Gen AI product recommendations: A guide for brands

Google's Gemini offers virtual try-on for clothes shoppers.

The new brand discovery channel

Fresh off of another record-setting Amazon Prime Day (or week), new data shows that US consumers are accelerating their use of generative AI chatbots to:

• research products and seek recommendations

• compare deals and gift ideas

• make personalized shopping lists

In fact, a study released last month shows that 18% of US consumers trust GenAI's shopping recommendations more than social media or friends and family! 

In response, EMARKETER reports that "platforms are responding by embedding AI into the shopping journey." 

For example, OpenAI has added more product recommendations to ChatGPT, and Google's Gemini has a virtual try-on feature for clothes. 

How can brands appear in Gen AI product recommendations? 

First, ensure your site is searchable by each major GenAI tool

For example, ChatGPT uses a web crawler called OAI-SearchBot to find, access, and surface information in ChatGPT search. For your site to be discoverable in ChatGPT, make sure you aren't blocking OAI-SearchBot. You may need to update your robots.txt file, to ensure OAI-SearchBot has access.

For Anthropic's Claude, log into your claude.ai account. Access your profile settings. Look for the Web Search feature and toggle it on if it's currently disabled.

Other GenAI tools like Perplexity and Google's Gemini may have their own processes for ensuring searchability.

Become a trusted source of information

Build your brand authority as a reputable source that AI chatbots will want to reference. This cannot be done by simply buying placements in AI answers. It has to be earned through positive publicity, good reviews/referrals, and producing informative content.

More on how to do that below:

Feed your products directly to the bots

ChatGPT launched brand plugins back in 2023 so the bot could relay accurate, up-to-date brand information directly to searchers asking questions.

Now, you can provide product feeds directly to ChatGPT to potentially show up as a recommendation. OpenAI's submission periods open and close, so sign up here to be notified of the next opening.

Develop your own AI shopping assistant 

Many big retailers like Sephora, Target, and Walmart are building their own bots to answer consumers' questions, recommend personalized products, and ensure a smooth purchase journey. 

To build your own, you can choose between an off-the-shelf AI solution or a custom AI solution.

RST Software has the full scoop on the pros and cons of each type and how to go about them.

Conversational copy

When deciding which products to recommend, GenAI tools scan the structured metadata of product pages (product description, price, etc.) and third-party reviews for its summaries.

This means your copy needs to be thorough, informative, and highlight key features that searchers might be looking for (budget-friendly, limited time only, sustainable, etc.)

As website content becomes more Q&A-style and less keyword-based, so should your product copy and media messaging.

Anticipate likely questions and answer them naturally to get recognized by AI platforms.

"Visual search is growing, especially among younger users, so don't neglect your image SEO.

Keep your product photos fresh and appealing, with thoroughly descriptive image descriptions, captions, and alt text.

These steps will help users discover your brand content."- Michael Robbins, Exverus Associate Director of Paid Search

Early ad opportunities

In late 2024, Perplexity.ai began experimenting with advertisements -- not directly in their editorial recommendations, but as sponsored follow-up questions or paid media along the side of an answer.

Since then, brands like Whole Foods, Indeed, and TurboTax have begun running paid media campaigns on Perplexity on a CPM model with minimum spend requirements. Performance remains to be seen, but these early tests are exciting!

Brands must effectively reach online shoppers via GenAI answers or get left in the zero-click desert. 

Need help?

The retail media & e-commerce media buying experts at Exverus know how to keep brands top-of-mind and added to baskets everywhere. 

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This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

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