Marketers: Deloitte’s 2026 Outlook Demands AI Shift

Deloitte’s 2026 Consumer Outlook is calling for a major shakeup in global spending habits, and it’s being driven by AI becoming part of everyday life and a real shift in what people value. For marketers, figuring out these new consumer trends is everything, especially as the economic outlook keeps everyone on their toes. If you don’t adapt your strategy to what’s coming, you’re going to get left behind.

Setting Up Your AI-Powered Customer Segmentation in Audience Studio 2026

Adapting to the 2026 consumer means getting your audience targeting right, and that means ditching generic segmentation for good. We’re talking about the kind of data-driven, hyper-segmented audiences you can build with the AI in Salesforce’s Audience Studio 2026, which is designed to replace old-school guesswork with actual, data-backed precision.

Accessing the AI-Driven Segmentation Module

First, get into your Salesforce Marketing Cloud account. From the main dashboard, you’re going to navigate to Audience Studio, which you’ll find under the “Data & Audiences” section over in the left-hand navigation pane. Once you’re in Audience Studio, find the “Segmentation” tab at the top, click it, and then pick “AI-Driven Segments” from the dropdown.

Pro Tip: Make sure your data sources are connected and refreshing constantly. Stale data creates stale segments, period. I’ve seen entire campaigns tank because the team was running on last quarter’s demographic data when customer preferences had already made a hard left turn.

Configuring Behavioral and Predictive Attributes

Inside the AI-Driven Segments module, you’ll see the “Attribute Selection” panel on the left. This is where you start telling the AI what to look for. You’ll need to define the parameters for your model by selecting specific “Behavioral Attributes” and “Predictive Attributes.”

1. Behavioral Attributes: Click the “+” next to “Behavioral Attributes.” A modal will pop up. For “Event Type,” pick “Website Interactions.” Then, under “Specific Events,” you’ll want to select “Product Page Views (last 30 days),” “Add to Cart (last 7 days),” and “Abandoned Checkout (last 24 hours).” For “Engagement Frequency,” set it to “High (top 20% of users).”
2. Predictive Attributes: Now click the “+” for “Predictive Attributes.” Choose “Likelihood to Purchase (next 7 days)” and set its threshold to “High (score > 0.75).” You should also add “Likelihood to Churn (next 90 days)” with a threshold of “Low (score < 0.20)." The predictive models in the 2026 platform are noticeably more accurate because they're now pulling from a wider set of signals, including cross-device activity and even sentiment data from connected service interactions.

Common Mistake: Over-segmenting. It’s tempting to throw every attribute at the model, but you need to focus only on those that are directly relevant to your campaign objective. Piling on too many attributes just dilutes the segment’s focus and makes it a real pain to activate later on.

Crafting Personalized Journeys in Marketing Cloud Journey Builder 2026

With your AI segments built, it’s time to put them to work in highly personalized customer journeys. The 2026 version of Journey Builder makes this much more straightforward, with better AI content recommendations and dynamic pathing that’s less clunky than it used to be.

Designing a Dynamic Customer Journey

Head back to the main Salesforce Marketing Cloud dashboard and open Journey Builder from the “Journeys & Campaigns” section. Click “Create New Journey” and go with “Multi-Step Journey.”

1. Entry Source: Drag an “Audience” entry source onto your canvas and connect it to the AI-driven segment you just created (e.g., “High-Intent Purchasers – AI Generated 2026”). You’ll want to set the entry frequency to “Daily” so new people are always flowing in.
2. Decision Splits for Personalization: Right after the first email goes out, add a “Decision Split.” Base this split on the “Email Open Rate (first 24 hours).” People who open go down Path A. People who don’t go down Path B. Then, on Path A, you can add another Decision Split for “Clicked Product Link.” This lets you get granular with the follow-up, for instance, sending a targeted offer on a specific product to the clickers while re-engaging the openers with different content.
3. AI-Powered Content Blocks: In every email activity, use the “AI Content Recommendation” block. This tool, which works much better in the 2026 version, can now dynamically pull product suggestions or articles that are truly specific to an individual’s recent browsing history and their predictive score from Audience Studio. Find it under “Content Blocks” when you edit an email, drag it into your template, and select “Dynamic Recommendations (AI-Powered).”

Expected Outcome: Implementing these dynamic paths and AI-powered content will produce a measurable lift in engagement (opens, clicks) and conversion rates compared to your old static journeys. We’re not guessing here. A recent eMarketer report found this level of personalization can boost conversion by as much as 25% for certain segments.

Integrating Immersive Experience Channels with Interaction Studio 2026

The Deloitte outlook was clear about the growing consumer demand for immersive experiences, which means things like AR filters, interactive shoppable videos, and 3D product configurators. For this, Salesforce Interaction Studio (what used to be Evergage) is your go-to tool.

