Marketers have spent years wondering whether consumers are ready to buy from AI. New research from Invoca suggests that question has largely been answered. The bigger question is whether brands are ready to support customer expectations created by AI.
According to Invoca’s “B2C Buyers Experience Report,” consumers are increasingly comfortable using genAI and agents throughout the purchasing journey. At the same time, they have become less tolerant of slow processes, disjointed customer experiences, and poorly designed automation.
The result is a growing gap between what consumers expect and what many organizations can deliver.
The times when artificial intelligence is better
For years, chatbots have often been seen as obstacles standing between customers and the information they want. Now there are even circumstances in which artificial intelligence is preferred.
They like it better when they want a quick answer. Nearly three-quarters said they would prefer to interact with an AI agent rather than a human if AI could answer questions or solve problems more quickly. But don’t try to pass off the AI as a human. Over 80% of consumers say it is important for a brand’s AI to clearly identify themselves. They expect disclosure, so this is a low-cost, high-trust tactic for brands to implement now.
This finding highlights how shopper expectations have changed. Consumers no longer view AI as new. They are evaluating it as a practical tool that can save time and simplify decision making.
For marketers, this means that AI is becoming another customer touchpoint rather than a separate technology initiative.
However, doubts remain. A year ago, 60% of US consumers said they felt forced to interact with a brand’s AI most or all of the time. This figure has dropped only slightly this year. Consumers are fickle, and while overall they are more accepting of AI assistance, more than 40% still feel that brands that use AI to assist them value them less. The situation has not changed much compared to last year.
When AI fails, consumers blame the brand
The research issues a warning for companies rushing to automate customer interactions. Consumers see no difference between the AI agent and the company that implements it. The AI experience is the brand experience.
If the AI provides inaccurate information, gets stuck in a loop, or fails to solve a problem, the vast majority of consumers hold the brand responsible. Invoca found that buyers blame companies nearly three times more often than the technology itself when interactions with AI go wrong.
This raises the stakes for marketing, customer experience and operations teams.
AI implementations require more than just launching a chatbot and connecting it to a knowledge base. Success depends on data quality, testing, governance, timely design and continuous monitoring. What may seem like a technical issue internally can quickly become a brand perception issue externally.
Artificial intelligence is raising the bar on response times
One of the report’s most significant findings concerns what happens after an interaction with AI.
As consumers grow accustomed to receiving seconds-long responses from AI systems, their expectations for every other channel grow as well. When a potential customer completes a form, they want an immediate response. If follow-up takes hours or days, marketers risk missing the opportunity entirely.
The expectation of immediate engagement is spreading beyond AI itself. Shoppers increasingly judge brands by how quickly they respond across every touchpoint.
For organizations focused on demand generation, this means that speed of response could become as important as lead volume.
The future is hybrid
Perhaps the most interesting finding is that consumers seem willing to forgive the limitations of AI under the right conditions.
Most buyers understand that AI can’t solve every problem. What matters is what happens next. Invoca found that 77% of consumers are more willing to use a company’s AI tools if they know they can easily switch to a human representative when needed.
In other words, consumers don’t demand completely autonomous experiences. The seamless ones ask.
Frustration begins when customers have to repeat information, restart conversations, or wait for multiple steps. They want AI to handle discovery, routing and routine queries, while human experts step in when situations become more complex.
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This means that the most effective customer experiences may not be fully automated or fully human. They will combine the speed and efficiency of artificial intelligence with the judgment, empathy and expertise that people continue to provide better.
For marketers, the lesson is simple. AI can accelerate customer acquisition and improve efficiency, but automation alone isn’t enough. The brands that win will be those that connect AI, operations and human support into a single experience that feels fast, useful and seamless from start to finish.
The full report can be found here. (No registration required)
