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Susannah Shipton, a Partner at AlleyCorp, has spent her career building and investing in early-stage startups at the intersection of technology, media, and consumer behavior. Recently she launched her newsletter, Smart Margin, where she shares her thoughts on how AI is reshaping commerce, brand strategy, and consumer decision-making.
I sat down with her to discuss her insights from her recent posts “Persuasion Isn’t Dead – It Just Has Two Audiences” and “When LLMs feast on social.” Here are the main takeaways from our conversation:
Brands Must Now Persuade Two Distinct Audiences
In today’s AI-powered commerce landscape, brands no longer sell only to humans. They must convince both the human shopper, who is driven by emotion and identity, and their AI agent, which filters products based on structured data.
This shift introduces what Susannah Shipton calls dual-track persuasion, the need to win both emotional and algorithmic approval before a sale happens.
What Each Track Prioritizes
Humans respond to aesthetics, storytelling, aspiration, and social proof. Emotional impact must land quickly because attention spans are short. Authenticity and originality matter more than ever as generic content becomes easier to ignore.
Agents focus on structure and trust. They look for clean schema, real-time data, verified reviews, certifications, and clear return and shipping policies. Products that lack this information are unlikely to surface in search or recommendation systems.
If a product fails to resonate emotionally or lacks machine-readable data, it will likely be filtered out at some point in the decision journey.
Why Influencer Strategy Matters More Than Ever
Influencers still drive human interest by shaping perception, trust, and aspiration. But they also leave behind a data trail that AI agents can parse. As agents grow more sophisticated, they will begin to detect taste signals, community influence, and cultural relevance from influencer content.
That makes influencer strategy a powerful tool for both audiences. It builds emotional desire for the human while subtly informing the agent's perception and prioritization of products.
What It Means for Brands
To succeed, product pages must serve both types of decision-making. This means combining structured data, live APIs, and complete product specs with compelling visuals, strong storytelling, and influencer context. Merchandising and creative teams need to collaborate closely and build with both audiences in mind.
Expectations are rising on both fronts. Shoppers want fast delivery and flexible returns. Agents demand clean, consistent, and up-to-date data. Brands that meet both sets of needs will have a clear advantage.
There's opportunity for startups and operators
Brands will soon need tools that score their product pages for both humans and agents. There’s a growing need for platforms that can:
Audit storytelling gaps and schema issues side by side
Recommend changes that lift both agent ranking and human conversion
Help teams ship product updates that serve both tracks in one go
Final thought
Persuasion hasn’t vanished, it’s just doubled its audience. Brands that can speak both languages—the structured logic of machines and the emotional resonance that moves people, will own the future of commerce.
To follow more of Susannah’s subscribe to her newsletter: Smart Margin
