Can you target locally with ChatGPT Ads?
That was one of the first questions I was asked by clients when OpenAI Ads Manager launched in the UK. Mainly from local businesses, or advertisers that needed to split campaigns regionally.
When GPT Ads launched in the UK in June – the answer was no.
On launch, when setting a campaign up in OpenAI Ads Manager, geo-targeting was limited to a set of countries: US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
There was however, the ability to target countries within the UK – e.g. Scotland only, Wales, Northern Ireland.
This was certainly not enough control for the majority of local or regional businesses. You know the kind; local plumbers, restaurants, retailers etc.
No ability to target individual towns or cities, like many are used to doing in Google Ads or Meta.
For instance, a furniture retailer with a physical store in Edinburgh wouldn’t just be able to target Edinburgh and surroundings, they’d have to set their geo-target to Scotland wide and simply hope that the GPT ad algorithm serves their ads to the right users.
For larger advertisers – that wasn’t much of a barrier. It just prevented the ability to split campaigns regionally, or try to capture geo-behaviour.
Targeting GPT Ads by UK postcodes
Something that has quietly been released within the OpenAI Ads Manager, that I’ve not heard many talk about is the ability to target GPT Ads by UK postal code.
There is no real publicly available information right now about this feature.
I only noticed this when OpenAI released the ability to exclude geo locations from campaigns. Whilst it is not blatantly obvious, by going to the campaign settings, and searching within locations – you can pull back and target UK postcodes.
A significant shift, considering the only option was to target Scotland – now able to narrow down to single postcodes.
Does postcode targeting in GPT Ads work?
Given the policy and privacy concerns OpenAI originally raised about ads, and how advertisers won’t be getting access to conversations – I actually think it’s rather odd that OpenAI have opted to release postcode targeting before DMA or city/regions for the UK.
Does it work or not? I tested it out, on two separate campaigns – one for Edinburgh based postcodes (EH), and one for Glasgow based postcodes (G). The result was mixed.
I also combined a structured context hint prompt which detailed the types of conversations a potential buyer may be searching for, and where they may be located.
From initial results – it appears like GPT ads take postcode location into account – but it is not 100% accurate. Like any form of postcode targeting in advertising – you are subject to user device location, WiFi and whether a user is using a VPN or not. From these campaigns roughly 70% of all traffic observed was from the correct areas, and the rest was either London or other parts of the UK.
There is no accurate way to verify location serving in the OpenAI ads manager right now, no location segmentation (by anything more than country), so the only data you have available to verify is your own downstream tracking – using a mix of Google Analytics, Clarity and server analysis.
Local businesses can now advertise on GPT Ads
I still think this is a massive upgrade for GPT Ads.
The type of conversations that many users have on ChatGPT such as how to fix appliances, diagnosing faults, finding suppliers – all fit into many local business models. Small retailers from furniture, sporting goods to gifts can all take advantage of using the product feed ads, now to a local audience instead of nationwide. Local plumbers, trades and contractors can serve ads to users researching, diagnosing and trying to find local businesses.
However, local businesses need to keep in mind that GPT Ads is not like Google Ads, nor Meta.
ChatGPT users are served ads on free plans, and are largely using mobile devices – the intent is simply different.
While there is currently no way to see conversations your ad serves against – using a mixture of robust context hints, postcode based targeting, and a wide range of text ads will help aid conversion for your business, alongside proper tracking. Start with a small budget, and build up as you see quality traffic come through.
In Summary
My take on postcode targeting in GPT Ads is that OpenAI are serious about evolving the GPT Ad product – over the last few weeks they’ve already released several major features including conversion campaign types, daily budget changes, assisted and view through conversion tracking, exclusion of location and now postcode targeting.
I’ve watched as the ad product evolves, and have been testing throughout – there is still a long way to go before GPT Ads becomes a justifiable budget move though.
Feel free to reach out and have a chat with me if you are looking to implement ChatGPT Ads in your own business.
