How Customers Research Brands Has Changed in 2026

Only recently I wrote a piece around the uncomfortable reality of how user journey’s have evolved faster than marketers and brands care to admit. Customer research is still a vital step on their path to complete an intended action but how customers conduct research has changed significantly. It’s happening in places that brands no longer have visibility on, voices in which brands do not own and platforms that brands have not yet learnt how to influence.

Within this article I’ve set out 5 examples of how customers are researching and evaluating brands and products in 2026.

AI before Google...
The influence of peers
Creator content can influence...kind of
Matching with values
Price evaluation
These points compound
About Herd

1. AI before Google

It’s estimated that 44% of adults are reportedly using ChatGPT and 60% reading AI summaries as part of their search behaviour, a number that continues to grow. Those still using search engines like Google are now typically encountering AI Overviews as their initial view. These AI-powered results provide the challenge to brands of narrowed, concentrated results.

AI does the hard work that previously sat with the customer, but with this comes the drawback of fewer opportunities to present information for customers actively seeking it and instead having to rely on the ability of AI platforms to accurately summarise their brand or products.

How your brand and products are perceived is more important than ever and the consistency that your brand applies through all their operations is key. For example, when we search: ‘Best running shoes for a 5K’, Claude reviews 9 independent informational sources which have completed tests and generates a summary based on this.

A screenshot from Claude showing search results for 'Best running shoes for 5K' with text recommendations, links, and a list of trainers.

A key statistic that needs to be kept in mind is that brand websites are being referenced less than 1% of the time in LLM responses. This highlights just how brands can no longer rely on being able to insert themselves as part of the journey but instead need to be central to the broader conversation.

2. The influence of peers

Seeking social proof is natural human psychological behaviour, seeking the validation of mimicking the behaviour of others. This behaviour translates into customer behaviour when it comes to the research and decision making around products and brands to trust.

Users are increasingly turning to, and of which are being surfaced within search results, communities such as Reddit, Facebook, and Discord to gather the information they need. They’re asking or seeking validity to questions such as:

What should I purchase and why?
Is it worth the money?
How will it perform?

The example below highlights a user caught between two brands and products, looking for the community to help influence their final decision.

A comparison of two wristwatches worn on a person's wrist. One is an Omega watch and the other is a Brietling watch.

The brands themselves have little influence in this final moment but considerable influence over the longer term as to how their products have been perceived within the wider customer base. As a result, greater emphasis is now placed across the entirety of the marketing mix, the quality of the products themselves, the benefit to value pricing of products, the experience of purchasing as well as the overarching perception of the brand.

65% of UK users stated that they have been influenced by product reviews, highlighting the importance of product and brand perception in the decision-making process. As we’ve highlighted previously, the key, as always has been, is ensuring that quality and consistency is delivered across each operation that your brand is delivering but alongside this, reviews need to be easily accessible to users throughout the research phase. So, what can brands do?

Review what is being said about your brand. Make sure to highlight positive aspects in key touchpoints and negatives are factored into future activity to address, whether that be product issues or those with the brand.
Brands can contribute themselves, however, careful consideration should be given as to when and how this is done. Communities are ‘brand independent’ in principle so this needs to be respected. Answer factual questions, clarify misinformation, and look to provide help but do not ‘sell.’
Empower advocacy – Make it easy and encourage valued customers to share their experiences, share photos, and make recommendations to friends.
Position yourself in the conversation – Brands can build valuable relationships with leaders in UGC communities, make your products available but allow them to express their thoughts authentically.

3. Creator content can influence...kind of

Creator partnerships allow brands to join the conversation and, in part, influence peer decision making by having influential figures within communities showcasing and endorsing products. Influencers sit within the void of friends and celebrities; they hold common interest with their audiences but combine that with a marketable image of a celebrity.

It is worth noting that creator influence has waned in the UK in recent years, 50% reporting having made a purchase based on influencer content, down 4%. However, delivered in the right way, creator, and influencer partnerships, considering how these have developed, can be a useful mechanism in bridging communication to a potential customer base.

Highlighting a product in someone’s real-life as opposed to a polished brand video, the right influencer and brand partnerships can surpass traditional celebrity endorsements through the credibility that they have built. But brands need to be careful in walking the tightrope of partnering only with those creators who reflect them authentically and not creating the perception of simply paid promotion.

How exactly can brands identify the right partnerships?

Brands can contribute themselves, however, they need to give careful consideration as to how and when to do this. In principle, communities are ‘brand independent,’ so this needs respecting. Answer factual questions, clarify misinformation, and look to provide help but do not ‘sell.’
Empower advocacy – Make it easy and encourage valued customers to share their experiences, share photos, and make recommendations to friends.
Position yourself in the conversation – Brands can build valuable relationships with leaders in UGC communities, make your products available but allow them to express their thoughts authentically.

4. Matching with values

Brand values are the fundamental principles that guide a brands culture and actions. They allow brands to build emotional connections with customers as well being able to differentiate themselves in a crowded market.

Research highlights how users are extending their decision making beyond the product itself, with 82% of consumers suggesting that they want the values of the brands they buy from to align with their own. The same study also showed that three out of four shoppers will part ways with a brand show a conflict of value exist.

