Been thinking about this after letting AI optimize our conversion flow.
What if the historical data I fed it was already skewed? Like maybe we weren’t reaching certain user segments properly before.
Feels like the AI might just double down on those same blind spots instead of finding better approaches.
Mix in manual tests every few weeks to catch blindspots.
Yes. Biased data can lead the AI to reinforce the same issues instead of correcting them.
This bit me hard with a travel app two years ago. My AI kept pushing expensive packages because that’s all my data showed working.
I was just awful at reaching budget travelers. Ran some cheap Facebook ads with different messaging and boom - whole new segment converting well.
What fixed it: I started feeding the AI data from failed experiments. Sounds backwards, but it teaches the system what bombs for different user types.
Check your traffic sources monthly too. If 80% comes from one channel, your AI’s just optimizing for that channel’s weird habits.
Hard rule: don’t optimize with less than 3 traffic sources or user segments. I’ve seen AI funnel optimization completely destroy conversion rates by going too narrow. The algorithm finds one group that converts well and ignores everyone else. Now I make sure there’s diversity in the data before AI gets near it. Run campaigns to different demographics, test different ad creatives, try organic channels. Then feed those mixed results to optimization.
You’re right. AI just amplifies whatever patterns are already in your data.
Happened to me too - my funnel kept doubling down on this tiny user segment. Great conversion rates, but I was missing tons of potential customers.
Now I test different messaging and audiences first to get fresh data from new angles. Then I feed that broader dataset to the AI.
This is exactly why I don’t trust AI’s first attempt. I use it for quick variations, then test on completely different audience segments right away. Web2Wave lets me create 3-4 different approaches in minutes and run them all at once. The data shows what actually works.