When search starts to think: Tracking AI influence across the purchase journey

Search has long been a part of the consumer purchase journey, but now consumers are increasingly turning to Generative AI as part of their decision-making process. 

Generative AI isn’t just retrieving information for consumers; it’s interpreting it, summarising it, and deciding on what matters. In doing so, it’s becoming an influential actor in the consumer purchase journey, often without consumers actively seeking an AI response.

For insight teams, this creates a new challenge. If AI systems are influencing what people see, trust, and consider, then understanding consumer behaviour now requires understanding AI behaviour too.

In this SITech demo, we explore how generative search and LLMs influence consumer decision-making across different stages of the purchase journey, and what this means for social intelligence practice.

Moving beyond GEO and content optimisation, the session focuses on how to scrutinise AI responses as potential insight in their own right. We’ll look at techniques for analysing how AI frames and categorises brands and risks, and how those framings evolve over time.

Using real examples that combine search Intelligence from Trajaan with social and media data from Brandwatch, we’ll show emerging questions, narratives, and reputational signals that can surface in search before they appear in social conversation, and how social data can inform analysis of AI behaviour.

This session is designed for insight, strategy, and reputation professionals working in fast-moving environments who need to understand not just what consumers are saying, but what the machines are saying to consumers.

You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of:

• How search intelligence differs from SEO and social data, and why it matters for strategic insight
• How generative AI behaves in response to consumer questions at different decision points
• Where AI acts as an influencer in the purchase journey
• Develop a strategy for mapping out AI responses tailored to your marketing and research objectives
• Learn techniques for incorporating search intelligence alongside social listening and vice versa

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