The Intention Economy

1. The Intention Economy: Customers taking charge and shaping markets

Free customers are more valuable than captive ones.

Customer-driven markets. The Intention Economy represents a fundamental shift in how markets operate. Instead of businesses pushing products and services onto consumers, customers actively express their needs and intentions, driving supply to meet demand. This new paradigm empowers individuals to shape the marketplace according to their preferences and requirements.

Value of customer agency. In this economy, customers have full agency and the tools to engage with vendors on their own terms. They can manage their own data, set their own preferences, and initiate transactions based on their specific needs. This level of customer empowerment leads to more efficient markets, better-matched products and services, and ultimately, greater value for both customers and businesses.

Transforming industries. The Intention Economy has the potential to disrupt and transform various industries:

• Retail: Customers can express precise product requirements, forcing retailers to compete on fulfillment rather than marketing
• Advertising: Shift from mass targeting to responding to specific customer intentions
• Supply chains: Greater transparency and responsiveness to actual customer demand
• Service industries: Customization based on individual customer preferences and needs

2. From captive consumers to liberated customers: The shift in power dynamics

Consumers have been categorized, confined, segregated, surveilled, and denied their privacy by an industrial age value system that seeks to normalize at all costs.

Breaking free from constraints. The industrial age model of business treated consumers as passive recipients of products and marketing messages. This approach led to practices that limited customer choice, invaded privacy, and prioritized corporate interests over individual needs. The shift towards liberated customers marks a departure from these constraining practices.

Empowered decision-making. Liberated customers have:

• Access to more information about products and services
• Tools to compare options and make informed choices
• Ability to communicate directly with vendors
• Power to influence product development and business practices

Redefining relationships. This shift fundamentally changes the relationship between businesses and customers:

• From one-way communication to dialogue
• From mass marketing to personalized engagement
• From company-centric to customer-centric business models
• From opaque to transparent business practices

3. VRM: Empowering customers with tools to manage vendor relationships

VRM tools are personal. As with hammers, wallets, cars, and mobile phones, people use them as individuals.

Customer-side relationship management. Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) tools provide customers with the means to manage their interactions with multiple vendors efficiently. These tools are designed to be personal, independent, and under the control of the individual customer.

Key features of VRM tools:

• Personal data management and control
• Expression of customer intentions and preferences
• Easy engagement with multiple vendors
• Management of terms and agreements
• Integration with vendor CRM systems

Benefits of VRM:

• Increased customer autonomy and control
• More efficient and personalized vendor interactions
• Reduced information asymmetry between customers and vendors
• Potential for new business models and services

4. The Live Web: A real-time, interactive environment for business

The Live Web isn't just real time. It's real place as well. And the best real-world model for that place is the city.

Dynamic digital ecosystem. The Live Web represents an evolution from the static, document-based Web to a real-time, interactive environment. This shift creates new opportunities for businesses to engage with customers and respond to their needs instantly.

Characteristics of the Live Web:

• Real-time data and interactions
• Personalized and context-aware experiences
• Integration of multiple data sources and services
• Collaborative and social features

Business implications:

• Need for agile and responsive business models
• Opportunities for instant customer feedback and engagement
• Potential for new, real-time services and products
• Challenges in managing and leveraging real-time data streams

5. APIs: Turning companies inside out and fostering innovation

Baking an organization's core competence into API is an economic imperative.

Exposing core competencies. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) allow companies to expose their core functionalities to the outside world, enabling integration with other services and fostering innovation. This "inside out" approach transforms how businesses operate and collaborate.

Benefits of API-centric business models:

• Increased innovation through third-party developers
• New revenue streams from API usage
• Enhanced flexibility and adaptability to market changes
• Improved customer experiences through integrated services

Examples of API-driven success:

• Google Maps integration in countless applications
• Salesforce's extensive ecosystem of third-party apps
• Amazon Web Services powering numerous startups and enterprises

6. Freedom of contract: Restoring balance in customer-vendor agreements

Freedom of contract says anybody is free to make agreements with anybody else: essentially to form laws unto themselves.

Rebalancing power dynamics. Traditional contracts of adhesion, where customers have no negotiating power, are being challenged by the concept of freedom of contract. This principle aims to restore balance in customer-vendor agreements, allowing for more equitable and mutually beneficial relationships.

Key aspects of freedom of contract:

• Mutual negotiation of terms
• Transparency in agreement language
• Flexibility to accommodate individual needs
• Respect for customer rights and preferences

Implications for businesses:

• Need for more flexible and customizable agreements
• Potential for increased customer trust and loyalty
• Challenges in managing diverse contractual relationships
• Opportunities for innovative business models based on customer-centric agreements

7. The World Wide City: The Internet as a commons and marketplace

The Internet is a commons. This is good for business.

Digital urban landscape. Conceptualizing the Internet as a World Wide City provides a framework for understanding its role as both a commons and a marketplace. This model emphasizes the interconnected, diverse, and dynamic nature of the online environment.

Characteristics of the World Wide City:

• Diverse population of users and services
• Shared infrastructure and resources
• Constant innovation and adaptation
• Mix of public and private spaces

Business opportunities in the digital commons:

• Access to global markets and diverse customer base
• Collaborative innovation through open-source and shared resources
• New business models leveraging network effects
• Challenges in navigating digital governance and regulations

8. Personal data control: Small data trumps big data in customer relationships

Personal data—digital data created by and about people—represents a new economic "asset class," touching all aspects of society.

Empowering individuals. The shift from big data controlled by corporations to small data managed by individuals represents a significant change in how personal information is handled and valued. This approach puts customers in control of their own data and how it's used in their relationships with vendors.

Benefits of personal data control:

• Increased privacy and security for individuals
• More accurate and up-to-date customer information for businesses
• Potential for new services based on customer-controlled data
• Reduction in data collection and storage costs for businesses

Challenges and opportunities:

• Developing user-friendly tools for personal data management
• Creating standards for data portability and interoperability
• Addressing regulatory and compliance issues
• Innovating new business models that respect customer data control

9. EmanciPay and EmanciTerm: New models for transactions and agreements

EmanciPay creates the "willing buyer" that the DPRA thought the Net would not allow.

Reinventing transactions. EmanciPay represents a new approach to payments, allowing customers to set their own terms and prices for goods and services. This model shifts power to the customer side of transactions, enabling more flexible and personalized economic exchanges.

Key features of EmanciPay:

• Customer-initiated payments and price-setting
• Support for voluntary and variable pricing models
• Integration with personal data stores and VRM tools
• Potential for micropayments and new revenue models

EmanciTerm and freedom of contract. Complementing EmanciPay, EmanciTerm allows customers to set their own terms for agreements with vendors. This approach challenges traditional contracts of adhesion and promotes more balanced and negotiated relationships between customers and businesses.

Implications for businesses:

• Need for more flexible pricing and agreement models
• Opportunities for increased customer engagement and loyalty
• Challenges in managing diverse payment and contractual arrangements
• Potential for new markets and services based on customer-driven transactions

Last updated: November 18, 2024