After a conference on retail, media, AdTech and marketing, one question stayed with me: how and where is the purchase decision made today? This article explores that question.
As AI gains ground, shopping habits are changing too – but how do we actually arrive at the final decision? A customer journey might look something like this: we discover a product on TikTok, search for it on Google, ask ChatGPT about it, skim the user reviews, check the brand’s own website, and then make up our minds after a single sentence from a friend. And all of this can happen within a few minutes.
The marketing funnel is still a useful framework for thinking, but the real consumer journey stopped being linear long ago: we zigzag. Decision-making takes shape across many touchpoints that are independent of one another, yet together form a single communication ecosystem.
In the past, a product had to physically make it onto the shelf. Later, onto the first page of Google results, and then to the top of social media feeds. Today, it is becoming increasingly urgent for AI assistants to include our brand in their answers. Nothing proves this better than research by Semrush1: 77% of the AI users they studied use AI and search engines together. In this sense, AI is the new shelf: it organizes, compares, narrows down options and compiles the shortlist from which the shopper ultimately chooses.
A shortlist is not yet a decision
In the IAB–Talk Shoppe study of US consumers2, also covered by eMarketer, 95% of shoppers took at least one additional online step after using AI to feel more confident about their purchase. In other words, AI filters, but people decide.
Brands also know that a decision requires trust. So the task is clear: brands need to be understandable and interpretable for machines (algorithms), while remaining credible and likeable in the eyes of people. A brand that isn’t on the AI’s shortlist becomes almost invisible. One that is on it but lacks genuine credibility is less likely to be chosen. We shouldn’t forget, however, that alongside credibility, price, product fit, availability and the shopping experience also matter.
Analyses confirm that consumers constantly move back and forth between social platforms, search engines, AI assistants and trusted community spaces. The influence of social media is outstanding: 66% of 18–29-year-olds turn to it for information3.
This phenomenon confronts brands and agencies with a serious organizational and strategic challenge. At most companies, SEO, social and AI visibility are still handled by separate teams or specialists. In the consumer’s mind, however, there is no separate SEO, social or AI strategy. For the consumer, there is only the brand. If shoppers come across contradictory information on different channels, it can create uncertainty and fatally undermine their trust.
How do we get started if we don’t want to be left out of the AI era, but don’t want to lose our credibility either?
It’s worth starting the audit with three simple but critical questions:
- What does AI say about us?
Let’s test our own brand and our category in the leading AI assistants. Do they give an accurate, up-to-date and consistent picture of us, or are they building on false information? But don’t just ask about the brand name: let’s also look at which customer needs and comparisons we show up for as a recommendation. Let’s check the cited sources as well, and repeat the test from time to time.
- Who vouches for us in people’s eyes?
Who are the content creators, experts, existing customers or communities (if any) that speak about us credibly, based on real experience?
- Does the shopper find a consistent brand image across the entire journey?
Is what AI recommends, what Google shows, what they see in their social feed and what they experience on our own website all aligned? Do the product information, prices and promises match?
As AI takes over more and more operational and analytical work in the background, what is human becomes increasingly valuable in marketing: credibility, community and trust. Because AI can help a brand get onto the shelf, but the brand still has to prove itself to the shopper – after all, the final decision is theirs, not AI’s.
References:
1 https://www.semrush.com/blog/ai-tools-the-modern-buyer-journey-study/