AI & the click-less customer report
Introduction
AI has forever changed how consumers engage with the internet. They're asking AI for answers, trusting summaries over websites, and making purchases without ever clicking through to a brand's homepage.
Meanwhile, marketers are still catching up—and the gap between what consumers expect and what brands are prepared to deliver is widening fast. New Optimizely research reveals the uncomfortable truth: while marketers say AI is a priority, their strategies, confidence, and execution tell a very different story.
Despite Widespread AI Usage: Consumers Have Concerns
AI is becoming the internet’s front door
- Two-thirds of consumers (66%) still start on search engines, but AI is quickly gaining ground
- 67% of consumers have used AI tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, or Perplexity at least occasionally in the past three months to research products or services.
- More than half—52%—are using these tools at least weekly.
- 42% of consumers say they'd likely trust an AI-generated summary without ever visiting a brand's website.
- Nearly one-third (29%) have already made a purchase based solely on an AI-generated response, and 87% of those buyers were satisfied with what they purchased
- Shoppers aged 18–44 are 3–4x more likely to use AI daily to research products than those over 55 — a clear sign that younger buyers are shaping the click-less future.
But consumers still have concerns
Consumers have various reasons for distrusting AI-generated recommendations. In fact, 23% lose trust when they see links to unfamiliar or untrustworthy websites; 21% distrust repetitive or robotic language; 19% rarely trust AI-generated recommendations in general; 15% lose trust when recommendations don't match their needs.
Meanwhile, 61% of consumers report they are at least somewhat worried that AI-generated summaries may be biased or sponsored by brands—yet many continue to use these tools daily.
However, nearly one-third (31%) say they’re more likely to trust an AI-generated product summary if it comes from a brand they already know, another 31% value a mix of brand and product information, and 22% say clear and accurate product details alone drive trust.
Marketers See it Coming, but Are Slowly Taking Action
62% of marketers believe click-less journeys will become the norm within the next year or are already happening, yet only 27% feel well prepared for this new reality. That's more than a 30-point gap between urgency and execution.
Even more telling: only 39% rank GEO as a top-three priority. The rest have pushed it lower on the list, even as consumers are actively making purchase decisions inside AI platforms right now.
And marketers won’t wait around. Two-thirds (66%) of marketing leaders say they’d leave their company within a year if it isn’t developing an AI or GEO strategy — with only 4% saying it wouldn’t impact their decision to stay. Lack of action isn’t just a strategy gap, it’s a retention risk.
AI Summaries are a Key Battleground
While 42% of consumers say they'd likely trust an AI-generated summary without visiting a brand's website, only 25% of marketers are very confident that those summaries accurately reflect their brand or content.
That means three out of four marketers are uncertain about how their brand is being represented in the exact places where consumers are making decisions.
Lack of Priority Means Lack of Industry-Wide Strategy
Marketers’ concerns about using AI in campaigns are scattered everywhere. In fact, 25% are most worried about legal and compliance risks, 20% about reduced site traffic, 20% about outdated or incorrect content, 19% about loss of message control, and 18% about difficulty measuring performance.
When priorities are that fragmented, it's a clear sign there's no cohesive strategy.
Optimizely Provides the Tools Brands Need to Catch up
Consumers are already living in an AI-first world. They're using generative engines daily, trusting AI summaries, and making purchases without ever visiting a website. Optimizely’s solutions can help brands keep pace.
Learn how to make every page discoverable so AI agents can scan, understand, and surface your content: https://www.optimizely.com/next-gen-search-optimization
About the study
Optimizely commissioned independent research in October 2025 to explore how AI is reshaping both consumer behavior and marketing strategy. The study surveyed more than 1,300 consumers and 1,000 marketing leaders across seven global markets, examining how people use AI platforms to discover and evaluate brands—and how organizations are adapting to this new digital landscape.