The How AI Search Can Drive Gross sales & Enhance Conversions webinar, introduced lately by Bartosz Góralewicz, touched on one thing that I feel each marketer wants to grasp about how folks truly make choices at the moment.
This isn’t nearly Reddit anymore; we’re speaking about the way forward for how manufacturers truly join with prospects after they’re making actual choices.
Bartosz shared some knowledge from Cloudflare that’s wild: 10 years in the past, Google crawled two pages for each one click on. Six months in the past? Six pages per click on. In the present day, it’s 18 pages for each single click on! OpenAI is crawling 1,500 pages for every click on they ship. And get this, in 2024, 60% of Google searches resulted in zero clicks, as LLMs more and more serve solutions instantly on the web page, in line with Justin Turner, Head of Thought Management at Reddit.
As Bartosz put it, quoting Cloudflare’s CEO: “Folks belief AI extra they usually’re simply not following the footnotes anymore.”
However right here’s what everybody’s lacking: Reddit is simply the messenger.
What Reddit Actually Exhibits Us
Reddit seems in practically 98% of product evaluation searches as a result of it’s fixing an issue that conventional advertising content material can’t contact. When somebody searches “iPhone 16 vs Samsung S25,” they’ll discover tens of millions of YouTube views however virtually no conventional search quantity knowledge.
The dialog is going on, simply not the place we’ve been wanting. Turner’s analysis reveals Reddit is the No. 1 most cited area throughout all main AI platforms, accounting for 3.5% of all citations throughout AI fashions, practically 3 times greater than Wikipedia.
What Reddit gives, and what Google and OpenAI are paying for, is genuine peer recommendation as an alternative of company advertising messages. Customers wish to really feel understood, not offered to. They need contextual recommendation that appears like somebody truly will get their particular downside.
As Bartosz defined it, when somebody is researching a automobile, they don’t wish to hear from paid bloggers. They wish to speak to somebody who truly drives the factor on daily basis and might inform them the radio breaks 11 occasions within the first yr. That’s the stuff you received’t discover on the corporate web site.
The Actual Journey Folks Take
Throughout our webinar, Bartosz walked by means of this good instance from his personal expertise. He purchased a wool carpet, found he couldn’t use his Dyson on it (voids the guarantee), and now wanted a suction-only vacuum.
Picture from creator, September 2025Bartosz confirmed how this creates a development that almost all entrepreneurs by no means see:
- Stage 1: “Why can’t I exploit Dyson on wool carpet?”
- Stage 2: “Suction solely vacuums for wool carpets”
- Stage 3: “Miele C1 suction solely vacuum secure”
Every reply informs the subsequent query. As Bartosz defined, understanding this development isn’t nearly Reddit; it’s about understanding how folks truly suppose and analysis!
The factor is, generally, this whole buyer journey condenses into one good reply. Bartosz confirmed us how, when somebody requested, “Why is it dangerous to make use of Dyson on wool carpet?” Perplexity instantly really useful Miele as the answer. One dialog, huge conversion potential.
However as Bartosz emphasised, you’ll be able to’t manufacture this by guessing. It’s important to hearken to precise conversations and perceive the true issues persons are attempting to unravel. That is precisely why he created ZipTie.ai, to assist manufacturers determine these crucial moments in buyer conversations the place they’ll genuinely remedy issues fairly than simply promote merchandise.
And right here’s proof that this strategy truly works: Turner’s knowledge reveals customers referred from ChatGPT view 42% extra pages per session than these referred from Google, displaying extra intent, deeper curiosity, and stronger engagement.
Why This Modifications The whole lot
I’ve been searching for this shift in advertising for years, ready for it to come back again to the precise science behind why folks make choices. The funnel is longer now, persons are utilizing extra locations alongside the best way, and when you will discover what folks actually need, actually, content material actually is king once more. However not content material for content material’s sake, problem-solving is all you really want.
Bartosz’s Miele instance reveals one thing that’s typically ignored. You wouldn’t see this in your common web site knowledge or in conventional Google articles. It’s not seen to most manufacturers as a result of we’re so conditioned to look down this logical advertising path that we miss the conversations occurring proper in entrance of us.
We began seeing it extra clearly when folks started giving us alerts by writing on Reddit. Why are they doing that? As a result of they need validation. While you give them that validation by means of real problem-solving, it really works!
