- 10%of Webflow's sign-ups come from AI discovery, up 4x year on year
- 24%conversion rate for traffic from ChatGPT, 6x higher than Google
- 91%of Webflow's AI referrals come from ChatGPT alone
The numbers
Webflow is a website building company with about 300,000 customers. 10% of its sign-ups now come from AI tools, 4x more than a year before. The newsletter says the real effect is likely bigger than this number.
91% of those AI referrals come from ChatGPT, followed by Perplexity (4%), Copilot (2%), Gemini (2%) and Claude (1%). ChatGPT traffic converts at 24%, six times Google's rate, and two in three AI-referred conversions happen within seven days.
“A lot of our lower value and lower intent traffic has gone down, but there's higher quality traffic occurring even as the aggregate declines.”
What Webflow learned
Total visits can fool you. Webflow's less useful visits fell, while its better visits grew. AI answers also change all the time, so showing up one day doesn't mean you'll show up the next.
The team tracks three things. How often Webflow shows up in AI answers. How well AI tools describe it next to rivals. And how many sign-ups come from AI. It tried an llms.txt file and saw no significant lift. It also sees Reddit as important, and answers real questions there instead of just posting links.
“When I say AI engines are volatile, I mean it's not like Google where you rank once and hold it.”
What other stores can take from this
- Don't judge by total traffic. Webflow's weaker visits fell while better ones grew.
- Check what AI says about you. Webflow checks how different AI apps describe it next to rivals, and fixes what's wrong.
- Skip the shortcuts. Webflow saw no significant lift from an llms.txt file and focuses on content instead.
- Be useful on Reddit. Webflow answers the questions people really ask, instead of posting links.
Worth knowing: Webflow sells software, not products, and sign-ups are not sales. The rest of the newsletter post is for paid subscribers.
Webflow is not a FirstPicked customer. This page is our summary of Growth Unhinged's reporting. The figures and quotes are theirs.
