Will One-Click Purchase Ads Drive The Industry's Future?

Tension serves as the theme for Accenture's 2018 outlook report, which predicts a handful of trends that will have outsized impact on business, technology and design in the coming 12 months.

Each of the company's seven trends is born out of a fundamental tension, whether it’s a shift, a disagreement, a collision or a parting of the ways: "Digital versus physical, human versus machine, centralized versus decentralized, speed versus craft, automation versus control, traceability versus anonymity."

Per the report, digital will no longer be the centerpiece of brand experience. The emphasis is shifting to how best to use digital as an enabler of physical and sensory experiences. "We will no longer be able to delineate between digital and physical design—they will be one and the same," states the report.

The shift prompts challenges like how to design experiences and spaces to connect with people, enabled by digital in a physical world.

Accenture recommends brands "create experiences that fuse physical and digital. The relationship and connectivity between devices will be critical—and should be invisible."

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Advances in technology will lead brands to rethink their approach to data. "Expect more data: eye capture will eliminate the current friction-generating steps of requiring a user to manually input data," says Accenture.

Another trend is rethinking design context. Organizations must start imagining the new generation of services that might be created once information is more routinely and ubiquitously captured visually. A key step is to consider the degree to which the devices or service responds to customers dependent on what it “sees.”

Organizations must get a grip on the new algorithm “gatekeepers” -- such as AI and chatbots -- and learn to navigate and engage with them. In a world in which ingrained consumer behaviors are bypassed, brands need to find new ways to develop consumer relationships.

"Could one-click purchase ads be the savior of impulse brands and advertising?" the report asks. Accenture recommends brands "consider how to inject purchase prompts into the environment where the customer is—in the home, car or elsewhere."

But algorithms present challenges as well as solutions, the report cautions.

The “newness” of next new things wears off quickly, resulting in market fatigue that can dampen consumer enthusiasm. And some consumers may have second thoughts and worry that their AI “assistant” has too much power over their decisions. Other issues: How might algorithmic platforms and devices be gamed, or hacked?  

Other trends explore the emergence of blockchain technology, viewing machines as a positive rather than a negative, and the complications over brands speaking publicly about their values and political beliefs. In addition, the need for organizations to balance dual focus on humans and data to design compelling responses to customers’ and employees’ future wants and needs is also explored.

More from the report can be found here.

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