The New Success Metrics
Bartosz talked about how we have to cease chasing outdated metrics. Rankings, clicks, and key phrases nonetheless matter, however they’re not the entire story anymore.
Picture from creator, September 2025As he put it, right here’s what truly issues now:
- Are you the really useful answer all through the client journey?
- Do you present contextual relevance that makes customers really feel understood?
- Are you able to observe your affect by means of precise conversion paths?
As Bartosz stated, “The groups which are going to win these days are going to be the groups which are going to unravel probably the most quantity, the largest quantity of issues that customers have.”
The Authenticity Drawback
To be genuine, it’s a must to discuss positives and negatives. The largest problem I’ve in discovery calls with big manufacturers is that they inform me, “we can’t say we don’t do that or we don’t do that.”
However that’s precisely what you must do!
I at all times inform folks Reddit success comes down to a few overlapping areas: what Redditors count on from you, what you actually have to present, and the place your small business objectives align. That overlap is your space of affect.
A TikTok marketing campaign I did years in the past began with 300 messages telling me to principally get misplaced (wasn’t as variety although). However as soon as folks realized we had been actual people having actual conversations, all the pieces modified. Folks began modifying their posts, sending enchancment concepts, giving us awards.
That’s the ability of genuine engagement.
The Psychology Behind It All
Folks wish to share each determination they make with any person as a result of it’s our nature to wish to share duty. It’s a means of validating that we’re not complete idiots; we a minimum of explored the dialog. “I talked to my pal John and he stated it was a superb cellphone.”
However there’s extra to it than simply sharing duty. We’re additionally searching for validation that somebody has truly skilled the problem, product, or service we’re researching and has actual info to share about it.1 We wish to hear from individuals who’ve been there, not from somebody studying a spec sheet or writing content material that’s been paid for, influenced, and even utterly faked. There’s so little belief in conventional search outcomes anymore as a result of we all know a lot of what we discover is compromised.
Additionally, we not often have the appropriate downside after we begin looking. We predict we want “one of the best vacuum” when what we actually want is “a vacuum that received’t destroy my wool carpet.” It takes dialog and depth to uncover what the true downside truly is. That’s why these Reddit threads go so deep: Persons are working by means of layers of points collectively.
Most significantly, we wish to really feel like we discovered sufficient to come back to our personal determination. We don’t need somebody to inform us what to purchase; we wish to really feel good about figuring it out ourselves with good info from folks we belief.2
I’ve been speaking about these ideas lots these days, however this isn’t simply my private concept. This conduct is extensively researched throughout psychology, behavioral economics, and determination science. Research constantly present that individuals actively search to share determination duty to cut back remorse and decrease the psychological burden of unfavorable outcomes. Analysis demonstrates that people usually tend to be a part of teams or search validation after experiencing unfavorable outcomes, and that sharing duty helps defend folks from the emotional penalties of dangerous choices.
What This Means Going Ahead
This strategy works as a result of it aligns with human psychology. While you perceive that core ingredient, fixing customers’ actual issues, all the pieces will get higher. Your commercials, web site copy, social media advertisements, customer support. The whole lot improves when what folks truly have to really feel comfy making a choice.
Reddit simply occurs to be the place these conversations are most seen proper now. However the ideas apply in every single place: Perceive the true issues, be a part of genuine conversations, and concentrate on fixing points fairly than selling options.
The manufacturers that determine this out first will personal the subsequent part of digital advertising. Those that maintain chasing conventional metrics will maintain questioning why their site visitors is declining whereas their opponents appear to effortlessly present up in every single place that issues.
Undoubtedly, undoubtedly take the time to grasp your consumer’s journey. Don’t be lazy about it. Actually perceive what folks want at every stage, what issues they’re truly attempting to unravel, and the place they go to get that validation they should make choices.
It’s not sophisticated, however it requires you to decelerate and truly hearken to your prospects as an alternative of speaking at them.
Sources:
- https://educational.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/51/1/7/7672991?login=false
- https://acr-journal.com/article/consumer-trust-in-digital-brands-the-role-of-transparency-and-ethical-marketing-882/
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/convergence-product-marketing-seo-ai-search-era-ziptieai-aotnc/
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