Report:
The Forrester Wave™: Experience Optimization Solutions, Q3 2026
How does Forrester define the Experience Optimization Solutions market in 2026?
Experience optimization (EO) solutions enable organizations to design, deliver, measure, and continuously improve digital customer experiences. The space is rapidly evolving from traditional web experimentation and personalization into a broader discipline that combines customer data, analytics, recommendations, and journey orchestration within a unified operational framework. Advances in generative AI (genAI) and agentic AI are reshaping the category by automating EO activities that have historically caused organizational pain—such as designing and developing new digital experiences—while helping teams move more quickly from insights to action. EO platforms are becoming the action layer that connects customer understanding, experimentation, decisioning, and engagement across channels and moments of interaction.
Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Experience Optimization Solutions, Q3 2026 in 2026
- Publication Date: 20-Aug-2026
- Document ID: 001a000001AFJA5AAP
- Summary: Experience optimization (EO) solutions enable organizations to design, deliver, measure, and continuously improve digital customer experiences. In our evaluation of EO solutions providers, we identified the most significant ones and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps you select the right one for your needs.
- Authors: Chiara De Gasperin
How did the Experience Optimization Solutions market evolve in 2026?
- EO solutions are evolving from traditional web experimentation and personalization into a broader discipline combining customer data, analytics, recommendations, and journey orchestration
- Generative AI (genAI) and agentic AI are reshaping the category, automating traditionally painful EO activities
- GenAI has become table stakes, with most vendors supporting content creation, audience building, experiment ideation, and analytics assistance
- Differentiation now comes from agentic AI capabilities that can automate experiment creation, journey orchestration, campaign optimization, and decision-making
- Leading vendors differentiate through customer data platforms, warehouse-native architectures, zero-copy activation, and strong identity resolution
- EO platforms are becoming the action layer connecting customer understanding, experimentation, decisioning, and engagement across channels
- Organizations need solutions that can activate data consistently across experimentation, personalization, recommendations, and engagement use cases
- The market is moving toward autonomous EO, where AI agents handle tasks with limited human intervention
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- The vendor natively provides all core functions for this space, as defined in The Experience Optimization Solutions Landscape, Q1 2026
- Has demonstrated track record for supporting large enterprises
- Extensively serves the needs of business users like CX/UX pros, digital experience pros, digital leaders, and marketers
- The vendor has at least $30 million in annual revenue from its EO solutions product in the last four quarters
- Forrester clients frequently mention the product as one they're considering prior to a purchase
- We have heard about the product from our clients in the form of inquiries, advisories, consulting engagements, and other interactions over the past year
- Other vendors mention this vendor as a competitor
What are the common features of top products in the Experience Optimization Solutions space?
No common features specified.
Scope Exclusions
- Vendors with less than $30 million in annual revenue from EO solutions
- Vendors without broad, enterprise-level support for business users
- Solutions that don't natively provide all core EO functions as defined in The Experience Optimization Solutions Landscape, Q1 2026
- Vendors without demonstrated track record for supporting large enterprises
- Vendors lacking substantial mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients
- Products not frequently mentioned by clients as being considered for purchase
- Vendors not recognized as competitors by other vendors in the market
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- Broad, enterprise-level support for business users with native provision of all core EO functions
- Demonstrated track record for supporting large enterprises
- Extensive service to business users like CX/UX pros, digital experience pros, digital leaders, and marketers
- At least $30 million in annual revenue from EO solutions in the last four quarters
- Substantial mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients
- Frequently mentioned by clients as a product being considered for purchase
- Regular mentions by other vendors as a competitor
Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting
- Implementation — 4%
- Deployment — 2%
- Reliability and performance — 3%
- Data collection — 3%
- Data ingestion, export, zero-copy — 3%
- Data management — 3%
- Identity resolution and privacy — 4%
- Customer profile — 3%
- Audiences and segmentation — 1%
- Analytics — 3%
- Campaign design — 6%
- Web experimentation — 7%
- Web personalization — 7%
- 1:1 personalization — 4%
- Recommendations — 4%
- Feature experimentation — 4%
- Customer engagement — 4%
- Devices and channels — 5%
- Extended native functionalities — 3%
- Agentic AI — 3%
- Generative AI — 4%
- Performance analysis — 4%
- Insight to action — 3%
- Collaboration — 3%
- Product packaging — 2%
- Solution experience — 4%
- Organization type — 4%
Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting
- Vision — 15%
- Innovation — 15%
- Roadmap — 15%
- Partner ecosystem — 15%
- Adoption — 15%
- Pricing flexibility and transparency — 10%
- Supporting services and offerings — 15%
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates the eight most significant Experience Optimization (EO) solutions providers, analyzing their current offerings, strategic vision, and customer feedback. The evaluation covers vendors' capabilities in web experimentation, personalization, recommendations, journey orchestration, data management, and AI-driven automation. It assesses how vendors are leveraging generative AI and agentic AI to transform EO workflows and operating models.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: EO solutions customers should use this research to inform purchase decisions by: 1) Evaluating how far vendors' AI capabilities extend beyond content generation into agentic AI that automates workflows; 2) Assessing vendors' visions for agentic AI optimization and whether their roadmaps demonstrate realistic paths toward autonomous optimization; 3) Prioritizing vendors with flexible, unified data foundations that support consistent activation across use cases without creating data silos. Business users, product teams, marketers, and digital experience professionals seeking to select the right EO platform for their needs should leverage this evaluation.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Vendors included in this evaluation must natively provide all core functions for the EO space as defined in The Experience Optimization Solutions Landscape, Q1 2026. This includes capabilities for designing, delivering, measuring, and continuously improving digital customer experiences. They must have at least $30 million in annual revenue from EO solutions, demonstrating substantial market presence. Vendors must have a proven track record supporting large enterprises and extensively serve business users including CX/UX professionals, digital experience professionals, digital leaders, and marketers. Additionally, vendors must have significant mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients, with frequent mentions in client inquiries, advisories, and consulting engagements, and be recognized as competitors by other vendors in the market.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Annual revenue from EO solutions below $30 million threshold
- Lack of native provision of all core EO functions as defined in Forrester's landscape report
- Insufficient track record supporting large enterprise clients
- Limited focus on business user needs (CX/UX pros, digital experience pros, digital leaders, marketers)
- Lack of substantial mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients
- Infrequent mentions by clients as a product being considered for purchase
- Not recognized as a competitor by other vendors in the market
- Failure to meet vendor participation requirements during the evaluation process
Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?
A:
- Evaluate how far the vendor's AI capabilities extend beyond content generation—assess whether AI is merely a productivity assistant or a foundational component of the vendor's future operating model for EO
- Assess the vendor's vision for agentic AI optimization and whether their roadmap demonstrates a realistic path toward more autonomous optimization that aligns with your desired operating model
- Prioritize a flexible and unified data foundation—evaluate how well the platform fits your existing data strategy and governance requirements, including customer data platforms, warehouse-native architectures, zero-copy activation, and identity resolution capabilities
- Consider the vendor's ability to activate data consistently across experimentation, personalization, recommendations, and engagement use cases without creating additional data silos
- Evaluate the breadth of channels and implementation flexibility to support your specific business and technical EO use cases
- Assess the platform's user experience and ease of adoption for your specific team structure and skill levels
- Consider the vendor's innovation track record and investment in R&D to ensure ongoing platform evolution
- Evaluate the strength of the partner ecosystem and supporting services to ensure successful implementation and ongoing optimization
Q: How has the Experience Optimization Solutions market evolved in 2026?
A:
- Evolution from traditional web experimentation and personalization to broader discipline combining customer data, analytics, recommendations, and journey orchestration
- Rapid advancement of generative AI (genAI) becoming table stakes, with most vendors supporting content creation, audience building, experiment ideation, and analytics assistance
- Emergence of agentic AI capabilities that automate tasks such as experiment creation, journey orchestration, campaign optimization, audience management, and decision-making
- Shift toward autonomous EO that automates activities previously causing organizational pain, such as designing and developing new digital experiences
- Increasing importance of flexible and unified data foundations with warehouse-native architectures, zero-copy activation, and strong identity resolution
- EO platforms becoming the action layer connecting customer understanding, experimentation, decisioning, and engagement across channels
- Movement from AI as productivity assistant to foundational component of future operating models for EO
- Growing need to deliver more relevant experiences at scale across multiple channels and moments of interaction
Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?
A: Strength of Offering (Current Offering) measures the vendor's current product capabilities across implementation, data management, experimentation, personalization, AI features, analytics, and user experience. It focuses on what the platform can do today. Strength of Strategy evaluates the vendor's future direction and market positioning through vision for agentic AI and autonomous EO, innovation track record, product roadmap, partner ecosystem strength, customer adoption rates, pricing models, and support services. It focuses on where the vendor is headed and how well-positioned they are for future market demands.
Reference
- Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Experience Optimization Solutions, Q3 2026, 20-Aug-2026, ID 001a000001AFJA5AAP
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