Previously, the customer journey could start with search and the company's website, she said. "Today, many customers are going right to the large-language-models and saying, 'I want the right loader for me, to do this type of work', so they are skipping much of that research stage that we were able to guide."
Owens says that product reviews, earned media, and dealer reviews factor into those LLM results. "You have to understand that the good, the bad, and the ugly are out there," she said. "It's pushed us to really focus greater on that customer experience."
https://www.businessinsider.com/bobcat-cmo-laura-ness-owens-cannes-lions-2026-7
RC: Amz is my primary online product source. Ebay is a very distant second. I'm increasingly finding AMZ's still flawed onboard AI assistant (now Alexa, previously Rupert) to be very helpful --particularly when having to plow though pages of similar items. I've also been able to prompt it to dig up alternative products that do not show up in its usual related products lists.
That very much ties up with my experience.
I already find I say: I want one of these what's the best, or the cheapest or the most efficient.
Then I will throw in: and how does this one compare, what are the different features and the different benefits.
Then I check to see if the product works for me and if I can put up with the downsides.
AI is proving to be a great product research tool.
How a business manages that easily to change SEO massively.
You must be very interesting times in that space.