How Intelligent Websites Create a Lasting Brand Advantage

As AI becomes table stakes in marketing, differentiation no longer comes from whether you’re using it — but how. In the latest CMO Series session, Jamie Bell, CMO at Workshop, joined Sequel CEO Oana Manolache to unpack what “intelligent websites” actually look like in practice, and why human-centric design is the real competitive advantage.

Rather than focusing on tools or trends, the conversation centered on experience, judgment calls, and the role websites now play in guiding (not overwhelming) modern buyers.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the session.

1. An Intelligent Website Meets People Where They Are

For Jamie, intelligence isn’t about flashy personalization or first-name callouts. In fact, that approach often backfires.

If you just go to a website and it’s like, ‘Hey, Jamie,’ I’m gonna be like, um, hello.

Instead, she defines an intelligent website as one that adapts to visitor intent without crossing into creepiness.

I think of an intelligent website as something where it’s meeting people where they are, and allowing them to create paths that are relevant to what they’re looking for at that time.

Too many websites still function as static directories, forcing visitors to navigate through endless links. Intelligence, in Jamie’s view, comes from guided discovery that feels helpful, not invasive.

2. Time on Site Matters More Than Traffic

As buyer journeys fragment and discovery happens everywhere, from search to social to LLMs, raw traffic has become a weak signal.

You can buy all the traffic you want, but that doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day.

Instead, Jamie looks at engagement-based signals like time on site and how deeply people explore content.

I would expect to see something like time on-site or time on page really bump up because they’re there finding what they need and digging in a little bit more.

A smaller number of highly engaged visitors often matters far more than thousands of passive ones.

3. AI Should Guide the Experience — Not Replace It

One of the most concrete examples Jamie shared was Workshop’s plan to rebuild its resource hub using an AI-powered “concierge.”

Rather than me have to go into each article and say, ‘Here are three related resources that you might like, maybe,’ can we have an AI chatbot that’s just there to help you navigate?

The goal isn’t automation for automation’s sake; it’s reducing friction and helping people find what’s relevant faster.

Basically help guide you through the site rather than expecting people to just parse everything themselves.

This reframes AI as a support layer for human intent, not a replacement for human thinking.

4. Simplicity Is a Competitive Advantage

Another recurring theme: intelligent websites are often simpler, not more complex.

A lot of times, you can tell from what someone is interacting with what page they’re on. They don’t need to see every product thing and every use case at the top.

By reducing noise and controlling paths more intentionally, websites can feel smarter, even without heavy personalization.

5. Interactive Experiences Build Trust Faster Than Static Pages

Jamie also highlighted the role of micro-interactions and “micro-products” in making websites more engaging.

I found myself very bored and impatient with very static UI.

Pulling interactive elements, like generators or tools, directly onto the marketing site allows visitors to experience value, not just read about it.

Those are just fun engineering and demand gen experiences… rather than looking at static software UI.

6. Human-Centric Marketing Starts With Listening

Across AI, websites, and brand decisions, Jamie emphasized one constant: feedback.

One of our company values is listen to learn… a lot of our roadmap is based on customer feedback.

Whether through communities, Slack conversations, or direct outreach, staying close to customers helps ensure intelligence doesn’t drift away from empathy.

Without asking, you would easily assume things about your audience that just aren’t true.

The Bottom Line

Intelligent websites aren’t defined by how advanced the technology is, but by how intentional the experience feels.

When AI is used to guide, simplify, and support human decision-making, websites become more than conversion tools. They become brand assets that build trust, relevance, and long-term advantage.

As Jamie put it, this is what makes the work exciting:

It’s an exciting opportunity to make [the website] a destination.