The channel that influenced a purchase and the channel where that purchase was actually completed are often two very different things. A large study of 10,392 consumers across 112 companies found friends or family members influencing the vast majority of significant purchases, even though physical stores and marketplaces capture most of the actual transaction completion. AI assistants already influence over half of purchases studied, well ahead of several more established digital channels.

Essential Statistics

• 88% of consumers say a friend or family member influenced their most recent significant purchase, the highest share measured.
• 61% say Google search influenced the purchase.
• 56% say ChatGPT or another AI assistant influenced the purchase.
• 38% of purchases were ultimately completed in a physical store, the single largest completion channel.
• Only 17% of purchases were completed on a brand website, despite 37% saying brand website content influenced their decision.

Key Takeaways

• Friends and family influencing the vast majority of purchases, while capturing none of the direct completion credit, suggests last-click attribution badly understates this channel’s actual role.
• AI assistants already influencing over half of purchases studied suggests this channel has moved well past the experimental stage for purchase influence.
• Physical stores capturing the largest share of actual completions despite digital channels dominating the influence side suggests online research and offline purchasing remain tightly linked for many consumers.
• Brand websites showing a meaningful gap between influence and completion suggests these sites play more of a research role than a final transaction role for many shoppers.
• This split between influence and completion suggests a platform can meaningfully shape a purchase decision even when it never receives direct conversion credit.

Actionable Insights

• Build measurement that captures influence, not just last-click completion, since this data shows channels like friends and family driving the vast majority of purchase influence while receiving zero direct attribution credit.
• Invest in AI visibility specifically as a purchase-influence channel, since this data shows it already influencing over half of significant purchases studied.
• Maintain strong in-store experience and signage even as digital influence grows, since physical stores still capture the largest share of actual purchase completions.
• Treat your brand website as a research and trust-building tool rather than assuming it needs to capture the final sale directly, given the gap between its influence and completion shares here.
• Revisit any media or channel budget decisions based purely on last-click attribution data, since this study suggests that model significantly understates channels like personal recommendations and AI assistants.

‘A friend influenced the purchase. Google influenced the purchase. The store got the credit. If your attribution model only sees the store, you’re optimizing around a fraction of the real story.’ – Neil Patel