American Eagle and their recent campaign which was fronted by the actor Sydney Sweeney is a strong example of how a brand can be accused of falling short of their stated values.

Sydney Sweeney in a white tied crop top and light-wash jeans posing with the text 'AMERICAN EAGLE SYDNEY SWEENEY HAS GREAT JEANS'. The campaign focused around the tag line of "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans", intentionally playing on the wordplay of jeans and genes. The campaign immediately sparked debate with some highlighting it was promoting eugenics and racial insensitivity whereas others defended the brand, highlighting American Eagle has always centred themselves as a ‘quintessential American brand.’ Others were quick to highlight however that inclusivity is a core pillar of American Eagle’s brand values, and this advert contradicts that very pillar.

Off the back of the campaign the American Eagle stock and brand value jumped by $400 million, suggesting that the messaging resonated with an audience. But whether or not this alienated others, who focus on alignment of brand values when purchasing, in the long term remains to be seen.

Brands need to be aware of their values and principles and these need to resonate through your marketing communications. Brands need to appreciate that actions will always speak louder than words and audiences are savvy enough to see through any thinly vailed attempts.

Patagonia lists their values as:

Integrity
Environmentalism
Justic
Not Bound by Convention

These are values that not just live on a page on the website but are fundamental and carried through their entire operations and front and centre in marketing communications. Patagonia showcases activism events, provides details on causes customers can support, provide information on volunteering opportunities, and actively lead 5 key environmental campaigns.

Further to this, they provide a repair service for clothing, firmly standing against the fast fashion aspects of the industry and actively encourage their customers to seek information and education on why this route is beneficial.

In what could be their biggest display of living their values (think Not being Bound by Convention), they not only give away 1% of their sales each year, but they also recently made the decision instead of listing the company publicly to transfer 100% of the company’s voting stock to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, evidencing how for the entirety of the company’s future it will be centred around delivering the companies values.

A graphic showing Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard about the Patagonia Purpose Trust.

5. Price evaluation

Research indicates that users are willing to spend more on quality and not necessarily accept lower quality, current economic pressures need to be taken into account accompanied by the fact users have more ways than ever in comparing price.

78% of users suggest they research online before purchasing and 67% actively compare prices on at three websites before committing to a purchase. Price checking websites such as Price Runner allow users to search products and compare prices with ease.

More recently AI LLMs can cut this step and deliver active recommendations based on price, risking users judging purely based on price and not additional USPs that brands can provide:

A screenshot of a Claude AI overview showing a Nike Pegasus 42 sneaker with text about its retail price and a price breakdown table.

6. These points compound

There is a lot to consider and digest when looking at how potential customers are researching products and brands in 2026. But what’s important to consider is all the points mentioned above compound together in not only how your brand is discovered but the factors to which a user will judge your brand. Some key principles need to be held when considering your brands approach:

Structuring your PDPs

Pages need optimising and structuring in a way that displays both the needed information for a user to make an informed decision around purchasing but also presents them with the trust signals, giving them the validation they seek to gain confidence to purchase.

It’s vital that the page is optimised for users first but also structured in an efficient manner for web crawlers to easily access and summarise the information that is being provided. We included a breakdown, showing the anatomy of a product page on page 28 of our recently published Shopify Growth Playbook. You can download a copy here.

Reaching your potential customers in the right way

It goes without saying that there needs to be a new acceptance that certain touchpoints now happen outside of a brands control. A brand can’t oversee every interaction in ensuring that they’re recommended, they can only operate in the correct way, deliver a quality product, service, and experience to improve the chances of them being advocated for.

However, there are ways in which brands can partake in the conversation in a meaningful way. For examples, brand can authentically host community question and answer sessions where they can provide exposure to individuals within the organisation, taking on queries from existing or potential customers in a valuable method of capturing feedback.

Further to this, creators and influences can be utilised as a form of authentic showcasing of products or services in the real world, helping users who might be at the stage of consideration alongside building validation with the messaging coming from a person of trust and influence within community circles.

Knowing and standing by your values

Your company values are what guides you and ultimately influences the audiences who your brand and products resonate with. These values not only need to be clearly defined but lived through all aspects of the brand and in the communications that are made with your audience. Simply stating them is not necessarily enough, they need to be acted upon to ensure customers have a clear connection and therefore trust.

Quality and consistency

All the previous principles are important but there is no escaping the fact that the products, services purchased and overarching experience with your brand needs to meet their expectations and perceived value. Without this, customers won’t advocate for you, reviews will compound and it will impact perceptions when users are seeking information and validation for their next step.

Further to this, brands need to ensure consistency in their operations. This both in terms of customers experiences when engaging with the brand but also the messaging and communication provided by the brand.

7. About Herd

Herd are based in Hessle, and we specialise in performance marketing and Shopify development. We combine our expertise to deliver ambitious and impactful solutions for clients.

Over the past decade, we’ve earned Shopify Premier Partner status and driven growth for many ambitious global brands, executing bespoke digital strategies that are grounded in data.

Our talented performance marketing team features vastly experienced channel experts across paid media, SEO, content, and digital PR.

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How Customers Research Brands Has Changed in 2026 (and How They’re Doing It)