In partnership with
The Future of Shopping? AI + Actual Humans.
AI has changed how consumers shop by speeding up research. But one thing hasn’t changed: shoppers still trust people more than AI.
Levanta’s new Affiliate 3.0 Consumer Report reveals a major shift in how shoppers blend AI tools with human influence. Consumers use AI to explore options, but when it comes time to buy, they still turn to creators, communities, and real experiences to validate their decisions.
The data shows:
Only 10% of shoppers buy through AI-recommended links
87% discover products through creators, blogs, or communities they trust
Human sources like reviews and creators rank higher in trust than AI recommendations
The most effective brands are combining AI discovery with authentic human influence to drive measurable conversions.
Affiliate marketing isn’t being replaced by AI, it’s being amplified by it.
DEEP DIVE
Most New Year plans die in February.
You plan your budget, analyze what worked, check the competitors, decide to double down on the winners.
But you know the truth: what worked last year won’t work next year. Your PPC costs more and converts less. You’re posting on LinkedIn now. Maybe you got your team posting too. Hell, maybe you even hired an agency.
Still stuck at the same revenue.
Here’s what I actually do with clients at the end of our strategy workshops.
It’s not sexy. It’s not a growth hack. But I’ve seen firsthand that €8-15M companies aren’t doing it nearly enough.
It’s called STOP, CONTINUE, START.
Works great for New Year planning too, by the way. ✨
When we finish strategy sessions, there’s one last workshop where I show them how to actually use their new positioning. Because no positioning deck works if your whole company - from marketing to product to sales - doesn’t know how to apply it.
They all need to start somewhere. This is it.
STOP - Finding the bleeders
We define everything that’s draining money without results:
What doesn’t align with the new positioning
Where your actual customers aren’t
Who is NOT the customer (even though sales has them in the pipeline)
Real talk: there are people you’re trying to convince who aren’t ready to buy. Sales cycles stretch to 18 months. You think you need to close them. You don’t. They’ll be ready in a year or two. Stop bleeding there.
Another bleeder: speaking to everyone instead of someone. We kill the unnecessary personas. We kill the generic talk. We define their market of 1 - the one customer profile that actually converts and scales.
There’s more, and it’s personalized to each company. But you get the point.
CONTINUE - Keep what’s working
Pretty simple. Low-hanging fruit that converts. Long-term projects that need strategy, not just execution. We also double-check we actually stopped what didn’t work in the previous phase.
Straightforward.
START - Meet them where they are
This comes straight from customer interviews with their market of 1. I talk to real people who are already customers and fit the ideal profile. If they had multiple personas before, we pick one.
We learn:
Where they actually are
How they actually buy
What triggers them
What frustrates them daily
Then we brainstorm brand and activation campaigns that fit the new positioning. How to use the new tone of voice. What’s low-hanging fruit. What are longer brand awareness plays.
With my last client: completely redoing their website (copy + brand identity). Then meeting customers IRL through small, curated events. And here’s the tough one - acknowledging why churn was so high. Showing customers they were right to leave.
That’s the work.
🧠 Want these insights done for you?
I run interviews like these every week. If you want positioning that slaps - without spending 6 months testing: book a call.
See you next week,
That’s a wrap✨
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If we’re not connected on Linkedin already - let’s do it right now.
If you wanna see me talking about this, I have instagram too.
Or if you want me to audit your brand quickly, here’s how to book a 15 minutes call.
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