Turn AI Commerce Readiness into a repeatable client service.
Benchmark how a client appears in AI answers, test whether its product catalogue supports AI shopping, and turn the resulting evidence into a prioritised programme your team can deliver and remeasure.
Herm provides the measurement and the evidence.Your team keeps the strategy, the delivery and the client relationship.
| Client | Visible | Sellable | Relevant | Preferred | What the agency does next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client A running footwear · UK / US | needs attention | strong | not assessed | not assessed | Diagnose → prioritise |
| Client B homeware · UK | strong | not connected | not assessed | not assessed | Benchmark |
| Client C beauty · UK / EU | baseline complete | not assessed | not assessed | not assessed | Remeasure |
Read as A view of where each client currently stands and what the agency does next: the operating model this page describes. Each client is assessed in its own workspace, and nothing here is drawn from another client's data.
The audit should be the start of the engagement, not the final deliverable.
AI visibility creates an obvious new client question: how are we appearing? The larger opportunity is helping the client understand why the result matters, what should change and whether that change improves the next measurement.
Evidence creates a roadmap. Remeasurement creates an ongoing service.
- Score delivered
- Client asks what to do with it
- Engagement closes
- Baseline
- Diagnosis
- Implementation
- Remeasurement
- Next priority
The next priority returns to measurement, which is what makes the work a programme rather than a project. Herm does not promise that every intervention changes a model response. Remeasurement is what shows whether it did.
Different clients need different starting points.
Each pathway begins with a client question, not with a Herm product.
- Brand & growth Live
What do AI systems say when buyers ask questions that matter to this client?
Herm measurement Brand VisibilityObserved responses across the five-model panel, competitor appearances and the sources cited alongside them.
Agency work may include- Brand strategy
- Content
- Digital presence
- Competitive analysis
- Ecommerce & product Live
Can AI shopping systems correctly understand and evaluate the client's catalogue?
Herm measurement Product ReadinessShopping tests against the catalogue, showing where product data fails to answer a buying question.
Agency work may include- Product-data remediation
- Feed improvements
- Product content
- Ecommerce architecture
- CRM & retention Early access
Can a brand’s own signed-in experience choose better for connected shoppers, without taking custody of their profile?
Herm measurement Customer IntelligenceDecisions returned to the brand’s own signed-in surfaces, each logged against the shopper grant it ran under.
Agency work may include- Signed-in experience design
- Decision API integration
- Owned personalisation
- Measurement
- Revenue / activation Live
Where can verified purchase outcomes support a commercial programme?
Herm measurement OffersVerified purchase outcomes and verified revenue against an offer, rather than a modelled attribution claim.
Agency work may include- Offer strategy
- Activation
- Campaign design
- Measurement
Boundary Herm measures the client's position and shows the evidence behind it. It does not guarantee the outcome of the strategy, content, product-data or CRM work an agency chooses to sell around that evidence.
From first diagnostic to ongoing client roadmap.
Six steps. Two of them are measurement, and the other four are the agency’s own work.
- 01 Herm measures
Benchmark
Establish the client's current position using the relevant Herm assessment.
artefact · first measurement - 02 Read together
Diagnose
Inspect observed responses, product-data failures or other relevant evidence rather than relying on a headline score alone.
artefact · evidence review - 03 Agency decides
Prioritise
Translate the findings into workstreams the agency and client can actually own.
artefact · client roadmap - 04 Agency delivers
Deliver
The agency executes the appropriate strategy, content, product-data, ecommerce or CRM work.
artefact · agency scope of work - 05 Herm measures
Remeasure
Run the relevant Herm measurement again and inspect what changed. Brand Visibility runs repeat weekly to monthly, depending on plan.
artefact · second measurement - 06 Agency decides
Expand
Move into another readiness dimension only where the client's actual problem warrants it.
artefact · next engagement scope
Use the Index to open the conversation. Use a client assessment to do the work.
Two measurements, two purposes. They are not comparable and no score is derived from both.
AI Visibility Index
Herm's public research across published markets and categories. Use it to show a client where their category stands and to open the conversation.
- scope
- Published markets and categories
- questions
- Herm's own research question set
- audience
- Public
- agency use
- A credible reason to start the conversation
Brand Visibility assessment
A client-specific measurement using questions and competitors relevant to that client's own competitive context. This is the measurement the work runs on.
- scope
- The client's own category and competitors
- questions
- Questions that matter to that client
- audience
- The client and its agency
- agency use
- The evidence behind a deliverable
Boundary Index results and Brand Visibility results are separate measurements on different question sets. They are not comparable, and no score on this site is derived by comparing one with the other. See the published Index.
Herm should strengthen your service, not replace it.
