Roll up, roll up, come and see the invisible man!
OpenAI's new Business Hub lets you claim your business in ChatGPT for free. So did Google and Facebook, and we all know how that ended.
Roll up, roll up, come and see the invisible man! OpenAI has opened Business Hub, where you can claim your business in ChatGPT, fix what it says about you, add your products with live prices and see how often you get mentioned.1 It's free, and you should do it. Then read the small print, because we've all seen this film before.
Google Business Profile was free too. So was your Facebook page. Both were brilliant right up to the point where they had enough of us on board, and then the reach dried up and the "boost this post" button turned up. Free is how they get you through the door.
OpenAI is already halfway there. Claiming your profile carries no guarantee you'll be recommended more, in OpenAI's own words.2 The insights tell you how often you were mentioned and how many people clicked, and the small print says clicks don't confirm a single visit or sale. The Business Agent, your own salesperson inside ChatGPT, is US only for now. And the moment you've got one, you can pay to sponsor it as the landing page for a ChatGPT ad. Their head of monetization has already said they might start charging for the rest later.
Free is how they get you through the door.
We know what ChatGPT ads are worth to a shop, because a study of nearly 1,900 of them worked it out. