Catherine Crump is managing director at Wired Consulting — part of the Wired media brand — and Sarah Ashley is a research and insights manager at Google. They’ve partnered on a new report that lifts the curtain on how AI can help solve key pain points in consumer decision-making.
The conversation around AI has ramped up dramatically in the last year, which means there’s been a firehose of new information. However, as researchers focusing on consumer behaviour — especially around what and how people decide what to buy — we found that a lot of the content and advice to marketers was missing the consumer angle. People are at the heart of marketing. And marketers are consumers too.
That’s why we at Google and Wired Consulting have teamed up to better understand how AI can address key pain points in the consumer journey and what this means for marketers in the years ahead.1 We interviewed 10 world-leading experts for their thoughts on where developments around consumer decision-making, technology, and marketing could take us. We unpacked their insights in our report, which reveals how AI could lead us to more joyful, more confident, and less regretful purchases — and why this is vitally important for marketers:
Consumers are navigating a labyrinth of choice
There are more brands, products, and services to choose from than ever before — and more channels, devices, and formats to engage with them through. Whether they’re looking for clothing, holidays, or insurance, it’s not surprising that many people suffer from indecisiveness and choice-overload.
Recent Google research showed us that 67% of consumers believe that making the right decision requires more effort than it used to,2 and 56% have abandoned or delayed a purchase because there were too many options or too much information.3
Advances in AI could give consumers new tools to cut through this complexity — and brands new opportunities to engage in a new era of marketing.
"This may be the moment that tools such as these move high enough on the fidelity curve to play a meaningful role in purchasing journeys,” says Carrie Tharp, vice-president, strategic industries at Google Cloud. And it’s not only about upgrading the here and now. “Generative AI may also provide consumers with new kinds of decision-making strategies entirely.”
The AI opportunity: How it can benefit consumers
The new Wired Consulting and Google report highlights the different areas where AI can help.
Here are some of the key findings:
Cutting through the noise so people don’t miss out on the thing they really want
Choice is a paradox. We instinctively think more choice is better but, actually, too much choice can feel overwhelming, causing paralysis or reducing satisfaction.
The insights reveal how generative AI-powered chatbots could act like virtual shopping assistants — an idea widely referred to as “conversational commerce”. This means they have the potential to guide consumers through complex product categories, offering personalised recommendations based on their specific needs, and helping them discover the perfect product without getting lost in the noise.
Generative AI’s ability to process multiple data formats (widely called "multi-modality") simultaneously, such as text and imagery, can enrich these conversations. In Google Lens, for example, a user can already send a photo and say: “Is there something that looks more like this?” to find something similar to what they’re looking for. As GenAI evolves, this experience can become more elevated and widespread, minimising those FOMO moments for people worried there is something better out there.
This personalised approach could revitalise the sense of customer service, and in turn potentially brand loyalty, associated with expert sales assistants in brick-and-mortar stores.
Tharp is unequivocal about the advent of conversational commerce. “It will be a significant shift in how you can shop digitally,” she says.
Avoiding buyer’s regret
E-commerce returns are a significant burden for both consumers and businesses. Last year, 49% of U.K. online shoppers returned at least one item, incurring costs, creating waste, eroding customer loyalty, and taking up valuable time for customers and brands alike.
AI can positively impact the presale stage. It could help companies offer more tailored, precise, and accurate information — both visual and written — about what customers are buying, what it looks like and, in the case of clothing, what it will actually look like on them. AI can also bring together and summarise user reviews for a more informed and comprehensive understanding of product quality and fit.
These tools have the potential to help close the divide between the digital experience and the physical one, allowing people to buy with more confidence and minimise the risk of them receiving a product that doesn’t look as expected.
At the same time, AI also stands to help the physical world emulate the best aspects of the digital experience. Take Victoria’s Secret, which is training a large language model — a category of deep learning system that underpins many generative AI tools — on its entire product range. One application is a conversational chatbot that can provide sales associates with a powerful new tool to rapidly get better information on behalf of customers.
Taking the pain out of the least enjoyable purchasing tasks
There are many categories and products that consumers love to browse — and then there’s renewing car insurance. As AI becomes more capable of understanding individual preferences and needs, it may be able to start taking care of those more unenjoyable tasks, or at least a meaningful portion of the purchasing journeys involved.
This would entail the tool functioning as an “AI agent”, a term that refers to a large language model that can autonomously perform multi-stage tasks using digital tools to achieve a desired goal. AI agents, powered by generative AI, have the potential to automate mundane and frustrating purchasing tasks.
Taking the shopping experience to the next level
The rise of generative AI could be an inflection point for consumer-facing industries. It’s not just about addressing frustrations, but it also has the potential to make good things even better.
The experts we spoke to for the report describe how AI agents may be able to help consumers discover products they didn't know they wanted. This could create more serendipitous and enjoyable shopping experiences, fostering a sense of discovery and personalised recommendations.
After all, when people have the information they need to navigate their many options, shopping can be even more fun.
The path ahead for marketers
In a world where consumer decision-making has never been more complex, AI tools create the opportunity to cut through that complexity. Brands can seize the initiative and use it to proactively help consumers simplify their journeys. Those that do will get ahead — and stay ahead.
“It will take us each stepping up to navigate and lead the industry through yet another pivotal moment,” concludes Marie Gulin-Merle, global vice president of ads marketing at Google.
