How to Use AI Automation to Improve Your Small Business Website?

Everyone’s using AI now, right? These days, it’s often faster to ask a language model than to search through Google for answers. If AI has become so common in everyday life, surely it's the same for business?

Well, that depends.

In this post, we’ll walk you through some nuanced insights and actionable takeaways that might just apply to your business too.

What is AI automation?

To put it simply:

AI automation refers to the process of using AI for repetitive or complex tasks in order to complete them faster and receive improved results.

In practice, AI automation powers everything from content generation to B2C marketing and administrative tasks. It improves how businesses communicate, convert, and retain customers.

Sounds like something worth using, especially when you're short on hands, right? As AI automation becomes more accessible, it's worth asking: how do the numbers actually look?

How many businesses use AI automation on their websites?

There’s no shortage of surveys and studies out there, with both big and small players sharing slightly different data and conclusions.

When it comes to small businesses, the 2025 Verizon report is worth a look: 38% of small U.S. businesses are using AI in some way.

Share of U.S. small businesses using AI vs. not using AI – Verizon, 2025

That’s interesting. Not every small business is using AI. In fact, it's still just a minority that has AI integrated into any operation. But to get insights that could actually matter to small business owners, we needed something more detailed.

So at IKOL, we ran our own research. We analyzed the source code of 3,800+ small business websites across the U.S., looking for signs of tools enhanced with AI features. Our sample included:

• Service business websites
• Online stores
• Restaurant websites
• Personal websites & portfolios

The key takeaway? The Verizon results held up: 38.17% of business websites showed signs of AI-powered tools. Here’s the breakdown:

• 34.36% used AI through their CMS
• 2.52% used external tools
• 1.3% had both

Share of U.S. small businesses using AI – IKOL study, 2025

So we can just say with full certainty that 38.17% of small businesses in the U.S. are using AI, full stop?

Not exactly, and here’s why:

1. Just because a site runs on a CMS with AI features doesn’t mean those features are actually being used.
2. Not everything is detectable in the site’s code. A business might use tools that leave no trace, or don’t need to be integrated at all. A clear example? Using ChatGPT in a separate browser tab to generate content.

That said, the first factor could likely mean that our number is too high. But the other would suggest the opposite - that number being too low. And since our result mirrors an independent study, we think it’s a pretty reliable estimate overall.

Because we broke the sites down by type, we could also see how things differ across industries.

• Online stores had the highest AI access by far (52.93%). They also had the highest rate of external AI tool usage, layered on top of CMS features.
• Personal websites came next with 43.33% having access to AI tools. However, in this group, external AI integrations were almost nonexistent. It's reasonable to suspect that they didn’t really care about AI. They just happened to pick CMSs that offered it by default.
• Service businesses followed, with 36.45% having AI-powered tools, mostly via CMS, but occasionally through external integrations too.
• Restaurants were last on the list, with 34.83% AI access. And again, like with personal websites, very few external tools were found.

What are the main applications of AI automation?

There are tons of business niches where AI is being used. Those range from marketing to analytics to full-on business management. For the purpose of our study, we focused on specific areas of application and analyzed what percentage of business websites had access to AI tools in each of them:

• Content Creation: 35.22% of websites have access to AI tools for content creation
• Personalization & Recommendations: 30.73% have access to AI for personalization
• Customer Support & Chatbots: 16.39% use AI for customer support
• Forms & Lead Generation: 16.91% have access to AI tools in this area
• Analytics & Heatmaps: 17.14% of websites show AI integration for analytics
• Process Automation & Scheduling: 15.95% use AI to automate processes and manage scheduling

Access to various types of AI tools by application area

These findings give us a real-world snapshot of where AI automation is already in play, and where there's still room to grow.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these areas:

Content Creation

Tools that use AI to generate website content, which includes full product descriptions, blog posts, and even the entire page layouts. AI speeds up writing, suggests improvements, and sets an appropriate tone for the audience.

Access to AI tools for content creation by website type

Across all types of business websites, content creation tools are widely available relative to overall AI adoption. Online stores lead with 45.61%, followed by personal websites (43.33%), restaurants (33.97%), and service businesses (33.58%). Almost all of this is powered by CMS-native AI. We found only one case where a third-party AI tool handled content creation. As we noted earlier, not all AI use cases require integration, and content creation is the perfect example. Many small business owners simply generate content or run research in ChatGPT on one tab and paste the result into their CMS on another. So the actual usage of AI for content creation is likely much higher than what we can measure.

