The buyer journey from initial AI engine query through brand consideration, evaluation, demo, and purchase.
The AI search funnel describes the new buyer journey shaped by AI engines. Stage 1: Awareness (buyer asks AI a category question, sees brands cited). Stage 2: Consideration (buyer asks AI follow-up questions, evaluates cited brands). Stage 3: Evaluation (buyer visits cited brand websites directly, reads reviews, may ask AI for comparisons). Stage 4: Demo/Trial (buyer signs up via direct visit; AI citation was upstream cause). Stage 5: Closed-won. Different from traditional search funnels because the awareness stage happens entirely inside the AI engine, often without click-through.
Marketers measuring AEO with click-through metrics miss most of the funnel. The most valuable AEO impact happens in stages 1–3 when buyers see your brand in AI answers without clicking. Pipeline attribution with extended lookback windows is necessary to capture this delayed impact.
A buyer asks ChatGPT 'best CRM for B2B SaaS' on April 1 and sees HubSpot, Salesforce, and your brand cited. They don't click. On April 15, they visit your site directly (not clicking from any link). They book a demo on April 30. They close on June 15. The April 1 ChatGPT citation was the first-touch, even though no click occurred.
The terms in this glossary aren't theoretical — they're what Lantern's product calculates and reports every month for B2B SaaS teams. See yours in 7 days. 14-day free trial.
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