ChatGPT Drives Traffic, But Not Sales

DMEXCO, Europe’s leading digital marketing and technology event, features a commentary by Verena Gründel discussing research from Maximilian Kaiser at Frankfurt School and Christian Schulze at the University of Hamburg. The piece examines over 50,000 ChatGPT-driven transactions, revealing that while AI chatbots generate website traffic, they struggle to convert visitors into buyers. Key findings show affiliate links convert 86% better than ChatGPT referrals, and organic search outperforms ChatGPT by 13%. The commentary explores trust gaps in AI-driven commerce and proposes solutions including authenticity signals, emotional engagement, and integrated secure checkout features within ChatGPT to bridge the conversion gap.