The customer journey no longer starts with the customer ACAM report warns
Published on: October 14, 2026
Sydney – 14 October 2026: Brands are increasingly having to win customers twice, first by being selected by the AI they use to research products and services, and then by the customer themselves, according to the Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM).
ACAM’s ‘Chosen Twice: The customer journey of the future’, report supported by Adobe with research support from The Navigators, warns that the first selection in the customer journey is now largely invisible to marketers. As consumers increasingly use generative AI to research, AI systems are beginning to determine which brands make it into consideration before a customer makes a final decision.
The Navigators’ AI Brandscape 2026 study of 1,736 Australians found 39 per cent had used generative AI to help choose a brand, product or service, but consumers remain selective about how much decision-making they hand over to AI, with just 11 per cent saying they would let AI make a purchase decision even in low-stakes categories.
This creates a new challenge for marketers who need to understand not only how to persuade customers, but how their brands are represented, compared and recommended by the AI systems customers increasingly rely on.
Louise Cummins, CEO and co-founder of ACAM, said: “When customers use AI to research a purchase, brands have to be chosen twice. First by the customer’s AI, which you can influence but not control, and then by the customer. If a brand does not make the AI’s shortlist, it may never get the chance to make the case.
“The implication for marketers is significant. We need to understand what information AI uses to make recommendations, how our brands appear in those recommendations and what ultimately earns the customer’s trust.”
However, the research suggests consumers are not yet ready to hand the entire customer journey to AI, rather they are delegating individual tasks while retaining control over the decisions that matter to them.
Research from Twilio and YouGov found 78 per cent of people had used AI-powered customer service, but only 39 per cent were satisfied with the experience, while 84 per cent wanted an easy way to transfer to a person.
Cummins added: “Customers hand AI a task, not a journey, and they set the limits. Successful brands will understand where customers welcome AI, where they want to stay in control and when they need a person. That means designing the hand-back to a human as carefully as the automated experience. If the customer has to start again when they move from AI to a person, the brand has failed to connect the experience.”
ACAM has launched the Customer Delegation Framework, identifying four questions that determine how far a customer is willing to let AI act on their behalf: can it do the job, is it worth it, am I still in charge, and is it normal yet? It suggests customers are more willing to delegate when AI can demonstrate clear capability and value, while concerns about control, trust and social acceptance can limit how far that delegation goes.
The challenge comes as many marketing teams are still building their own AI capabilities. ACAM’s 2026 AI in Marketing Benchmark, conducted with Kantar, found 83 per cent of participating Australian organisations were at levels one to three of ACAM’s six-level AI marketing maturity scale, with none reaching levels five or six.
ACAM argues that the next stage of AI adoption requires marketers to move beyond experimenting with AI tools and start redesigning customer journeys around the tasks customers are actually willing to delegate.
The report sets out a 90-day plan for marketing leaders focused on customer tasks rather than individual AI tools. It includes Australian examples from Budget Direct, ANZ, Telstra and Woolworths, alongside interviews with marketing leaders including ANZ’s Sian Chadwick and SBS’s Uma Oldham.
Duncan Egan, vice president of enterprise marketing, Asia Pacific and Japan, Adobe, said: “Now that marketing teams have two audiences to win, the focus needs to shift from simply creating campaigns to orchestrating connected experiences. This means creating content that is emotionally resonant for people, structured and trusted for AI, and activated in real time across the right touchpoints. AI can power that orchestration by connecting content, data and journeys to adapt each interaction at scale, while people remain in control of the strategy, brand and customer relationship.”
‘Chosen Twice: The customer journey of the future’ is the third publication in ACAM’s research programme, following Marketing Team of the Future, published in October last year and the 2026 AI in Marketing Benchmark Report, produced with Kantar and published in July.
