In the old world of B2B marketing, your website was the main event. Buyers Googled their way to your homepage, clicked through carefully structured landing pages, filled out forms, and got nurtured through the funnel.
But that playbook is collapsing.
It seems we’re heading for the zero click (or at least the ‘very few click’) era – a world where perhaps lots of the buyer journey takes place without a single visit to your site. Where AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews act as the primary research layer. Where answers are synthesised and surfaced directly in the AI tools your buyers are already using.
So if your website isn’t the starting point anymore, what is it?
Maybe it’s your final impression.
Your website is no longer the beginning – it’s the handshake
By the time someone reaches your homepage, they may already have:
- Asked ChatGPT for a shortlist of solutions
- Read reviews on G2 or Capterra
- Compared features in Perplexity
- Evaluated you through Reddit or LinkedIn threads
- Checked analyst commentary in Gartner or Forrester
All or lots of this information may have been served up to them without ever having left the chat with their AI assistant of choice. It gets them everything they need and delivers it to them in one centralised location where they can continue to interrogate it, clarify things, ask for more follow information etc. It’s clear that this is a much improved research experience for the buyer when comparted to the old world of opening lots of sites, adding them to a spreadsheet, manually taking notes and so on.
In other words: they’ve done their homework without you. Now they’re looking for a final confirmation. A spark of confidence. A moment of clarity. An emotional hook.
Your site now serves two audiences: humans & machines
In the AI-powered B2B software buyer journey, your website has a split role:
- For AI assistants: provide clear, structured, citable content. That means:
- Semantic markup (schema, FAQs, definitions)
- Declarative answers (not marketing fluff)
- Author pages, citations, source clarity
- Explicit product details, integrations, and positioning
- For humans: deliver a differentiated, memorable experience. That means:
- Clear navigation and messaging hierarchy
- Standout brand impact, creative and UX design
- Memorable experience
- Visual trust signals (logos, quotes, stats, awards)
- Emotional resonance and storytelling
If you only focus on one audience, you’ll lose the other. You need both.
Creativity is no longer optional – it’s your edge
When every category starts to feel the same in AI answers, your brand becomes the differentiator.
If a buyer lands on your site after already seeing summaries of your competitors, your job is to break the pattern.
- Surprise them with bold messaging
- Use interaction, motion, and emotion
- Tell stories, not just specs
- Make it memorable enough to stick
This isn’t fluff – it’s conversion science for a new age of research and reference.
So what now? A creative renaissance for B2B websites?
As AI search continues to grow and a greater amount of the B2B buyer journey takes place without a website visit, perhaps it’s time to refocus your website as mainly serving the last mile of the buyer journey.
But this shift isn’t something to fear. It’s an opportunity.
If the AI assistant handles the facts, your website can finally focus on what AI can’t do: make people feel something.
At FirstMotion, we think this could be the beginning of a creative renaissance in B2B SaaS website design. A chance to break free from the rinse-and-repeat grid of safe, samey websites. A powerful chance to stand out.
When the functional job of ‘providing information’ (whatever that might mean) is already handled by ChatGPT or Perplexity, your site can go beyond clarity. It can be bold. Emotional. Artful. A true expression of your brand’s personality, not just its product.
This doesn’t mean sacrificing usability – it means pairing substance with soul. Being clear and courageous. If buyers already have the facts, your job is to leave an impression they’ll remember.
The AI age doesn’t kill creativity. It demands it.
Your website’s moment isn’t gone – it might just come later in the journey. And when it comes, it had better hit hard.