The classic funnel was a 1924 model that survived because the buyer journey was visible. AI agents and zero-click search make most of that journey invisible.
What replaces the funnel is a compressed, AI-mediated decision sphere: AI assistants do the consideration on the buyer's behalf, brands either get cited or vanish, and conversion is often the first observable signal in the entire journey.
UK marketers measuring against funnel-era KPIs are increasingly measuring shadows. The new KPIs are AI citation rate, share of expert voice, and assisted-conversion velocity.
By Kasim Javed, CEO and Founder of Creative Marketing Group.