Agents ·
Can an AI agent actually finish a purchase on your site, and how would you find out?
An afternoon ChatGPT
Short answer
Test it rather than assume it. Microsoft Clarity now shows which AI agents visit your site and what they do, and can run simulated agent tasks to see whether one gets from product page to checkout.
Agents fail in places people don't notice: a pop-up that has to be closed, a flavor picker that only works on hover, a forced account sign-up, a promo field that breaks the cart. When that happens you lose the order and usually never learn why. Microsoft Clarity's Agent Activity dashboard, announced November 4, 2026, lists the agents that visit, how that traffic changes over time and what they do, from searches and form fills to checkout. Its simulation assessments report whether a task was completed, how long it took and how many steps it needed, starting with commerce and travel scenarios. Clarity is free, but you can run the same check by hand: give an agent such as ChatGPT agent mode a plain request for your best seller and watch where it stops.
Do this
- Write down three tasks a shopper would hand an agent, such as reorder your best seller in the usual size, buy a variety pack under a set price, and subscribe to a monthly delivery.
- If your site runs Microsoft Clarity, open the Agent Activity dashboard and note which agents already visit and which pages they reach.
- Run a simulation, or ask an agent to complete each task, and record where it stalls: pop-ups, age gates, variant pickers, required log-in or the cart.
- Fix the first blocker on the list, then run the same task again to confirm the agent gets further.
- Repeat the three tasks after every checkout, theme or app change.
Effort is our estimate for a small brand team. Assistant tags come from the assistants this tip names. See also AI shopping assistants compared.
Read more on the blog
- Visa graded 22 AI shopping assistants: 57% of runs passed, and half the failures still bought something
- Shoppers let AI choose but not pay. CPG brands should design for the handoff
- Your robots.txt says AI is welcome. Your bot wall says no.