Rising AI costs will force B2C marketing leaders to scale back a third of AI initiatives, according to Forrester's 2027 predictions for B2C marketing, customer experience and digital strategy.
The forecast points to growing pressure on marketing budgets as AI use expands and more marketing technology suppliers adopt usage-based pricing. Under that model, agent interactions, generated assets and automated workflows become chargeable events, raising the cost of deploying AI at scale.
Forrester expects leaders to focus spending on projects that show measurable business value. It sees this as part of a broader reassessment of where AI should be used and where human input should remain central.
CX hiring
Alongside the projected reduction in AI initiatives, customer experience staffing is expected to rise by 20% after what Forrester described as overzealous cuts. Companies that have spent two years reducing CX teams are expected to hire for roles linked to AI support, including natural language processing engineers, data scientists and AI experience designers.
Those hires are intended to help companies identify higher-value AI use cases and improve how AI systems are deployed in customer-facing functions. The prediction suggests that even as some projects are cut, companies will keep investing in the specialist staff needed to assess and manage the technology.
Content shift
Forrester also predicts that half of brands will again make human-generated content a top priority. It argues that the spread of AI-generated material across digital channels will push marketers to rely more heavily on experts, customers and documented evidence to build trust and credibility.
This would mark a notable shift in content strategy as businesses balance automation's efficiency gains with concerns about authenticity. In practice, it points to a stronger role for editorial oversight and source-based material in brand communications.
Shopping habits
Consumer behaviour is also expected to shift, with Forrester predicting that one in 20 consumers in the US and UK will move away from traditional shopping in favour of conversations. Brands that put trust ahead of automation will be better placed as routine purchases are increasingly handed to autonomous AI agents, the firm said.
The projection adds to debate over so-called agentic commerce, in which AI systems act on behalf of consumers during product discovery and purchasing. For marketers and digital teams, that would mean adapting not only creative strategies but also the way brand interactions are designed and governed.
The predictions span B2C marketing, customer experience, consumer behaviour, digital commerce, media and advertising, marketing agencies, content and creative, and trust and privacy. Taken together, they describe a market in which businesses face pressure to control AI spending while responding to changing expectations around shopping, content and service.
Sharyn Leaver, Chief Research Officer at Forrester, outlined the firm's view of the trade-offs facing executives. "The challenge for leaders in 2027 will be gaining greater control without limiting growth," said Sharyn Leaver, Chief Research Officer at Forrester.
"Whether managing AI costs, preparing for agentic commerce, or earning trust in an increasingly synthetic digital world, organizations must make more deliberate decisions about where AI creates value, where human expertise matters most, and where investment is best spent," Leaver said.