For years, customer journey design has operated under a fundamental assumption: the customer is human. A complex individual, driven by emotions, subject to distractions, and in constant need of clarity and reassurance. This human-centric approach has guided strategies across industries, shaping everything from website design to sales pitches.

However, the landscape is rapidly evolving. As originally reported by Search Engine Land, this core assumption no longer holds true. The rise of AI agents is fundamentally reshaping how individuals search, compare, choose, and buy, ushering in an era where the customer journey is no longer a single track, but a dual one – for the person and for the agent.

This critical shift requires marketers and designers to re-evaluate their strategies, moving beyond a purely human perspective to effectively engage with both the emotional human and the logical AI. Here, we explore why this dual journey matters, what it looks like, and how your brand can start designing for this new reality.

The Emergence of AI Gatekeepers

AI agents are increasingly influencing customer decisions. They filter results, generate shortlists, book services, and in the near future, may even negotiate on behalf of users. While much of this usage remains task-based, it marks a profound change. Once AI becomes integral to how information is gathered, filtered, and prioritized, it inevitably shapes the decisions that follow. Your visibility and success can now be determined long before a human customer is even aware of the options.

These agents are not merely another channel; they are becoming powerful gatekeepers in the decision-making process. This means your customer journey now operates on two distinct, albeit overlapping, layers:

• The Human Journey: Emotional, unpredictable, influenced by feeling and personal biases.
• The Agent Journey: Logical, data-driven, efficient, and devoid of emotion or distraction.

Treating these two journeys as one is a significant risk, as content that resonates deeply with a human might be completely overlooked or misinterpreted by an AI agent, and vice-versa.

Understanding the Dual Dynamics

The differences between these two journeys are stark and critical to acknowledge:

The Human Journey: Emotion and Connection

This is the journey marketers traditionally understand. It involves:

• Awareness: Discovering a need or a solution.
• Consideration: Researching options, reading reviews, seeking reassurance.
• Decision: Making a purchase, often influenced by brand perception, trust, and emotional appeal.
• Loyalty: Post-purchase satisfaction, advocacy, and repeat business.

Humans get distracted, procrastinate, and are swayed by how something feels, not just what it says. Your compelling brand story, engaging visuals, and empathetic copy are all designed for this layer.

The Agent Journey: Data and Precision

This is newer territory, demanding a different playbook. AI agents are fundamentally different from humans:

• They do not feel emotions or get distracted.
• They do not procrastinate or get fatigued.
• They are not influenced by brand loyalty or subjective feelings.
• They do not “read” copy for emotional resonance; they parse data.

If your data is not structured, clear, and easily accessible, your brand might be invisible to an agent, regardless of how strong your brand story is. An agent scanning for “free delivery” will only find it if that information is explicitly presented in a structured, machine-readable format, not just embedded within a lengthy paragraph of marketing prose.

The “Both-And” Imperative

The mistake many brands make is designing only for people, creating significant gaps for agents. Conversely, designing exclusively for agents is also a misstep. While agents may filter and shortlist, humans still make many final purchasing decisions, and emotion continues to play a vital role in building trust and fostering long-term loyalty.

This is not a trade-off; it is a “both-and” scenario. You now have two distinct audiences – the human and the AI agent acting on their behalf – and you must show up effectively for both. Neglecting one risks losing the entire journey.

Early Principles for Dual Journey Design

While the landscape is still evolving, here are foundational principles to guide your strategy:

• Audit for Agent Friendliness: Review your website and content for how easily an AI agent can extract key attributes, features, and value propositions.
• Structure Your Data: Implement schema markup, use clear product feeds, and ensure all critical information (pricing, availability, shipping, benefits) is explicit and machine-readable.
• Optimize for Explicit Queries: Understand how agents will interpret and respond to specific instructions and data points.
• Test and Monitor Agent Interactions: Experiment with different data presentations and observe how AI tools process and present your offerings.
• Integrate Agent Insights: Use data from agent interactions to refine both your structured data and your human-centric content, ensuring consistency and clarity.
• Value Proposition Clarity: Make your core value points (e.g., “free delivery,” “next-day shipping”) front and center, accessible to both human eyes and agent algorithms.

The Acxes 9 Perspective

At Acxes 9, we understand that staying ahead in digital strategy means embracing future realities today. The dual customer journey for humans and AI agents is not a distant concept; it is a current imperative that will only grow in significance over the next 12-18 months.

For our clients, this means a critical opportunity to redefine their competitive advantage. We believe that truly effective design and marketing now require a holistic approach:

• Strategic Data Architecture: We help clients structure their information to be perfectly digestible for AI agents, ensuring their offerings are always visible and accurately represented in agent-generated shortlists.
• Content for Connection & Conversion: While optimizing for agents, we never lose sight of the human element. Our strategies ensure your brand story, emotional appeals, and trust-building messages continue to resonate deeply with the end-user.
• Integrated UX/UI Design: We design user experiences that seamlessly bridge the agent-filtered journey with the human decision-making process, ensuring clarity, reassurance, and a smooth path to conversion at every touchpoint.
• Future-Proofing Your Brand: By proactively adapting to these shifts, Acxes 9 empowers clients to remain visible, relevant, and chosen in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace. We help you design for both the logic of the agent and the heart of the human.

The brands that begin designing for this dual reality now will be the ones that capture market share and build lasting relationships in the new era of customer engagement.