Cordial Joins the Shopper Context Protocol to Help Brands Bridge the Intent Divide

Cordial, the leader in messaging for enterprise marketing teams, today announced that it has joined the Shopper Context Protocol (SCP) — an open, discoverable standard that lets brands and AI systems preserve shopper context and intent across agentic ecosystems.

The release coincides with Cordial’s new thought leadership report, The Intent Divide, which finds that 40% of marketers lose revenue when intent is misread, and nearly half of consumers lose trust when brands get it wrong. The study reveals a widening gap between what brands measure and what customers mean — and signals an urgent need for change.

Learn more about the Shopper Context Protocol and download The Intent Divide report at cordial.com/intent-divide.

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The missing layer between attention and transaction

When OpenAI, Stripe, and Shopify launched the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) earlier this month, they gave AI assistants the ability to complete purchases autonomously.
ACP defines how an agent transacts, but it doesn’t understand who the shopper is, what their history is with your brand, or why they’re buying in the first place.
The context doesn’t carry across future sessions and channels.

That missing layer is context — and SCP makes it portable.

SCP lets shopper preferences, loyalty, and behavioral intent travel safely across agents, channels, and retail platforms. Built as an open standard, it ensures personalization doesn’t vanish in the shift to agentic commerce.

“Marketers don’t just need to reach people. They need to recognize them,” said Matt Howland, President of Cordial. “SCP gives AI the context to do that safely, so brands can show up inside agent environments with the same empathy and relevance they’ve earned elsewhere.”

AI has collapsed curiosity into conversion. Most brands aren’t ready.

Cordial’s Intent Divide study of CMOs, CDOs, and marketing SVPs shows how quickly the ground is shifting:

• Meanwhile, one in three consumers already use AI-powered agents to research or shop.
• 64% of marketers say their data is used only for campaign planning, not in real time.
• 47% have no strategy for how their brand will show up inside personal AI agents like ChatGPT or Perplexity.
• 43% say misreading intent causes lost trust — long before revenue impact appears.

The funnel isn’t shrinking; it’s collapsing. Brands that can’t carry context into these new agentic environments will lose visibility at the moment that matters most — the moment of intent.

“The funnel isn’t shrinking — it’s collapsing,” said Jeremy Swift, CEO of Cordial. “Brands that can’t carry context into these new agentic environments will lose visibility at the moment that matters most: the moment of intent.”

A protocol, not a platform

SCP is an open standard that preserves privacy and is persistent across agentic and owned ecosystems.

• Discovery layer (ACP/Product Feed): AI searches for products
• Context layer (SCP): shopper history, preferences, loyalty, and intent
• Transaction layer (ACP/AP2): checkout and payment processing

Retailers can publish SCP support via DNS records (similar to MX), allowing AI assistants to query shopper context securely through OAuth-like permissions. Implementation takes 2–4 days, requires no fees, and works across any AI environment.

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Built for open collaboration

SCP reflects Cordial’s long-standing view that the future of marketing isn’t about sending more messages — it’s about earning more meaning. By turning shopper context into a shared language between brands and AI systems, SCP ensures personalization, privacy, and performance can coexist.

Availability

• The Intent Divide Report: Download today at cordial.com/intent-divide
• Partner Working Group: Open to retailers and technology providers

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