For considered purchase, decisions are rarely simple. Budgets are significant and buying cycles are long, and there is almost always more than one person involved. In that environment, confidence it what ultimately turns interest into action.
We talk about The Confidence Gap at 7DOTS. This is the point where a buyer wants to move forward but hesitates because something still feels unclear. It may be that they struggle to verify a claim or picture the outcome in the context of their own business. Or, there isn’t an option to bring internal stakeholders on the buying journey with them. For years, digital experience has played a key role in helping to close that gap.
However, as we look ahead in 2026, the nature of that gap is changing.
Buyers are not browsing websites anymore. Increasingly, they are delegating parts of the buying process to AI tools. Agentic commerce is on the rise, with AI now being used to shape early opinions. AI agents are being asked to research suppliers, compare options, and often take action on the buyer’s behalf.
These tools demand a different standard, prioritising clarity and structure. At the same time, human buyers still expect experiences that feel relevant to their role and situation. In a digital environment crowded with low-quality AI ‘slop’, confidence no longer comes from a brand presence alone. Now, it comes from being useful, provable, and easy to understand, whether the audience is a human or a machine.
If your digital experience cannot clearly answer questions, prove claims, or adapt to the individual needs, the risk is far greater than losing a sale. It’s being left behind before a serious evaluation even begins.
Great execution here requires a deep understanding of your users, their goals, motivations and needs as well as a structured way to utilise this alongside behavioural data to provide an engine to power relevancy, clarity and utility.
With all this in mind, we’ve identified 7 shifts in buyer behaviour that are shaping how considered purchases will happen in 2026 and what these shifts mean for digital strategy.
Trend 1: From Researching to Delegating
The Rise of Agentic Commerce
The shift
What we are seeing now is a clear move away from manual research. Buyers are no longer willing to spend hours trawling through websites, comparing PDFs, or piecing together information from multiple sources. Instead, they are starting to delegate those tasks to AI agents.
By the end of 2026, it will be normal for a buyer to ask an agent to find suppliers that meet specific criteria (e.g., “find me three suppliers who meet ISO 27001 and have stock in the UK”). If this information is only available through layered navigation or down solely to human interpretation, the agent will simply move on to the next option.
The evidence
Gartner predicts that by 2028, machine customers will make around 20% of human-readable digital storefronts effectively obsolete. According to Gartner’s Don Scheibenreif and Mark Raskino, we are witnessing the birth of a $30 trillion machine customer economy by 2030, with CEOs expecting up to 21% of revenue from them.
Forester has also highlighted a decline in traditional search-driven journeys as buyers rely on answer engines that collate information rather than presenting long lists of links.
What this means
Digital experiences now need to work on two levels. They still need to serve human users well, but they also need to showcase structure, machine-readable information. This includes clear product data, pricing logic, availability, and credentials that AI agents can access through APIs and schema markup. Without this, you risk being invisible at the point that shortlists are made.
Trend 2: From Navigating to Expecting Adaptation
Generative DX and the Liquid Interface
The shift
Buyers have become far less tolerant of generic digital experiences. They no longer want to hunt through websites to find information that is relevant to them. Instead, they expect the experience to automatically recognise their intent and context.
A CFO expects to see ROI data, whereas an engineer should see API docs. When the same interface treats both audiences the same way, buyers take that as a signal that the product or service might not be suited to their needs.
The evidence
McKinsey’s work on personalisation points to a shift away from broad segmentation and towards individualised experiences generated in real time.
At the same time, new generative interfaces are making it possible for digital experiences to adapt content and layout dynamically based on signals such as role or intent.
What this means
CMS need to improve beyond static page templates. A more flexible, component-based approach allows content to be prioritised and organised differently depending on who is visiting and why. The goal is relevance delivered quickly and consistently.
Trend 3: From Trusting to Verifying
Designing for Proof Instead of Promises
The shift
With the rise of AI-generated content and ever more sophisticated misinformation, buyers are far more cautious and sceptical about taking claims at face value.
Rather than relying on brand reputation alone, they are not looking for tangible proof of claims. This might include verifiable sustainability data, clear and obvious sourcing information, or evidence that any claims have been verified independently.
The evidence
The EU’s introduction of Digital Product Passports (DPPs)[KH1] is encouraging buyers to expect transparent and verifiable product data.
Forester has also described an emerging “race to trust”, where organisations that can showcase transparency outperform those that rely on marketing messaging alone.
What this means
Trust signals should not be buried in reports or certifications that require effort to find. They should be directly integrated into the digital experience, using clear data and visualisation to show not just what the claim is, but why it can be believed and trusted.
