The news: Marketing professionals see AI leading to several shifts in consumer behavior that will greatly impact the fundamentals of digital advertising in the next 2 to 3 years, per a Funnel and Ravn Research study of in-house marketers and agency professionals.
- 64% of professionals say AI will reduce reliance on traditional search engines like Google, and about half expect greater use of AI chatbots in the customer journey. Still, it’s worth noting that Google continues to post all-time high ad revenues, much of it from search, suggesting that any shift away from traditional search remains gradual.
- 43% believe the technology will lead to shorter consumer journeys because of AI-assisted decision making, and 41% believe it will cause more fragmented and unpredictable customer journeys.
- 30% see it contributing to more personalized ads and content based on AI-driven recommendations.
- 28% believe there will be heightened importance in conversational and long-tail SEO because of AI.
AI reshapes search: The findings echo the trend of AI increasingly shaping how consumers search and discover brands, necessitating adaptation in marketing strategies.
- AI-generated search overviews and answer engines are reducing the likelihood that users will click through to websites hosting ads, leading to declines in referral traffic—in some cases by nearly 50%—and a reset of the traditional search advertising model.