OpenAI launches beta version on November 10thBusinesses in ChatGPT”, merchants can claim their business profile, update information, and view how many times it has been mentioned in ChatGPT answers in the past 28 days and how many website clicks it has generated in the Business Hub. OpenAI says ChatGPT is used by 1.2 billion people every week.

Qualified e-commerce and online service providers in the United States can also create a "Business Agent" to allow users to open a separate conversation in ChatGPT and directly ask about the company's products and return policies.

A reference to a website counts as a "mention", not just mentioning the brand name.

According to OpenAI’sSetup instructions, the data page will show the number of mentions, website clicks, and "discovered topics" in the past 28 days, which are the categories of topics that commonly appear in answers that refer to the merchant's website.

The algorithms mentioned vary by merchant type. Online merchants only need ChatGPT to refer to their website once, and just mentioning the brand name does not count; physical stores only need ChatGPT to display the store in the results, even if the user does not click on it.

An OpenAI spokesperson told Digiday It said that website clicks are the number of times users click on links on ChatGPT, which does not mean that the visit or purchase is actually completed; merchants cannot see individual questions and conversations, and the share of voice compared with competitors is not included in this beta version.

OpenAI also reminds that when the amount of data is too small, it will be left blank. Leaving blank does not mean there is no activity, but it may also mean that the data is still being collected.

In the past, estimates could only be estimated using third-party tools.

Farhad Divecha, CEO of digital marketing company Accuracast, told Digiday that in the past they could only rely on tools such as Peec AI, Otterly.AI, and Semrush to estimate a brand's visibility on ChatGPT. These tools used search data, third-party traffic estimates, and their own models, and none of them had access to raw data.

He said: "OpenAI now provides mention data itself, and we would like to see how far behind these tools are. If the estimation is wildly wrong, we will reconsider whether to continue paying."

Debra Aho Williamson, founder of research firm Sonata Insights, believes that OpenAI's own release of data will weaken the influence of third-party operators. However, OpenAI will not disclose all information, and ChatGPT is only one of many AI platforms. The market demand for such tools will still be strong.

Claiming requires two levels of verification, and merchant agents are only open to the United States.

When claiming a merchant, you can use your business phone number, business email, domain DNS records, or Shopify store verification. After passing the verification, the administrator needs to use Persona to complete the identity verification before they can post data modifications, receive product information, view data or establish a merchant agent. The blue tick will not appear until this step is passed.

OpenAI's official announcement states that as long as ChatGPT is available in the location and qualified merchants can apply for claim through Business Hub, the actual availability depends on the region and merchant type, and OpenAI has not announced a list of countries. Physical stores and restaurants can currently only claim existing store profiles in the United States, and merchant agents are only open to U.S. e-commerce and online service providers.

Merchant agents can also be linked behind ChatGPT ads

Benji Shomair, vice president of monetization at OpenAI, said at a press conference that merchant agents and the company that began testing in SeptemberSponsored agency advertisingThey are two entrances to the same set of things: "Think of merchant agency as a natural traffic experience, and sponsorship agency as a paid experience, but the agency behind it should be the same."

The content of merchant agents is generated by the description and product information provided by the merchants. Shomair said that merchants are currently not allowed to accept their own agents, and users will be directed back to the merchant website when they want to check out. Business Hub and merchant agents are currently free, but he did not rule out future charges.

OpenAI emphasizes that claiming a profile does not guarantee more recommendations, nor does advertising influence ChatGPT’s independent answers. Claiming "shouldn't affect the frequency of occurrences," Shomair said, but more complete information may help ChatGPT find the business in more relevant conversations.

this article ChatGPT opens merchant claim files, you can view the number of mentions and clicks within 28 days first appeared in Chain News ABMedia。