Trend 4: From Solo Researching to Group Decision-Making
Consensus as Part of the Buying Journey
The shift
Even in the early stages of research, most considered purchases now involve multiple stakeholders. An individual may begin the search, but decisions are shaped by input from areas like finance, legal, IT, and operations. This is true across both B2B and high-consideration B2C categories.
In spite of this, most digital experiences still assume a single user is acting alone. As a result, collaboration tends to happened outside the site, with links shared in email thread or through internal messaging tools like Slack. Important context is often lost along the way, and this slows down momentum as stakeholders interpret information differently.
The evidence
Research consistently shows that the average B2B buying group now includes between six and ten decision-makers.
Studies also suggest that when tools align internally, there is significantly less of a stall during the evaluation phase.
What this means
Digital experiences need to support shared evaluation, not just individual browsing. This can include features that allow buyers to save certain configurations, share shortlists, comment on various options, or build a collective business case in one place. The aim is to reduce friction and encourage internal alignment, rather than forcing it to happen elsewhere.
Trend 5: From Asking to Help to Self-Serving Complexity
The Rep-Free Enterprise Deal
The shift
Many buyers now see the “Contact Sales” step as an interruption rather than a benefit. They want to stay in control of the process, especially in the early and middle stages of evaluation. This includes the ability to explore complex options and understand pricing and contractual implications without being pushed into a conversation.
This does not mean sales teams are no longer valuable, but rather it reflects a shift in when and how buyers want human input. More and more, they expect digital tools to handle complexity by default, with sales support available as an option rather than a requirement.
The evidence
Gartner research indicated that the majority of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience during significant parts of the buying journey.
Other studies show that many buyers are willing to complete high-value transactions through self-service channels, as long as the tools are sufficient.
What this means
Digital platforms need to support the full buying cycle. This includes configuration, pricing logic, and contracting. Sales teams can then focus on advisory support and complex cases, rather than acting as the only route forward.
Trend 6: From Buying to Optimising
Moving Towards Loop Marketing
The shift
The moment of purchase is no longer the end of the journey, shifting from acquisition to continuous value extraction. In the subscription/service economy, buyers are focused on how well they continue to extract value over time.
Customers spend more time in logged-in environments and expect brand to help them understand usage and identify areas for improvement to anticipate future needs. A passive account area that simply records invoices and past transactions does little to support this behaviour shift.
The evidence
Many B2B organisations are not prioritising net revenue retention (NRR) over pure acquisition are a core growth metric.
Research also shows that retention and expansion are strongly influenced by the quality of the post-purchase digital experience, particularly in customer portals.
What this means
Account areas should be designed as tools for value optimisation. It should no longer be a receipt repository, but a Success Dashboard. Use AI to predict future needs (e.g., You are running low on X), and offer one-click solutions before the customer even realises the need them. Proactive support is expected, not a bonus.
Trend 7: From Imagining to Simulating
Reducing Risk Through Contextual Understanding
Buyers, whether a CTO evaluating software or an individual evaluating a new property, struggle to visualise how a new solution fits into their unique requirements and lifestyle. In 2026, behaviour shifts from passive consumption of generic case studies to active simulation of their own future. They are risk-averse; they want to "test drive" the future state. They demand to see how a B2B platform handles their specific data, or how a property adapts to their personal lifestyle, before they sign.
The evidence
Research consistently shows that interactive tools such as configurations, calculators, and simulations convert more effectively than static content because they help buyers understand personal relevance.
In software and technology markets, there is a growing expectation for demonstrations that use the buyer’s own data rather than generic examples.
What this means
Digital experiences should aim to simulate reality rather than describe it. This could involve sandboxes for B2B platforms, planning tools for financial or lifestyle services, or visualisation tools that adapt to individual inputs. The goal is to reduce perceived risk by making outcomes clearer before a decision is made.
Looking Ahead
The shifts shaping the 2026 purchase journey reflect a change in buyer behaviour more than a change in technology. Buyers want to reduce risk, save time and make better-informed decisions, whether they are acting directly or through AI-assisted tools.
Across all seven trends, the underlying requirement is the same. Confidence now comes from clarity, verifiability and relevance. Digital experiences need to make information easy to understand, easy to validate and easy to apply to a buyer’s specific context. Increasingly, they also need to function effectively for AI agents that are shaping shortlists and recommendations behind the scenes.
For organisations, this means treating digital platforms as an active part of the buying process rather than a passive marketing channel. The opportunity lies in building experiences that genuinely support evaluation, alignment and decision-making in a more complex, agent-driven environment.
To accelerate and increase impact it is now a strategic imperative to know your customers and design and adapt the digital experience to resonate strongly with them. This not only closes the confidence gap but creates efficiencies and clarity.
If you would like to understand how ready your digital experience is for this shift, 7DOTS can help. We work with organisations to assess readiness and design experiences that support confident, considered purchase in 2026 and beyond.
