NerdWallet: “We are in the middle of an AI transition that is changing how people get their answers to their money questions”

NerdWallet users have traditionally turned to Google to begin their financial journeys. A question entered into the search bar would surface a NerdWallet article, sending users to the company’s site. Now, that behavior is changing.

“We are in the middle of an AI transition that is changing how people get their answers to their money questions,” said NerdWallet CEO Tim Chen during the Q2 earnings call.

As the company has noted in previous quarters, some traffic is now coming from LLMs. While it remains a small share of overall traffic, those visitors tend to convert at a high rate.

“I think intent is extremely high when someone is coming through an LLM in terms of wanting to transact in a marketplace,” said Chen. “It continues to be a pretty small part of our business today, but it’s definitely an area of investment and growth for us.”

Analysts have continued to press the company on the subject. And while Chen has said that “the story is still being written,” he believes enough change has already taken place to provide a clearer picture of where things are headed.

“We’ve already entered a phase where you’ve got billions of weekly active users across major LLMs,” Chen said. “Mass adoption is already taking place, right? I think a lot of the impact that we’ve already seen in terms of our educational content being affected the last three years, has played out. I think we’re starting to see what the future looks like.”

Chen also emphasized that having a trusted brand will be critical to succeeding in this new era.

“The importance of that trusted brand when you’re talking about offering marketplaces and high stakes financial guidance is really front and center,” he said. “I just think we’re really well-positioned there.”