ChatGPT ads · counting the calls
Tracking ChatGPT ads: which calls came from the ad
OpenAI counts clicks on your ad. A click is someone tapping it. It can't hear your phone ring, so that part gets added on your side and I set it up. That's a bit of code on your site, a feed from your own system, and a tag on the link. Plus a phone number you can count.
A click is not a call
The ad account shows how many times the ad was shown. It shows the clicks, the spend, the share of people who clicked, and the average cost of a click. That is everything OpenAI's side can show you. Your phone ringing is not in it. Counting that part is your job, and mine.
The 3 tools OpenAI gives you
- A small bit of code for your site, which OpenAI calls a pixel. It fires when someone does the thing you wanted.
- A feed from your own system to OpenAI, sent computer to computer. It suits a result that happens away from your website.
- A tag on the end of the web address in your ad. OpenAI says the tag stays on when someone clicks, so your own numbers tool can read it.
You don't need all 3 on day one. I start with the tag on the link and a tracked phone number. The code comes later if your site can take it.
You can aim at a booked job, and still pay per click
You can aim the ad at 1 result you pick, like a booked job. You are still billed per valid click, or per 1,000 times the ad shows. You are not billed for each result it brings. The rest of the money side is on what ChatGPT ads cost.
What the ad account will not tell you
- Totals only. OpenAI says advertisers get totals, like total views or clicks.
- OpenAI says advertisers never receive chats, chat history, name, email or precise location.
- Views and clicks update about every 15 minutes.
- Spend can run 7 to 8 hours behind what has really been charged.
- So a spend of zero on the screen does not mean nothing has been charged.
For a tradie, the count that matters is the phone
A trade lead usually rings. Filling in a form is the second choice. So the ad has to land on a page with a number on the first screen.
A tracked number is a second phone number that rings your phone. It logs every call, the time it came in and how long it went. Put that number on the page the ad points at. Then a call from the ad is a line in a list, not a guess. The number is set up for the free month, while you cover your own ad spend. We agree on the call what happens to it after.
The form on that page can carry a hidden line saying where the person came from. Then form leads and phone leads sit in the same list. At the end of the month we hold that list next to the job value we agreed. That's how we both know if the leads paid you.
3 questions people ask me about counting
Can't I just watch the spend?
Not on its own. OpenAI says spend can run 7 to 8 hours late, and that a zero on the screen doesn't mean nothing has been charged. Views and clicks move about every 15 minutes, so read those during the day. Read the spend the next morning.
Do you see who called me?
I see the call in the tracking we set up, because it logs every call. OpenAI sends nothing about the person. It says advertisers never receive chats, names, emails or precise location. From OpenAI you get totals about the ads, and that's all.
What if my site can't take extra code?
Then we run the tag on the link and the tracked number instead. The tag needs nothing added to your site. It's just the right web address in the ad, and OpenAI says it stays on the link when someone clicks. That's enough to tell ChatGPT visits apart.
Let ChatGPT show your business to high-intent customers
- ChatGPT has released paid ads, and this changes the marketing game absolutely.
- If you missed out on Facebook ads in 2007, where anything you posted would have popped off, don't miss out on the next big ad platform.
- Unlike Facebook, where people get interrupted mid doom-scroll, ChatGPT shows your business to people who are already researching something related.
- That makes ChatGPT a cheat code. The engine your customers ask for advice shows your business right under its answer.
- Most marketing agencies charge you thousands before you see any results.
- We work for you, for free. You just cover your own ad spend. The first month is free, so you see the results for yourself before you pay us anything.
- Then, if you want to keep getting those results month after month, we sort out a rev-share or a retainer. A rev-share is a cut of what it makes you. A retainer is a flat monthly fee. Agreed in writing before month 2 starts.
- In the free month, we don't get paid if you don't get paid. After that, it's the rev-share or the retainer you chose.
- Only 10 a month. The work up front is heavy and brings us no income at first. That is all we can take.
If the ads make you nothing, you pay us nothing and we stop there. You will have paid OpenAI for the clicks, and that is all.
Read next
To follow the path from a chat to a ringing phone, read how a ChatGPT ad turns into a lead. Most of the counting is won or lost on the page your ad sends people to. Two of the 7 ways a campaign wastes money are counting faults. And if you're setting it up yourself, the step by step has the order.
30 minutes, then a straight answer
30 minutes on the phone, mostly questions about your business and your customers. You get 2 straight answers. Do people ask ChatGPT for what you do? And is it worth a run, where we only get paid a rev-share or a retainer, sorted once you have seen the results, to find out?