ChatGPT is changing how people research products, compare options and decide what to buy. A new study by Kevin Indig, Profound and Eric Van Buskirk of Clickstream Solutions offers a closer look at how consumers use AI to make buying decisions, based on observations of 56 participants completing 221 product-comparison tasks in ChatGPT.

The findings revealed some interesting patterns. Participants rarely verified ChatGPT's recommendations on external websites, often formed shortlists based on its suggestions and frequently narrowed down their options without visiting other sites. But brand trust still played an important role, sometimes outweighing even ChatGPT's top recommendation.

Kevin joins Josh Blyskal, Founding AI Strategist at Profound, to discuss what these findings could mean for brands and marketers. They explore how AI search could reshape the traditional buying journey, why marketers should focus on search intent rather than individual prompts, and how brands can improve their visibility in AI-generated recommendations.

Kevin also shares his perspective on attribution challenges, early observations and opportunities around ChatGPT ads, and how marketing strategies need to evolve as consumer behavior changes.

We discuss:

  • How the study examined consumer buying behavior in ChatGPT
  • Why participants often relied on ChatGPT's recommendations without external verification
  • The influence of AI-generated shortlists on which brands participants considered
  • Why brand trust can outweigh a top recommendation from ChatGPT
  • ChatGPT's potential to reshape the traditional marketing funnel
  • The importance of focusing on search intent rather than exact prompts
  • How brands can use query fan-outs to improve their AI search visibility
  • The challenges of measuring AI search's influence through traditional attribution
  • Early observations and opportunities around advertising in ChatGPT
  • Strategies for adapting SEO and AEO as consumer behavior evolves

Read the full study here: https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/the-shortlist-is-the-new-shelf

Connect with Kevin:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinindig/

Growth Memo: https://www.growth-memo.com/

Connect with Profound:

Website: https://tryprofound.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tryprofound/

X: https://x.com/tryprofound

Read the Marketing Engineer Manifesto: https://www.tryprofound.com/marketing-engineer

Profound University: https://university.tryprofound.com/

The Marketing Engineer is a show for practitioners figuring out in real time what it means to market at the frontier. New episodes every two weeks.