Customer Experience: From "What to Do Next" to "What to Feel Next"
McKinsey & Company Japan has released a new whitepaper, "The Next Best Experience," which analyzes the evolution of customer experience and its significance as a source of competitive advantage. The paper highlights a shift from focusing on "what to do next" to "what customers feel next," driven by advancements in generative AI.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 7, 2026 at 19:06
- 🔍 Collected: May 7, 2026 at 10:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 8, 2026 at 03:06 (16h 34m after Collected)
May 7, 2026
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company (Japan Representative: Naoyuki Iwatani) has announced its latest whitepaper, "The Next Best Experience," which analyzes the evolution of customer experience in companies and its source of competitive advantage.
As customer touchpoints become more sophisticated, the era has arrived where corporate value is determined not by "what offers to make," but by "what kind of experience to provide." While the advancement of generative AI makes it possible to design experiences that capture customer context and intent in real-time, many companies still remain in fragmented optimization. This whitepaper aims to bridge this gap and, under a new approach called "The Next Best Experience," presents perspectives and insights for transforming customer experience into a competitive advantage.
This whitepaper was supervised and translated by Yasuaki Sakurai, Partner and specialist in corporate strategy in the consumer goods and retail industry, and Masaaki Omachi, Associate Partner.
▼Whitepaper
https://www.mckinsey.com/jp/~/media/mckinsey/locations/asia/japan/our%20insights/the%20next%20best%20experience/next-b_1.pdf
■ From "Next Best Action" to "Next Best Experience"
Traditional marketing has focused on deriving the optimal action (Next Best Action) at each individual touchpoint. On the other hand, this whitepaper points out the importance of shifting to "Next Best Experience," which designs the entire most valuable experience for each individual customer. Customers build relationships with companies across multiple channels, and consistent experience design is the key to competitiveness.
■ AI-enabled "Context Understanding" and Experience Design
The progress of generative AI and advanced analytical techniques is making it possible to understand context such as customer intent and situation in real-time, going beyond just behavioral history, and to provide optimal experiences. This requires companies to go beyond mere personalization and dynamically build meaningful experiences for each customer.
■ Transformations Required for Companies
To achieve "The Next Best Experience," end-to-end experience design from a customer perspective, advanced decision-making utilizing data and AI, and strengthened cross-organizational collaboration and operating model reconstruction are indispensable. These are important transformation themes that affect the competitiveness of the entire company, not just the marketing domain.
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that supports companies and public institutions in solving critical issues. Through industry-spanning knowledge and advanced analytical capabilities, we contribute to the sustainable growth and transformation of our clients.
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company (Japan Representative: Naoyuki Iwatani) has announced its latest whitepaper, "The Next Best Experience," which analyzes the evolution of customer experience in companies and its source of competitive advantage.
As customer touchpoints become more sophisticated, the era has arrived where corporate value is determined not by "what offers to make," but by "what kind of experience to provide." While the advancement of generative AI makes it possible to design experiences that capture customer context and intent in real-time, many companies still remain in fragmented optimization. This whitepaper aims to bridge this gap and, under a new approach called "The Next Best Experience," presents perspectives and insights for transforming customer experience into a competitive advantage.
This whitepaper was supervised and translated by Yasuaki Sakurai, Partner and specialist in corporate strategy in the consumer goods and retail industry, and Masaaki Omachi, Associate Partner.
▼Whitepaper
https://www.mckinsey.com/jp/~/media/mckinsey/locations/asia/japan/our%20insights/the%20next%20best%20experience/next-b_1.pdf
■ From "Next Best Action" to "Next Best Experience"
Traditional marketing has focused on deriving the optimal action (Next Best Action) at each individual touchpoint. On the other hand, this whitepaper points out the importance of shifting to "Next Best Experience," which designs the entire most valuable experience for each individual customer. Customers build relationships with companies across multiple channels, and consistent experience design is the key to competitiveness.
■ AI-enabled "Context Understanding" and Experience Design
The progress of generative AI and advanced analytical techniques is making it possible to understand context such as customer intent and situation in real-time, going beyond just behavioral history, and to provide optimal experiences. This requires companies to go beyond mere personalization and dynamically build meaningful experiences for each customer.
■ Transformations Required for Companies
To achieve "The Next Best Experience," end-to-end experience design from a customer perspective, advanced decision-making utilizing data and AI, and strengthened cross-organizational collaboration and operating model reconstruction are indispensable. These are important transformation themes that affect the competitiveness of the entire company, not just the marketing domain.
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that supports companies and public institutions in solving critical issues. Through industry-spanning knowledge and advanced analytical capabilities, we contribute to the sustainable growth and transformation of our clients.