Marketers have spent years asking whether consumers are ready to buy into AI. New research from Invoca suggests that question has been largely answered. The big issue is whether brands are ready to support the 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 are becoming more tolerant of slow processes, disconnected customer experiences, and poorly designed automation.
The result is a widening gap between what consumers expect and what most organizations can deliver.
Times when AI is better
For years, chatbots were often considered barriers between customers and the information they want. Now there are situations where AI is preferred.
They love it when they want a quick answer. Nearly three-quarters say they’d rather work with an AI agent than a human if the AI could answer questions or solve problems quickly. But don’t try to pass AI off as a human. More than 80% of consumers say it is important for a product’s AI to express itself clearly. They are waiting to be exposed, so for brands, this is a low-cost, high-trust tactic to use now.
That finding highlights how much consumer expectations have changed. Consumers no longer view AI as a novelty. They evaluate it as a practical tool that saves time and makes decisions easier.
For marketers, that means AI is becoming another customer touchpoint rather than a separate technology initiative.
However, doubts remain. Last year, 60% of American consumers said they felt compelled to interact with a product’s AI most or all of the time. That number is down slightly this year. Consumers are changing, and while they are more accepting of AI assistance overall, more than 40% still feel that products that use AI to help them value them less. This hasn’t changed much since last year.
When AI fails, consumers blame the product
This study has a warning for companies rushing to automate customer interactions. Consumers don’t see the difference between an AI agent and the company that uses it. An AI experience is a product experience.
If AI provides inaccurate information, gets stuck in a loop, or fails to solve a problem, consumers hold the product overly responsible. Invoca found that consumers blame companies almost three times more often than the technology itself when AI interactions go wrong.
That raises the bar for marketing, customer experience, and operations teams.
Deploying AI requires more than launching a chatbot and connecting it to a knowledge base. Success depends on data quality, testing, governance, rapid design, and continuous monitoring. What may look like a technical problem on the inside may quickly become a product vision problem on the outside.
AI improves response time
One of the most important findings of the report involves what happens after AI interactions.
As consumers get used to getting answers in seconds from AI systems, their expectations of all other channels are rising. When a prospect fills out a form, they want a response now. If follow-up takes hours or days, sellers risk losing the opportunity entirely.
The expectation of instant engagement spreads beyond AI itself. Consumers are increasingly judging brands by how quickly they respond across all touch points.
For organizations focused on demand generation, that means response speed can be as important as lead volume.
The future is mixed
Perhaps the most interesting finding is that consumers seem willing to forgive the limitations of AI under the right circumstances.
Most consumers understand that AI cannot solve all problems. 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 switch to a human representative if needed.
In other words, consumers don’t want a fully autonomous experience. They ask for seamless.
Frustration begins when customers have to repeat information, restart conversations, or wait for multiple offers. They want AI to handle discovery, routing, and general inquiries, while human experts step in when situations become more difficult.
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That means the most effective customer experience may not be fully automated or human. They will combine the speed and efficiency of AI with the judgment, empathy, and skill that humans still offer at their best.
For retailers, the lesson is straightforward. AI can accelerate customer acquisition and improve efficiency, but automation alone is not enough. The brands that will win will be those that connect AI, operations, and human support into one experience that feels fast, useful, and seamless from start to finish.
The full report can be found here. (No registration required)