Configuring AR Trigger Events

Inside Interaction Studio, go to the “Campaigns” section and choose “Web Campaigns.” Then click “Create New Web Campaign.”

1. Campaign Type: Select “Augmented Reality Overlay.” This option lets you set up triggers for AR experiences right on your website or within your mobile app (provided the SDK is properly integrated).
2. Trigger Event Definition: Under “Trigger Conditions,” you could select “User Scrolls to Element” and then point it to the CSS selector for a main product image on a PDP (like .product-image-large[data-product-id='XYZ']). Another option is to use “Time on Page” and set it to trigger after “30 seconds” on key product detail pages.
3. AR Experience Asset: Upload your AR asset (a .glb or .usdz file for a 3D model works well) to the Interaction Studio asset library and link it in the campaign config. You can also define an “AR Call-to-Action” button, like “View in Your Space” or “Try On Virtually,” that appears with the experience.

Editorial Aside: It’s wild how many brands are still sleeping on these interactive elements. By 2026, people will expect to actually engage with a product online before they buy, not just look at a gallery of static JPEGs. If you don’t have some kind of immersive preview, you’re giving up a huge opportunity to build buyer confidence and cut down on returns.

Personalizing Interactive Video Content

Still in Interaction Studio’s “Web Campaigns,” make another new campaign, but this time pick “Interactive Video Overlay.”

1. Video Source: Connect to your video host (like Vimeo or Wistia) and choose the product or brand video you want to use.
2. Dynamic Overlays: The “Dynamic Overlay Editor” is where you can add clickable hotspots, product carousels, or personalized coupons that show up at specific times. For example, you could have a button appear at the 0:30 mark that links right to the product on screen, dynamically pulling the correct price and availability from your catalog based on who is watching.
3. Audience Targeting: This is where you apply those AI-driven segments from Audience Studio. You could, for instance, show a “Limited Time Offer” overlay only to your “High-Intent Purchasers” segment who have also looked at that product before.

Expected Outcome: Personalized interactive video campaigns will always beat static video on click-throughs and engagement time because viewers become participants. A Q4 2025 IAB report showed that interactive video ads had a 4x higher completion rate compared to standard, non-interactive formats.

Measuring Impact and Iterating with Datorama 2026

None of this fancy strategy works if you can’t measure it properly which is what Marketing Cloud Intelligence (the new name for Salesforce Datorama) is for. It’s where you’ll connect all your data to see how your campaigns are actually performing against the consumer shifts Deloitte predicted.

Building a Cross-Channel Performance Dashboard

Log into Marketing Cloud Intelligence. From the main nav, pick “Dashboards” and then “Create New Dashboard.”

1. Data Stream Connections: First, connect all your data sources: Salesforce Marketing Cloud (for your journey and email data), Google Ads, Meta Ads, Interaction Studio, and your e-commerce platform. Datorama 2026 has more pre-built connectors and a cleaner UI for custom APIs, so this is a much faster process than it used to be.
2. Widget Configuration for Consumer Insights:
   • AI Segment Performance Widget: Add a “Table Widget.” Set its dimensions to “AI Segment Name” and its measurements to “Conversion Rate,” “Average Order Value,” and “Customer Lifetime Value.” This will show you exactly which AI-built segments are making you the most money.
   • Immersive Experience Engagement Widget: Add a “Line Chart Widget.” Use “Date” for the dimension and set measurements for “AR Interaction Rate,” “Interactive Video Click-Through Rate,” and “Time Spent with Immersive Content.” This chart will show you, week over week, whether your AR/VR efforts are actually leading to more engagement or if they’re just a novelty.
   • Privacy Trust Score Widget: Add a “Gauge Widget” and connect it to your ongoing consumer trust survey data or to sentiment analysis from social listening. Display a “Privacy Perception Score” here. You need to watch this number because a dip in perceived trust will show up as a drop in conversions and loyalty down the line.
3. Automated Reporting: Set up this dashboard to automatically send weekly or monthly reports to your stakeholders. Just click “Share” > “Schedule Report” and plug in the details.

Pro Tip: Forget vanity metrics. Your dashboards need to focus on what drives revenue and customer lifetime value. The 2026 consumer is motivated by value and wary of privacy issues, so your KPIs have to reflect that. If an AR experience isn’t lifting conversions for a key segment, it’s a failure, no matter how cool it looks.

The market in 2026 is going to require fast, precise work. Using the AI and personalization tools inside platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Interaction Studio gives marketers a real shot at not just reacting to new spending habits, but actually creating better customer experiences. Everything is moving toward being more personal and more interactive.