Personalization & Recommendations

Systems that analyze user behavior and use AI to personalize content, offers, or layout. They can show dynamic product suggestions, change their messaging in real time, or switch the order of displayed elements depending on user preferences. These features are especially powerful for businesses focused on B2C marketing automation, where delivering the right message to the right user at the right time makes a difference between a pass and a sale.

Access to AI tools for personalization & recommendations by website type

Similar to content creation, there’s very little third-party integration here, as most of the AI functionality is built into CMS platforms. Once again, online stores lead with nearly half (48.54%) offering AI personalization. They’re followed by personal websites (37.5%), service businesses (28.3%), and restaurants (28.26%).

Customer Support & Chatbots

AI-powered assistants and chatbots that handle customer questions, guide users through common issues, and provide instant support. Those often do not require a human agent, unless escalation is necessary.

Access to AI customer support & chatbot tools by business website type

Here we see an interesting split. Online stores are well above average in adopting AI tools for customer support. 42.2% of them use such tools, and external AI integrations are more common here than in other categories. Clearly, customer support is a priority for online stores.

In contrast, service businesses, where one might expect high usage, lag behind with only 13.84% showing AI customer support tools. Personal websites hit 15%, and restaurants just 10.52%.

Forms & Lead Generation

AI-powered forms and lead capture tools that personalize questions, evaluate responses, qualify leads, or trigger actions in business process automation tools like CRMs or task managers. For B2C companies especially, this kind of automation supports smoother lead nurturing and segmentation. B2C marketing automation tools can personalize form flows, qualify leads in real time, and boost conversion rates.

Access to AI-powered forms & lead generation tools by business type

Once again, online stores top the list.42.44% of them have AI-assisted forms and lead capture tools. There’s also a noticeable amount of third-party integration in this category. What’s surprising is how low the number is for service businesses, as only 14.49% of them show AI usage in this area. For personal websites it’s 15.83%, and for restaurants, just 10.52%.

Analytics & Heatmaps

AI-driven analytics that help visualize how users interact with your site. Heatmaps, scrollmaps, and behavior predictions show what content grabs attention, and what doesn’t, letting you optimize accordingly.

Access to AI analytics & heatmap tools by business website type

At this point, it’s no surprise that online stores are again leading the way, with 41.46% of them using AI analytics tools. Many combine CMS-native tools with external integrations. The other categories are fairly close to each other: 14.93% of service businesses, 15% of personal websites, and 10.86% of restaurant sites use AI in this area.

Process Automation & Scheduling

Tools that use AI to automate work routines like appointment scheduling, reminders, and follow-ups. Modern business process automation tools can handle all that behind the scenes, freeing up your time for higher-value work.

Access to AI tools for process automation & scheduling by business website type

Only 13.58% of service businesses use AI for scheduling and automation, which is surprising given how critical scheduling is for this type of business. It seems many are still relying on pen and paper, or old-school booking tools. We covered this in detail in another blog post: Why a Scheduler Might Be the Most Important Tool You’re Not Using"}"}s)?

As usual, online stores are ahead, with 40% using AI-powered tools for automating tasks and managing time. Personal websites are at 15%, and restaurants trail at just 10.34%.

Final takeaways: AI automation can be your competitive edge

Let’s wrap things up with a few key insights that stood out from our research.

• Online stores are leading the AI adoption race. They use AI the most across nearly every area, often relying on powerful business process automation tools to smoothen their operations.
• Service businesses are underusing AI, even in areas where it clearly helps. Despite the huge potential for automating bookings, follow-ups, and communication, adoption of such solutions is surprisingly low.
• Restaurants don't seem to prioritize AI at all. In almost every category, they had the lowest AI adoption rates.
• Personal websites are riding on CMS features. They’re not necessarily looking for AI, but when they pick a modern CMS, they often get it anyway, baked in.

One final takeaway? Why bother with external integrations when a good CMS gives you everything out of the box? If your CMS can handle B2C marketing automation out of the box, then you may not need to integrate any external tools at all. That’s exactly what the stats are starting to show. It’s simpler to set up, easier to manage, and often cheaper in the long run.

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It handles everything: content generation, customer support, analytics, scheduling, and much more!

The data and statistics presented in this blog post come from a research study conducted by IKOL between 2023 and 2025. To learn more about IKOL research methodology and explore other findings, visit: ikol.com/research