AI is collapsing the marketing funnel, so retailers need to rethink what comes next. Article by Christopher Wood | Sep 25, 2026 AI is changing more than how consumers discover brands. It is forcing retailers and marketers to reconsider the role of their websites, how they connect advertising to business outcomes, and whether the digital experiences they own can compete with the leading AI chatbots. That requires marketers to look beyond incremental AI improvements, according to Invoca's CEO Gregg Johnson, speaking at the EMARKETER Future of Digital summit last week. He recalled a recent AI workshop with a CMO who felt her company was doing a solid job using the technology to improve everyday marketing efficiency. The CMO's bigger concern was that "nobody is stepping back from their day-to-day job to think about the transformational opportunity that AI affords [brands to] interact with consumers," Johnson said. That transformation is already reshaping the purchase journey. AI is compressing the funnel For roughly 25 years, the website sat at the center of digital marketing. Marketers drove traffic there, consumers researched products there, and brands used it to generate conversions. That model is breaking down as consumers increasingly conduct their research on AI platforms before ever reaching a brand. "Eighty percent of those conversations, or...queries, depending on how you want to talk about it, they don't lead to a click," Johnson said. "They don't lead to your website." The effect hits hardest on complicated or unfamiliar purchases, such as healthcare, insurance, mortgages, and telecommunications. Rather than jumping among brand websites to research their options, consumers can conduct much of that research within a large language model (LLM). "Now, what consumers are doing is they're spending that time at the AI discovery layer in the LLMs, and that means when they get to your website, they're more ready to buy than ever before," said Johnson. "So, the amount of time that they're spending on your website before they transact is shrinking." Marketers need to adapt to a journey in which discovery, education, and consideration increasingly happen outside their owned properties. Prepare measurement for whatever comes after search Getting discovered and cited by LLMs is only one piece of the challenge. Marketers also need to prepare for the collision of AI agents, conversational interfaces, advertising, and commerce. "We're still in the early stages where we're not quite sure what the output will look like, and how is it that ChatGPT is going to sell ads, on one side, and maintain consumer trust on the other side," Johnson said. The exact advertising formats may be uncertain, but the underlying measurement challenge isn't new. "You need to have a really good understanding of where dollars are going in, and you need to have a really good understanding for your business of where dollars are coming out," he said. That means building infrastructure that can connect impressions, clicks, and views across channels with purchases, appointments, test drives, contact center conversions, or other business outcomes. "If you can get those data pipelines really working well together, of how you connect an advertising impression, a clicker, review to a sale, or an appointment booking, or a test drive, you'll be ready when something like ChatGPT comes up and continues to innovate what the ad format is," Johnson said. Readiness for AI chatbot advertising depends less on predicting individual formats than on getting measurement fundamentals right. The website has an AI experience problem The more strategic question is what happens once consumers reach a brand's website. Consumers are becoming accustomed to AI platforms that are conversational, available around the clock, and able to interpret questions based on what users want rather than forcing them through predetermined navigation. Johnson compared that with a typical brand website. "Can you talk to your website?" he asked. "No, your general information architecture is ordered around how your products and services are gathered, not the way that the consumer wants." That creates a disconnect: Marketers can spend resources optimizing for AI discovery and paying to acquire traffic, only to send consumers from a modern conversational environment into a comparatively rigid digital experience. "Essentially what you're doing is you're saying 'thank you for coming to my website,'" said Johnson. "If you really want a great experience, go right back over to the LLM, because you're better off there than you are here." The opportunity, then, is to bring some of what makes AI interfaces appealing into the channels brands own. Brands can bring conversational AI onto their own turf Marketers should reconsider the entire digital experience from the consumer's perspective rather than through the company's organizational structure. "If we could bring the best of Claude and ChatGPT to the things that you uniquely do as a brand, what would that look like?" Johnson asked. "What would that feel like from a consumer perspective?" That question will become more important as AI platforms occupy more of the discovery and consideration journey. Brands that earn an AI citation or pay to bring a consumer onto their properties still need to give that consumer a reason to stay. "You need to step back and actually think more holistically of what the brand experience can be [within the new customer journey]," Johnson said. This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribehere. You've read 1 of 2 free articles this month. 