Five of these six are delivered by your team. Herm supplies the measurement under each.
| Agency capability | Herm evidence it can stand on | Performed by |
|---|---|---|
| Brand strategy strategy · positioning | AI-response positioning and the competitor patterns observed alongside it Brand Visibility | Your team |
| Content and answer coverage content · organic | Observed answer gaps and the cited-source context behind them Brand Visibility | Your team |
| Ecommerce merchandising · architecture | Product shopping-test failures against the client catalogue Product Readiness | Your team |
| Product content product data · feeds | Unanswered product requirements, page by page Product Readiness | Your team |
| CRM lifecycle · retention | Approved Customer Intelligence outputs, with permission state attached Customer Intelligence | Your team |
| Client reporting measurement · QBRs | Repeat measurements and the evidence recorded behind each one Herm measurement | Herm supplies |
One client, one assessment, one workspace.
Create and manage every client brand from one agency workspace.
- Client A workspace assessment running own category, competitors and question set · own measurement history
- Client B workspace assessment running separate from Client A · no shared evidence between engagements
- Client C workspace not yet started set up when the engagement begins
- Separation
- Each client brand keeps its own data, scores, Brand Core and outputs, and the Content Studio produces per-brand Publish Kits from that client's own Brand Core. Nothing cross-pollinates between engagements.
- Access
- Invite client users to their own panel with role-based access limitations, without exposing other clients or agency-level controls.
- Ownership
- If a client later needs to take direct ownership, the brand environment transfers to them and their existing setup does not have to be rebuilt.
- Billing
- Your agency can pay Herm centrally for the brands it manages, or individual clients can pay Herm directly. Both models are supported.
- Attribution
- Reports are shared as Powered by Herm. The independent measurement stays visible, which is part of what makes the score worth putting in your deck, and your agency remains responsible for the strategy, the recommendations and the client work.
Four readiness dimensions. Start with the one the client actually needs.
Map the rungs to engagements you can scope today. Measurement and content is the retainer; the feed audit is a technical project; on-site decisioning and offers are expansions. Product Readiness requires the client's product feed, so a domain-only run tells you where the conversation starts rather than everything it will cover.
- Be Visible Brand Visibility Live brand · content · strategy. The measurement and content retainer.
- Be Sellable Product Readiness Live ecommerce · product data · feeds. The catalogue audit, scoped as a project.
- Be Relevant Customer Intelligence Early access CRM · lifecycle · personalisation. An expansion once the client is visible and sellable.
- Be Preferred Offers Live performance · activation · offer strategy. Verified purchase outcomes, not modelled attribution.
A measurement layer your recommendation can stand on.
- Evidence
Observable evidence
Work from captured responses, product tests and other visible evidence rather than claims about hidden model reasoning.
every finding traces back to a recorded response or test - Research
Public research discipline
Herm publishes independent AI-visibility research through its Index, on the record and open to scrutiny.
3,734 brands ranked in the public Index · client assessments are not public - Scope
Commerce beyond visibility
Where relevant, move from AI mention measurement into product readiness, customer intelligence and verified purchase outcomes.
four readiness dimensions · start with one
Questions
What are the commercial terms?
Partner pricing depends on the number of brands you manage and the Herm products they use. Agencies can pay Herm centrally or have individual clients pay directly. Talk to the partner team and we will scope the model around your portfolio.
Can we white-label the reports?
Reports are shared as <strong>Powered by Herm</strong>. The independent measurement is part of what makes the score worth putting in your deck, while your agency remains responsible for the strategy, the recommendations and the client work.
Do clients need their own accounts?
Not to get started. Your agency creates and manages the brand, then invites client users with role-based access when appropriate. If the client later needs direct ownership, the brand environment can be transferred to them.
Who pays Herm?
Either model works. Your agency can pay centrally for the brands it manages, or individual clients can pay Herm directly.
Which rungs can we work on today?
Three of the four rungs are live today and Customer Intelligence is early access. The four are Brand Visibility, Product Readiness, Customer Intelligence and Offers. AI Distribution is the roadmap destination. Product Readiness requires the brand’s product feed link so Herm can assess the catalogue directly.
Can we run a score before a prospect becomes a client?
Yes. The free Readiness Score is designed as a low-friction diagnostic: start with the brand’s domain and use the result to identify the first readiness conversation.
Build the client service around the evidence.
Run a free Readiness Score on a client or prospect. If the result opens a larger conversation, use the ladder to map what comes next.
Free · no card · results in minutes
- starts with
- One client and one readiness problem your team already knows how to solve
- you get
- A measurement, the evidence behind it and a remeasurement to return to
- you keep
- The strategy, the delivery and the client relationship
- to agree
- Access, ownership and commercial terms, per engagement