What people really buy in ChatGPT: advertising consultative products

On Google, someone types “men's running shoes size 10” and gets ten shops. In ChatGPT the same person writes: “I'm starting to run, I have knee problems and weigh 95 kilos — which shoes suit me?” That's not a search, it's a consultation. Ads that appear in it have to feel like good advice, not like a search hit. That changes which products work and how to advertise them.

Which products work in conversations

• Products that need explaining: anything people ask questions about before buying — mattresses, bikes, software, insurance, skincare.
• Products with a selection problem: many variants, unclear differences. The conversation is exactly the moment someone narrows the choice.
• Niche products with a clear audience: whoever asks for “an espresso coffee grinder under 200 euros” is far along in the buying process.
• Less suitable: pure impulse buys and brand products where the decision was made before the conversation.

Two ad formats, two roles

ChatGPT Ads has the chat card — title, copy, image, destination URL, optionally a price — and the product ad from the feed, where ChatGPT picks the product that fits the conversation. The chat card suits an offer, a category or an advisory page; the feed ad suits catalogs where the conversation itself determines the right product. For consultative products with many variants, the feed is usually the better choice because ChatGPT handles the pre-selection.

Writing title and copy for a dialogue

The title should name the problem or situation, not the product: “running shoes for beginners with knee problems” beats “model XY 2026”. The copy answers the one question the user has right now — cushioning, return policy, delivery time — not all five. A price in the card removes the most common follow-up question immediately. And: the landing page must pick up the thread of the conversation. Anyone who lands on a generic category page after a consultation about knee problems bounces.

Targeting without keywords

There are no keywords in ChatGPT Ads. You steer via country, platform, audiences and via what your ad and your feed offer in terms of content — the matching to the conversation is done by the system. The more precise title, copy and product data are, the better the conversations your ad appears in. A vague title brings vague conversations and a poor CTR.

What to measure

CTR shows whether the ad fits the conversation. Post-click conversion rate shows whether the landing page keeps the promise. Both together, per ad group, reveal after a week which wording works in conversations. Chatvertise shows both values side by side; the AI assistant suggests variants when an ad group lags behind.