By continuing to identify where users are, what they want, and how your website can answer that call. Be useful—and use the tools you have access to.
Website Engagement
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Websites need to start getting more interactive. It’s about way more than engaging users. Because users are now using AI to do more initial research, websites are accessed when users are much further down the marketing funnel. Above all else, users need help making a decision. Meaning: less aesthetics, more “here’s exactly how this can help”-style content.
What marketers can do:
Do more with less, using AI. The cost of creating highly specific applications is a lot lower, now that AI agents can assist with making your website more useful. For example, a custom cost calculator used to cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but now an AI agent can do a lot of the heavy lifting for applications.
The biggest opportunity for your website is to provide the things that ChatGPT and other generative AI cannot: Help users make a final decision. Users now want usability and interaction over aesthetics, so create code that better and more directly answers user questions and needs.
First-Party Research
One thing we’re seeing from a content perspective: The more authority you have in presenting novel data, the more “points” you get for being that kind of source, and the more visibility you’ll be awarded. Some brands do this super well. Any research you do, or the data you leverage through analysis—these content pieces are extremely valuable, because no one else has that exact data.
What marketers can do:
Ask your team: What data do we have that can be repurposed to give us more authority on this specific topic? Then use it.
Take a look at your existing surveys. Parse through your market research and other data you have direct access to. If cost is prohibitive, pivot towards using AI to make that data analysis more efficient, effective, and likely much easier.
Site Security
Generally site security is a double-edged sword. Using AI to create things means you have to carefully consider the security issues that may (or may not) arise. If you’re ultra concerned with security, or excessively editing your codebase to make it squeaky clean, you may end up getting left behind. From a code perspective at least.
What marketers can do:
Be a little less persnickety. Keep things secure, but move forward, and give more time and budget to staying on top of user needs by creating a site that helps them toward a decision (in your favor).
2025 Trends and AI for 2026
Is AI Taking Over?
In some ways, yes. And users doing research on ChatGPT aren’t always clicking on the sources cited. So if they ask for “the top healthcare SaaS platforms,” they’ll take that list of brands, and do a specific brand search (by name) on Google next.
Keep in mind when creating and designing with AI: Have an end goal in mind, and start with a good idea. It’s not a magic bullet. You could edit, pivot, and adjust infinitely, but when do you stop? When is it finished? You could pour in endless time and energy, but if you don’t know where the finish line is, you could end up late to market.
All in all, marketing leaders should find ways to streamline their workflows while still providing value to users. Whether through user-oriented website applications or through content created to answer AI queries. Times are always changing, but you can prepare for the next wave of website technology, especially by preparing for and utilizing AI, to help 2026 be your best year yet.
