Consumers are underwhelmed by AI experiences

Many consumers just aren’t that into AI-powered experiences. Only 29% believe that such experiences have met their expectations, according to a new study by marketing consultancy Lippincott. And 40% are skeptical about AI’s future role in improving their experiences with brands.

Experience with AI. It’s not that consumers are out of the loop — 61% have tried AI-powered tools either as customers or in their professional lives, according to the study.

Only 39% said they’ve never tried using AI, 1% of which admit they’ve never heard of these tools.

Expectations. Fifty-seven percent of the nearly 12,000 respondents agreed with the following statement: “I expect brands to use AI to improve their products, services and customer experiences.”

A slim majority of these same respondents aren’t overly impressed when brands use AI. Fifty-two percent agreed with the statement: “I don’t perceive brands using AI as any more innovative than those that do not.”

Paying for AI. Most customers using products or services that offer AI-powered tools don’t expect to pay for these add-ons — only 7% are willing to pay more. Fifty-seven percent expect to pay the same price with or without AI, and 36% expect to pay less.

Trust. Brands are experimenting with AI agents and other tools, and best practices early on in these experiments dictate that brands should make clear to customers that AI is being used.

When customers think they’ve been tricked, many don’t like that. Forty-six percent of respondents said they trust the brand less if they learned AI was being used after they thought these services were coming from a human.

Dig deeper: How genAI can fill the trust gap for brands

Skeptics of all ages. The survey also asked consumers about specific brands’ uses of AI. In these individual cases, the average trust was low, and not just among older consumers — digital natives are skeptical, too.

Here’s the average trust rating across all brands by age:

• 65+: 18% agreed with “I trust this brand to use AI tools.”
• 55-64: 21%.
• 45-54: 24%.
• 35-44: 30%.
• 25-34: 28%.
• 18-24: 24%.

Dig deeper: Why generational stereotypes are failing marketers and how to move past labels

Why we care. You can’t blame brands for trying. In fact, looking beyond the lukewarm reception to early marketing AI adopters, one can see consumers are watching this development closely. And they have high expectations for what AI-powered tools can accomplish. So there’s a big upside for brands that keep plugging away and earn consumers’ trust with superior experiences in a transparent way.