The How AI Search Can Drive Gross sales & Enhance Conversions webinar, introduced not too long ago by Bartosz Góralewicz, touched on one thing that I feel each marketer wants to know about how individuals really make selections as we speak.
This isn’t nearly Reddit anymore; we’re speaking about the way forward for how manufacturers really join with clients after they’re making actual selections.
Picture from writer, September 2025Bartosz shared some information 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 led to zero clicks, as LLMs more and more serve solutions immediately on the web page, in response to Justin Turner, Head of Thought Management at Reddit.
As Bartosz put it, quoting Cloudflare’s CEO: “Individuals belief AI extra and so they’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 evaluate 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 hundreds of thousands of YouTube views however nearly no conventional search quantity information.
The dialog is occurring, simply not the place we’ve been wanting. Turner’s analysis exhibits Reddit is the No. 1 most cited area throughout all main AI platforms, accounting for 3.5% of all citations throughout AI fashions, practically thrice 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 need to really feel understood, not offered to. They need contextual recommendation that looks like somebody really will get their particular drawback.
As Bartosz defined it, when somebody is researching a automobile, they don’t need to hear from paid bloggers. They need to speak to somebody who really drives the factor daily and might inform them the radio breaks 11 occasions within the first 12 months. That’s the stuff you received’t discover on the corporate web site.
The Actual Journey Individuals Take
Throughout our webinar, Bartosz walked via this excellent 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 writer, 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 individuals really suppose and analysis!
The factor is, typically, this complete buyer journey condenses into one excellent reply. Bartosz confirmed us how, when somebody requested, “Why is it dangerous to make use of Dyson on wool carpet?” Perplexity instantly beneficial 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 a must to take heed to precise conversations and perceive the true issues persons are making an attempt to unravel. That is precisely why he created ZipTie.ai, to assist manufacturers establish these vital moments in buyer conversations the place they’ll genuinely remedy issues moderately than simply promote merchandise.
And right here’s proof that this method really works: Turner’s information exhibits customers referred from ChatGPT view 42% extra pages per session than these referred from Google, exhibiting extra intent, deeper curiosity, and stronger engagement.
Why This Modifications The whole lot
I’ve been on the lookout for this shift in advertising for years, ready for it to come back again to the precise science behind why individuals make selections. The funnel is longer now, persons are utilizing extra locations alongside the way in which, and when you will discover what individuals actually need, truthfully, 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 exhibits one thing that’s typically missed. You wouldn’t see this in your common web site information 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 individuals started giving us alerts by writing on Reddit. Why are they doing that? As a result of they need validation. Whenever you give them that validation via 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 writer, September 2025As he put it, right here’s what really issues now:
- Are you the beneficial resolution all through the shopper journey?
- Do you present contextual relevance that makes customers really feel understood?
- Are you able to monitor your affect via precise conversion paths?
As Bartosz mentioned, “The groups which might be going to win these days are going to be the groups which might be going to unravel essentially the most quantity, the largest quantity of issues that customers have.”
The Authenticity Drawback
To be genuine, you need to speak about positives and negatives. The largest problem I’ve in discovery calls with enormous 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 might want to do!
I all the time inform individuals Reddit success comes down to a few overlapping areas: what Redditors anticipate from you, what you truthfully have to offer, and the place your online 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 mainly get misplaced (wasn’t as variety although). However as soon as individuals realized we had been actual people having actual conversations, every little thing modified. Individuals began modifying their posts, sending enchancment concepts, giving us awards.
That’s the ability of genuine engagement.
The Psychology Behind It All
Individuals need to share each choice they make with any person as a result of it’s our nature to need to share duty. It’s a method of validating that we’re not complete idiots; we at the very least explored the dialog. “I talked to my good friend John and he mentioned it was an excellent telephone.”
However there’s extra to it than simply sharing duty. We’re additionally on the lookout for validation that somebody has really skilled the problem, product, or service we’re researching and has actual data to share about it.1 We need 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 fully 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 hardly ever have the appropriate drawback after we begin looking. We expect we want “the most effective 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 drawback really is. That’s why these Reddit threads go so deep: Persons are working via layers of points collectively.
Most significantly, we need to really feel like we discovered sufficient to come back to our personal choice. We don’t need somebody to inform us what to purchase; we need to really feel good about figuring it out ourselves with good data from individuals we belief.2
I’ve been speaking about these ideas quite a bit currently, however this isn’t simply my private concept. This conduct is extensively researched throughout psychology, behavioral economics, and choice science. Research persistently present that folks actively search to share choice duty to cut back remorse and decrease the psychological burden of destructive outcomes. Analysis demonstrates that people usually tend to be part of teams or search validation after experiencing destructive outcomes, and that sharing duty helps defend individuals from the emotional penalties of dangerous selections.
What This Means Going Ahead
This method works as a result of it aligns with human psychology. Whenever you perceive that core component, fixing customers’ actual issues, every little thing will get higher. Your commercials, web site copy, social media advertisements, customer support. The whole lot improves when you understand what individuals really must really feel comfy making a call.
Reddit simply occurs to be the place these conversations are most seen proper now. However the ideas apply all over the place: Perceive the true issues, be part of genuine conversations, and concentrate on fixing points moderately than selling options.
The manufacturers that determine this out first will personal the subsequent section of digital advertising. Those that preserve chasing conventional metrics will preserve questioning why their visitors is declining whereas their opponents appear to effortlessly present up all over the place that issues.
Undoubtedly, undoubtedly take the time to know your person’s journey. Don’t be lazy about it. Actually perceive what individuals want at every stage, what issues they’re really making an attempt to unravel, and the place they go to get that validation they should make selections.
It’s not sophisticated, nevertheless it requires you to decelerate and really take heed to your clients as an alternative of speaking at them.
Sources:
- https://tutorial.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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