With 60% of Google searches ending without clicks, HubSpot’s Kipp Bodnar explains why the marketing funnel is broken and what comes next
What’s happening: HubSpot has declared the traditional marketing funnel dead, launching “Loop Marketing”: a new framework designed for an era where 60% of Google searches end without clicks and AI provides answers directly.
Why this matters: With buyers getting information from AI overviews instead of visiting websites, businesses need fundamentally different strategies to reach customers who no longer follow predictable paths to purchase.
The marketing playbook that built countless businesses over the past two decades just became obsolete.
HubSpot, the company that pioneered inbound marketing in 2006, has officially declared the traditional marketing funnel broken. At INBOUND 2025, their flagship conference, they unveiled something entirely different: Loop Marketing, a framework designed for a world where customers increasingly never visit your website at all.
The numbers tell the story starkly. With 60% of Google searches now ending without a click, buyers are getting their answers directly from AI overviews and large language models rather than clicking through to business websites. For companies that built their growth strategies around driving traffic to owned channels, this represents a fundamental shift in how marketing must work.
“The old marketing funnel assumed customers would come to you. They visit your website, read your blog and convert on your terms,” said Kipp Bodnar, Chief Marketing Officer at HubSpot. “Now the funnel isn’t flowing, and the old playbook is broken. Loop Marketing is fundamentally different. It meets customers everywhere they are, uses AI to personalise each message at scale, and turns every interaction into a learning opportunity that makes the Loop stronger.”
The funnel stops flowing
The traditional marketing funnel relied on a linear progression: awareness, consideration, decision. Businesses created content, optimised for search, and waited for prospects to find them. This approach worked when people actively searched for information and clicked through to websites.
That behaviour has fundamentally changed. AI-powered search results now provide comprehensive answers without requiring users to visit multiple websites. Social platforms like TikTok and Reddit have become primary discovery channels. Buyers conduct research through conversation with AI assistants rather than browsing company websites.
For the 260,000 businesses worldwide using HubSpot’s platform, this shift demanded a completely new approach. The company’s response is Loop Marketing, built around four interconnected stages that acknowledge how modern buyers actually behave.
Loop replaces linear
The Loop Marketing framework abandons the linear funnel for a cyclical approach:
Express focuses on defining brand identity before implementing AI. “Your brand identity and deep customer understanding are what separate great content from generic content,” the framework emphasises. Performance gets measured by content velocity and creation costs rather than traditional awareness metrics.
Tailor leverages unified customer data to personalise messaging at scale. This includes everything from CRM records and call transcripts to website behaviour patterns. Success here is measured by click-through rates across channels.
Amplify distributes content across diverse channels where buyers actually spend time, including platforms where AI provides answers. Performance metrics expand beyond traditional channels to include AI visibility, share of voice in AI responses, and citation rates.
Evolve replaces lengthy campaign cycles with real-time iteration. Instead of six-month campaigns, businesses use AI to measure, predict, and adapt continuously. Success is measured by lead quality and the speed of experimentation.
“When humans and AI work together in the Loop, businesses grow in days instead of months, creating deeper connections with messages that feel personally crafted, lower acquisition costs through smarter targeting, and continuous improvement as AI learns from every interaction,” Bodnar explained.
AI teammates arrive
Supporting this new methodology, HubSpot announced over 200 AI-powered product updates, including specialised AI agents designed to work as integrated team members rather than standalone tools.
The Data Agent researches and answers custom questions by analysing CRM data, calls, emails, documents, and web information. It can discover new customer insights and automatically update the Smart CRM system.
Customer Agent handles front-office functions across multiple channels, switching between answering questions, qualifying leads, and resolving issues. Using CRM data for personalised responses, it resolves over 65% of conversations automatically.
Breeze Assistant works across HubSpot, browsers, and mobile apps to streamline daily tasks. It remembers preferences, creates branded content, conducts research, and prepares for meetings with company insights.
Custom Assistants can be trained on specific business processes and requirements, while the new Breeze Marketplace offers pre-built agents for specific business functions.
Connected data wins
The effectiveness of these AI systems depends heavily on data integration: a critical factor that many businesses struggle with.
“Australian businesses know they need to adopt AI, but the real challenge is making it work for their bottom line,” said Kat Warboys, Senior Marketing Director, APAC. “Our research shows that businesses with connected systems are seven times more likely to achieve successful AI implementation and six times more likely to report significantly outperforming peers.”
This data integration challenge reflects broader industry trends. The global AI in marketing market is set to reach US$47.32 billion in 2025, up from US$12.05 billion in 2020, representing a massive 36.6% compound annual growth rate, with 88% of marketers now relying on AI in their daily work. NAB SME Business Insights – What is Australian Business expecting in 2025? (Q4 2024) | Business Research and Insights
The shift from traditional funnels to loop-based marketing represents more than a tactical adjustment. It acknowledges that customer behaviour has fundamentally changed, and businesses must adapt their entire approach to growth rather than simply adding AI tools to existing processes.
For businesses still operating with traditional funnel thinking, HubSpot’s message is clear: the old playbook isn’t just less effective: it’s actively working against how customers actually behave in 2025.
“Our new products are designed to break down these barriers, helping businesses to easily connect their data, improve the customer experience and accelerate growth,” Warboys noted.
The question for business leaders isn’t whether to adopt AI-powered marketing approaches, but how quickly they can abandon linear thinking for the cyclical, AI-integrated strategies that match how their customers actually discover, evaluate, and buy today.
See: hubspot.com/loop-marketing
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