TL;DR Summary:
Sales Can Be Stopped: Chatbots are influencing buying decisions in both directions, with many users skipping purchases after AI advice and even more trusting chatbot recommendations when shopping.Discovery Is Shifting: A growing share of consumers are finding new brands through chatbots and replacing Google product searches with AI conversations, making chatbot visibility a new marketing battleground.Local and Paid Risk: Even local businesses are being checked through chatbots before customers act, and chatbot ads can create distrust instead of boosting sales when they feel too promotional.Can an AI chatbot talk you out of buying something? A new survey of 2,338 U.S. adults says yes, and it happens more than you might expect. Exploding Topics found that AI chatbots and consumer purchasing decisions are now tied together in a way that cuts both directions, with chatbots blocking sales almost as often as they create them. That matters right now because more shoppers are treating chatbots as a first stop for product research, not a side tool.
AI Chatbots and Consumer Purchasing Decisions Now Work Both Ways
The July 2026 survey found 57.5% of AI users have decided against a purchase based on something a chatbot told them. At the same time, 57.51% of occasional AI users have bought a product because a chatbot recommended it. Among people who use AI weekly, 69.7% have skipped a purchase on AI advice, and 81.24% believe chatbots can recommend the best brands and products. If you run a business, this means a chatbot conversation can end a sale before it starts, especially if the bot surfaces negative reviews. In fact, 74.15% of all consumers said they would be less likely to buy a product if a chatbot flagged mixed or negative reviews.
Chatbots Are Changing Where Brand Discovery Happens
59.27% of AI users have discovered a brand or product they didn’t know about through a chatbot recommendation. This lines up with a March study from Semrush, which found 43% of consumers had discovered a new brand through an AI tool. On top of discovery, 65.01% of AI users say they have at least partly replaced Google product searches with chatbot conversations. This shift shows why AI chatbots and consumer purchasing decisions can no longer sit outside a marketing plan. If your brand doesn’t show up in chatbot answers, you lose a growing entry point into the buying journey. This is exactly the blind spot that platforms like Nuwtonic SEO are built to address, since they monitor whether tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity actually mention or cite your brand, and help close the gaps that might otherwise send AI-driven buyers straight to a competitor.
Local Businesses Face the Same Chatbot Scrutiny as Big Brands
You might assume AI chatbots matter only for large national brands. The data says otherwise. Among AI users who research companies online, 87.41% said they would at least occasionally consult a chatbot before hiring a local business. 42.01% of this group believe chatbots give better advice on local businesses than on large companies. If you run a local business, a customer may ask a chatbot about you before ever visiting your website.
Chatbot Ads Add a New Layer to Consumer Purchasing Decisions
ChatGPT began running ads on its Free and Go plans in February 2026, with self-serve advertising launching in May. So far, 42.22% of consumers say they’ve seen a chatbot ad. Of those who dislike the ads, which is 41.63% of all consumers, 66.05% said the ads make them doubt the honesty of the chatbot’s other responses. The effect on opinion is slightly negative overall. 23.12% of consumers said an ad made their opinion of a product worse, compared with 20.36% who said it improved. This tells you that paid placement in chatbots carries real reputation risk, and it doesn’t replace the need to show up in organic AI answers.
Watch how often chatbots mention your brand without being asked, since that organic presence is doing more to shape AI chatbots and consumer purchasing decisions than any ad placement right now. Check what a chatbot says about your business today, because that answer may already be steering customers away from you or toward a competitor. Tools like Nuwtonic SEO can help by tracking your brand’s citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI platforms, then flagging the authority gaps letting competitors win those recommendations instead of you.