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Invoca named to Fast Company's 2026 list of Best Workplaces for Innovators. Across every function, employees are rewriting how the work gets done SANTA BARBARA, CA - September 8, 2026 - Invoca, the AI-powered leader in revenue execution, today announced it has been named to Fast Company's 2026 list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators. The annual list recognizes companies that build cultures where employees at every level can improve processes, create new products, and invent new ways of working. Invoca joins honorees including Anthropic, Chipotle, and American Express. The recognition stems from an AI initiative that started in one department and traveled across the company. Invoca's marketing team launched the AI Launch Lab in April 2025 as a structured way to rebuild how the team worked, documenting every workflow, prompt, and failed attempt so other groups could pick them up. The approach is the subject of the case study "Invoca Enables Organizationwide AI Adoption Through Its AI Launch Lab," Forrester Research, Inc., August 2026. In May 2026, Invoca ran AI Passion Week, a five-day sprint open to every employee in every function that produced 379 working agents, most of them built by people in non-technical roles. "We gave people a real build platform, five days of protected time, and permission to demo work that wasn't finished yet," said Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca. "Those are real costs, and they were worth every dollar. What our employees built with that has changed how this company works. This recognition belongs to them." The 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators list recognizes 100 companies across industries such as entertainment, biotech, consumer packaged goods, marketing, education, and healthcare. To be considered, applicants detailed their investment in innovation, internal programs, and company culture. Fast Company's editors evaluated each application and conducted extensive research to develop a score for each company. A distinguished panel of judges then reviewed the top-rated companies to determine the final honorees. "The most innovative workplaces don't simply ask their employees to come up with great ideas; they create the conditions that make great ideas possible," says Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. "This year's honorees understand that innovation is ultimately a cultural commitment that requires empowering people to think differently, take risks, and turn ideas into actions. We're proud to recognize the companies and executives who are leading by example." The Fast Company honor joins Invoca's other 2026 workplace recognitions: * Inc. Best Workplace 2026, selected for the Top 10 Best Workplaces Editors' List for AI Adoption * Great Place To Work(R) Certified, 2026-2027 * Fortune Best Medium Workplaces(TM) 2026 Invoca is a remote-first company hiring across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Every employee has access to enterprise-grade LLMs and agentic AI workflow tools, an annual professional development stipend, and the operating principles the company runs on: customers first, direct and kind, act like an owner, raise the bar, bring the intensity. Explore open roles at invoca.com/company/careers. The Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators issue (Fall 2026) is available online now and will hit print newsstands on September 22. The full list of honorees is available at https://www.fastcompany.com/best-workplaces-for-innovators/list. More Information * Read about Invoca's AI transformation and the Forrester Case Study "Invoca Enables Organization-Wide AI Adoption Through Its AI Launch Lab": https://www.invoca.com/blog/why-your-ai-transformation-leaders-need-to-be-gardeners * Meet Nico, Invoca's AI revenue conversion agent: https://www.invoca.com/ai-agent-nico About Fast Company Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow business publication Inc. For more information, please visit fastcompany.com. About invoca. Invoca is an AI-powered revenue execution platform that connects marketing, commerce, and contact center teams to orchestrate seamless buyer journeys and turn every interaction into measurable, profitable growth. The Invoca platform features deep integrations with leading technology partners, enabling revenue teams to connect paid media investments to business outcomes, improve digital engagement, and convert more leads into sales. Invoca's AI vision centers on using trustworthy, first-party data to deliver AI that is intelligent, authentic, and empathetic - connecting digital and human experiences to build lasting customer relationships. Top consumer brands, including Mayo Clinic, Mutual of Omaha, and Verizon, rely on Invoca to power profitable growth. Invoca has raised $184M from leading investors, including Upfront Ventures, Accel, Silver Lake Waterman, H.I.G. Growth Partners, and Salesforce Ventures. For more information, visit www.invoca.com. Media Contact: Allison Champion PR & Digital Content Program Manager [email protected] Connect your marketing spend with the revenue it drives and optimize every touchpoint in the buyer journey with class-leading AI.