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 surveyed believe AI will reduce the use of traditional search engines like Google, while half see higher use of AI chatbots and conversational interfaces during the customer journey.
- 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.