Future experiences will be both more invisible and more immersive. The “below the glass” technology that powers “on the glass” experiences will be increasingly intelligent. Brands will become so adept at anticipating the needs of their customers and serving them proactively with relevant services in just the moment they need them that consumers will actually engage less frequently — but more meaningfully — with brands. At the same time, the on-the-glass experience where humans interact with the internet will be increasingly immersive — perhaps becoming the vaunted metaverse.

To quantify where enterprises are on their below- and on-the-glass journey, we fielded our Global Emerging Technology Executive Survey in 2021. We asked B2C executives about their enterprise’s digital experience (DX) strategy. Specifically, we asked what types of experiences they are building, why they are or are not building them, and what challenges they face. Check out the top-line results for below the glass and on the glass to see how your enterprise compares.

Are you looking for industry benchmarks or want personalized feedback on your company’s digital experience strategy? Please take our survey! (You don’t need to be a Forrester client to participate.) Once you complete the survey, we will send you a scorecard and written feedback within 72 hours.

Our research doesn’t stop here: Over the next three to four months, we will be publishing even more research on anticipatory experiences. We are going to dig into the challenges enterprises face and release deeper cuts of our survey data, so please stay tuned.

You can find out even more about the journey of below-the-glass and on-the-glass experiences over the next 10 years in our recent webinar. And if you’d like to discuss this research further, please schedule an inquiry with me!

(coauthored with Senior Research Associate Gabrielle Raymond)