AI SHORTLIST SCAN
The Diagnostic for The Selection Layer
See how AI is currently representing your brand across all four layers: Inclusion, Positioning, Preference and Selection.
Most B2B teams have no evidence of whether they're being included, how they're being framed, whether they're being preferred over competitors, or whether their post-AI buyer experience confirms or contradicts what AI just said about them.
The AI Shortlist Scan gives you decision-grade clarity across all four layers, in seven days.
£1,995 · seven days · 60-minute walkthrough · money-back guarantee
○ THE PROBLEM
You're losing deals
before you even know you're in them.
Buyers aren't starting with your website anymore.
They’re asking AI tools:
- "Who are the best providers for X?"
- "What are the top platforms for Y?"
- "How do these vendors compare?"
And getting back:
- curated answers
- structured comparisons
- pre-built shortlists
If you're not included, you're not considered.
If you're included but poorly positioned, you're not framed favourably.
If you're positioned but not preferred, you're not the lead recommendation.
If you're preferred but the experience breaks, you're not selected.
Most B2B teams are operating blind on all four:
INCLUSION
whether you're being included
POSITIONING
how you're being positioned
PREFERENCE
whether you're being preferred
SELECTION
whether the experience holds up
○ THE SHIFT
Visibility is no longer the goal. Selection is.
Most teams are still optimising for rankings, traffic, and impressions.
But AI doesn't rank pages. It:
- chooses its sources
- decides who gets considered
- frames each option
- builds the shortlist
Being visible doesn’t mean being chosen.
We call this The Selection Layer: the space between your brand and your buyer where B2B decisions are increasingly being formed.
The real question is no longer "are we ranking?"
It's: are we being included, positioned, preferred, and selected? And what's driving each?
○ THE DIAGNOSTIC
Introducing the AI Shortlist Scan
A decision-grade diagnostic of how you're being included, positioned, preferred, and selected in your category.
What the Scan measures, layer by layer:
Inclusion
Whether you're in the answer at all. Your Inclusion rate across real buyer prompts on the platforms your buyers use, and your Shortlist Rate: how often you're in the recommended set, not just the answer.
Positioning
How you're framed when you appear. Where you're listed, how accurately you're described, and where the framing is wrong, generic or out of date.
Preference
Whether you're recommended, and why. What the models believe about you, which sources each belief comes from, and what tips a comparison towards a competitor.
Selection
Whether the buyer's check confirms it. Whether your site, proof and third-party profiles back up what AI said, or contradict it on arrival.
You receive:
Your Scan report, covering:
- Your Shortlist Rate alongside your Inclusion rate: how often you're recommended versus merely mentioned
- How you're framed when you appear, and where it's inaccurate
- What the models believe about you, and which sources each belief comes from
- Whether the buyer's post-AI check confirms or contradicts what AI said
- Where the gap sits between you and the competitors winning selection, and what's generating it
Plus:
- The top five changes that will most improve your position, ranked by impact
- A 60-minute walkthrough with John Webb to interpret the findings and agree what to do first
Delivered within seven days. No fluff. No generic recommendations.
○ HOW IT WORKS
Simple. Fast. No heavy lift required.
Define your category
We align on:
- your market and primary use cases
- your buyer personas and decision triggers
- your four key competitors
Run the buyer prompts
We put real buyer questions to the five platforms your buyers use: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude.
- around thirty prompts, from category discovery to comparisons and late-stage due diligence
- repeat-tested over a window, so one unusual answer can't swing the result
Decode the shortlist
We break down:
- who gets included, who gets filtered out
- how each vendor is framed and compared
- which sources the answers are built from, and what's driving selection
Rank what to fix
You get:
- the top five changes that will most improve your position, ranked by impact
- a 60-minute walkthrough to interpret the findings and agree what to do first
Your side of it: one short alignment call at the start, the walkthrough at the end. Then act on it yourself, or defend it with the Quarterly Benchmark.
○ WHO FOR
Built for B2B teams where pipeline matters
B2B SaaS &
Technology Vendors
Content-Led B2B
Organisations
Marketing, Revenue &
Commercial Leaders
You’ll get the most value if:
- You invest in content or demand generation as a primary growth lever
- Your buying journey is information-led and consideration-driven
- You're seeing changes in traffic, lead quality or pipeline shape
- You want evidence of where you stand when AI builds the shortlist
Decoding Growth is based in the UK, working with clients across the UK, US and Europe. Current benchmark work spans ecommerce fraud prevention and business technology, sector by sector, brand by brand, across the platforms buyers actually use.
Media and events businesses can commission a Scan on their own brands.
○ THE STAKES
Why this matters now
- AI is already shaping which vendors your buyers consider
- Your competitors may already be included in answers you're missing from
- The gap between included and invisible widens with every answer that leaves you out
The earlier you understand this, the easier it is to influence it.
○ QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
Whether you're in the AI-generated answer, how you're framed when you appear, whether you're recommended, and whether your site confirms what AI said. Four layers, around thirty real buyer prompts, five platforms, repeat-tested over a window so a single unusual answer can't swing the result. You get your Shortlist Rate alongside your Inclusion rate, which is the difference between being mentioned and being selected.
ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. The same five across the Scan and the Quarterly Benchmark, so movement is always measured against the same set.
No. A visibility audit tells you whether you're mentioned. The Scan tells you whether you're selected, which is a different question with a different answer. Your Shortlist Rate, how often you're in the recommended set rather than just the answer, is the number that separates the two, and it's the number the Scan is built around.
It's a diagnostic, not a pitch. There's no execution retainer to protect, so the findings aren't shaped by what we'd like to sell you afterwards; every score is backed by the prompts and answers it came from; and the walkthrough ranks what to fix first rather than listing everything that could be improved.
Two paths. Act on the top five changes yourself, or keep the picture current with the Quarterly Benchmark, which re-runs your Scan prompts four times a year. If you want help making the changes, we scope it at the walkthrough, not before.
Yes. Decoding Growth is based in the UK and works with clients across the UK, US and Europe. The platforms and the buyer behaviour don't respect borders; the prompt set is written for your market and your buyers.
You get your money back, no questions. The Scan is sold as decision-grade: if it doesn't give you a clear picture of where you stand and what to do first, it hasn't done its job.
No risk. Decision-grade or your money back.
If the Scan doesn't deliver decision-grade clarity on your position in The Selection Layer, we'll refund the fee in full. No questions.
£1,995 · seven days · 60-minute walkthrough · money-back guarantee.
Page last updated: 11 October 2026