AI is changing everything. A major change is how online consumers find information. Search engines have been supplanted by AI tools that collect information and present a summary, thus bypassing direct links to websites. This bypass means the loss of the traditional marketing funnel, requiring a new means of understanding and evaluating the customer journey. 

The top of funnel is now defined by enhanced engagement, rather than a large volume of website hits from search results. The metric to be considered now is the number of brand mentions, recommendations, or citations from AI tools.

To track how your brand is discovered and retained, consider these metrics:

• Brand demand. This means watching how many searches include your brand name. Once your brand is mentioned in an AI summary, the likelihood is that the user will go directly to your website to learn more.  If you’re seeing an increase in direct web traffic, branded queries, and mentions on social media, your AI discovery layer presence is working.
• Assisted conversions. Customer interactions now occur over multiple platforms, fragmenting the customer journey. Multi-touch attribution models can show the effect of early-stage content on sales.
• Repeat visits. An increased rate and frequency of visitor visits to your site indicates that your website offers sufficient value to visitors to keep them returning. Repeat visits mean a trusted relationship has been established beyond the effects of an AI summary.
• Intent signals. What a website visitor does on your site is important to understand the visitor’s interest in your products and/or services. Looking at pricing, downloading information, viewing demos or testimonials, or interacting with tools show interest and potential intent.

The kind of content that AI synthesizes into summaries includes original research, proprietary data, unique cast studies and opinion pieces offering real-world experience. Thus, your web content should offer this type of content for AI discovery.