 “elite” CX brands, according to Forrester’s findings, which were based on a global survey of 275,000 consumers.
Most of the elite held steady in their CX rankings rather than improved. Still, this put them ahead of the 25% of brands whose customer experience quality declined.
The National Park Service was among the 7% of brands overall that improved their CX quality, which it achieved by reducing the share of “customers” who reported a poor experience, according to Pete Jacques, principal analyst at Forrester.
“More specifically, they improved the emotional quality of its experiences, in part by making visitors feel more valued and by exceeding the expectations of more visitors,” Jacques said in an email. “These improvements were enough to move it into the top 5% of all U.S. brands.”
While neither Chewy nor Zappos saw significant changes in their scores, their longstanding approaches to CX helped them retain their elite status.
Chewy’s close alignment to its customers’ values — including their love of their pets — helped it hold onto its place, according to Jacques. Zappos earned its place through superior digital experiences and a generous returns policy.
H-E-B earned high marks by offering its customers more effective, easier and positively emotional experiences than other U.S. grocers, according to Jacques.
Customers also gave H-E-B the highest proportion of positive ratings for key CX drivers, including, “offers a range of products/services that meet my budget” and “communicates with me using plain language,” Jacques said.
Other brands have an opportunity to reach elite status, according to Jacques. While the overall decline in CX can help other companies overtake the leaders, the best way to achieve CX greatness is by focusing on their own efforts.
“Sometimes, the opportunity for a brand to move into elite status is through a drop in performance in an existing elite brand,” Jaques said. “We would not advocate for brands to simply wait for this opportunity, however, and instead be more proactive in their efforts to improve the experiences they deliver.”
