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What Makes People Convert: Real Trust In a Soulless Web
By the end of this year, most of the web will be powered by AI. That’s not hyperbole, it’s happening:
Over 74% of new web pages
detected in April 2025 were AI-generated
Some estimates say up to
90% of all online content
could be AI-written in 2025
That’s a lot of content, and users are noticing:
82.1% report
they can tell when content is AI-generated
Half can accurately identify AI-written copy, and many admit it
makes them disengage
As a digital optimizer working primarily in conversion rate optimization and website user experience, I’m highly focused on performance and its associated metrics: clicks, conversion rate, time on page, etc. But after countless website builds, landing page tests, and CRO experiments, I’ve learned something important beyond the data-driven best practices.
People don’t convert because your page is optimized. They convert because they trust you.
And that trust doesn’t start when they hit your landing page. It starts much earlier.
- It starts in their feed
- It starts with the positive Google review they read
- In the meaningful sponsorship your brand provided to their community
- In the Instagram Reel they didn’t skip
- In the blog post that actually answered their question without a bait-and-switch
- In the value you gave away before they even saw your call to action
Your Landing Page Can’t Do All The Work
The average visit to a landing page lasts under 30 seconds. In some industries, it’s closer to 10. That’s not enough time to build trust from scratch, particularly when so much content sounds the same.
The purpose of a landing page isn’t to introduce your brand. It’s there to close the deal with someone who already feels something.
If your brand doesn’t show up before the click, you’re already behind.
Trust Comes Before the Ad
Real trust doesn’t begin with a pitch. It begins with behavior. People notice how your brand shows up long before you ask for anything.
They’re watching, whether they realize it or not. If you want more conversions, start with people. Show up earlier. Give something valuable. Be real and do it consistently. People will notice.
- Did your content help them without a catch?
- Did your post create a real emotional response?
- Did someone they trust mention you in a genuine way?
That’s how trust is formed. Not through 30 seconds on a landing page, but in the collective moments that come before it.
Authenticity isn’t a new idea. We’ve seen it drive results through influencer marketing, social content, and even traditional sponsorships. People trust people, and they always have.
What’s changed is the sheer volume of content pretending to be authentic. AI makes it easy to fake it, and that’s where the stakes are rising. Because now if it doesn’t feel human, it doesn’t just miss the mark. It gets ignored.
AI will continue to improve. Tools like GPT-4o and others are already generating content that feels more fluid, emotionally intelligent, and persuasive. Soon, AI-written content will pass the “feels human” sniff test more often than not. But that actually makes the job of earning real trust even harder.
When everything feels authentic, people rely more on subtle, contextual signals to decide what’s actually real.
Use AI to Amplify Your Humanity
AI is an incredible tool when you treat it like a partner instead of a crutch. At MPW, we are using it to enhance our creativity, not replace it. The best marketers use it to:
- Sharpen raw ideas into smart outlines
- Repurpose authentic content into formats modern audiences will actually consume
- Cut busywork to create space for them to leverage their humanity in their craft
- Spot patterns in audience feedback that lead to better messaging
AI should accelerate your workflow, not flatten your voice.
Taste and Emotional Intelligence Are the Marketing Superpowers
The flood of AI content is only growing. But so is the human instinct to spot inauthenticity when something feels off.
As marketers, the tools we use will keep changing. But the skills that matter, like taste, intuition, and emotional intelligence, will continue to set us apart. I hear this echoed constantly by the people in this industry whom I trust most.
How your brand interacts with the public isn’t just about marketing automations and polish. It’s about whether people believe you. And in a web full of copycats, content mills, and over-optimized funnels, authenticity is your most defensible asset.
Use AI to go faster. Use it to scale. But build trust by showing up like a human every time. The landing page will get people over the finish line, but only if they trusted you before you led them there. Otherwise, you’re just pushing a cold lead toward a closed door.
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