Airbnb: chatbots more effective than Google
According to the latest data shared by Airbnb representatives, users who came to the company's website through AI assistants are more likely to make bookings than those who came from search engines.
These data may indicate major changes in how brands find and assess high-conversion traffic. If the trend is confirmed, advertisers will have to revise their approaches to targeting, optimization and performance measurement.
The transition of users from search engines to voice assistants and chatbots has been observed for several years now. Services like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are increasingly being used to perform queries related to travel, shopping, and other areas. Now Airbnb, one of the leading players in the short-term rental market, reports that this "shift" in user behavior is also bringing shifts in conversion.
Airbnb's data likely reflects a general trend: users who use voice assistants and chatbots are typically at a more advanced stage of the sales funnel and demonstrate a higher purchasing intent. This can also explain the higher conversion of such traffic.
Now advertisers should revisit their approaches to targeting and campaign performance evaluation. For example, more attention should be paid to voice search optimization, chatbot interaction, and integration with popular AI assistants.