CrankTank Releases New Tool to Optimize AI-Driven Marketing

REACH technology aims to improve organic sales and conversion rates for brands by optimizing content for AI-powered product discovery.

Published on Mar. 2, 2026

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CrankTank, an industry marketing company, has released a new patented technology called REACH (Retrieval Evaluation and Agentic Commerce Health) that helps brands optimize their marketing and sales copy for AI-powered product discovery platforms like ChatGPT Shopping, Google AI Mode, and Microsoft Copilot. The tool analyzes how brands rank in AI-driven product searches and provides recommendations to improve their performance, leading to an average 14% increase in organic sales and 31% boost in conversion rates for early clients.

Why it matters

As more consumers turn to AI chatbots and assistants to research products before making purchases, brands need new strategies to ensure their offerings are easily discoverable and appealing to these AI-powered discovery tools. REACH provides a way for brands, especially those with limited marketing budgets, to improve their visibility and conversion rates in the growing AI-driven e-commerce landscape.

The details

REACH was developed by CrankTank's Chief Data Officer, Cole Casperson, who previously worked at Club Ride Apparel. The tool analyzes how brands' marketing copy and product information is interpreted by Large Language Models (LLMs) used in AI chatbots, and provides recommendations on how to optimize that content. Unlike traditional SEO, which focused on keyword repetition, REACH suggests using more natural, conversational phrasing that aligns with the types of queries customers make to AI assistants.

  • CrankTank co-founder Scott Montgomery started the company about 10 years ago, around the time SEO was still a major focus for brands.
  • Casperson joined CrankTank in 2022 after earning a data science certificate from MIT, and has been working on developing REACH since last March.

The players

CrankTank

An industry marketing company that has released a new patented technology called REACH to help brands optimize their content for AI-powered product discovery platforms.

Cole Casperson

The Chief Data Officer at CrankTank who developed the REACH technology after previously working as the CFO and COO at Club Ride Apparel.

Scott Montgomery

The co-founder of CrankTank, who noted that AI-powered product discovery is being adopted faster than mobile, Google, and the internet.

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What they’re saying

“It's not going to slump down to 18%, I know that! AI is being adopted faster than mobile, faster than Google, faster than the internet.”

— Scott Montgomery, Co-founder, CrankTank (bicycleretailer.com)

“REACH is the diagnostic tool that's finally possible because the black box has been opened. We're showing brands exactly why they rank where they do in AI discovery — and exactly how to improve.”

— Cole Casperson, Chief Data Officer, CrankTank (bicycleretailer.com)

What’s next

CrankTank is rolling out REACH to the rest of the industry after several existing clients have been testing the tool for months. The company says early clients in the outdoor industry have reported average improvements of 14% in organic sales and a 31% improvement in conversion rate from using REACH.

The takeaway

As AI-powered product discovery platforms become more prevalent, brands need new strategies to ensure their offerings are easily found and appealing to these AI assistants. CrankTank's REACH tool provides a way for brands, even those with limited marketing budgets, to optimize their content and improve their visibility and conversion rates in the growing AI-driven e-commerce landscape.