The State of Conversational Commerce in 2026

Trend #3

AI is accelerating the purchase cycle

Shoppers from Gorgias customers who have a conversation, with AI Agent or a human agent, have a 154% higher conversion rate than those who don’t. This becomes every more pronounced when we narrow in on AI-first conversations.

Ecommerce buying cycles are getting shorter with AI. It removes friction from product discovery, eliminates hesitation with instant answers to pre-purchase questions, and makes the path to purchase easier than ever.

AI-driven interactions shorten time to purchase

Conversational commerce is accelerating the entire shopping journey. When Gorgias’s AI Agent recommends products, 80% of the resulting purchases happen the same day, and 13% happen the next day.

93%

of purchases happen within the first 48 hours of AI Agent's recommendation.

Proactive engagement speeds up the process even more

Conversational commerce is most effective when brands don’t wait for customers to ask questions. Internal data from peak shopping periods shows that proactive AI engagement materially accelerates conversion. During BFCM 2025, 50% of all conversation-driven purchases came from proactive engagement features. These features surface assistance when customers show intent, before they stall, hesitate, or leave the page.

During BFCM 2025, conversation-driven purchases came from:

50%

proactive engagement–driven purchases

50%

customer-initiated conversations

When asked which AI-supported interactions most often lead to new sales, upsells, or recovered revenue, brands most frequently cite:

Pre-purchase recommendations
Product inquiries

 Proactive engagement also appears to reinforce repeat buying behavior. 46% of brands report higher conversion rates for returning customers, compared with 25% for first-time shoppers.

46%

25%

Returning customers

First-time shoppers

Conversational touchpoints compound in value over time, especially when customers already trust the brand and its recommendations. Starting a conversation feels more like reaching out to an old friend than approaching a stranger.

bareMinerals is a global skincare and cosmetics brand renowned for its clean, iconic beauty products, like its bestselling mineral foundations. They used Gorgias’s AI Agent’s shopping assistant skills to deliver 24/7 expert shade-matching that reduced returns, eased agent workload, and drove a 5.5% AOV uplift with an 8.8x ROI.

The team knew how important around-the-clock support was because pre-purchase questions often came in during “off-hours”. Without AI Agent, these turned into purchases that otherwise would have been abandoned carts.