How fundamentally is AI changing the traditional idea of the customer journey, and are the familiar stages of awareness, consideration, purchase and loyalty still useful for enterprises?
“AI is reshaping the customer journey by removing many of the traditional boundaries between discovery, evaluation, and purchase. Customers increasingly arrive on your homepage with AI-generated recommendations, comparisons, and opinions already in hand, meaning brands have fewer opportunities to influence the decision after that first interaction.
“The familiar stages of awareness, consideration, purchase, and loyalty still matter, but they’re no longer a linear funnel. They’re a continuous, interconnected experience. I often think of it this way – the customer journey used to be a three-course meal; today it’s a buffet. Because of this, every touchpoint needs to deliver consistent, relevant, high-quality information because you no longer control where the journey begins.”
Many organisations are adding AI to existing customer touchpoints. Is this enough, or should enterprises be redesigning customer journeys from the ground up around what AI now makes possible?
“Simply adding AI to existing customer touchpoints isn’t enough. The biggest opportunity is redesigning customer journeys around what AI now makes possible: understanding intent in real time, personalising every interaction, and removing friction before it slows a buyer down.
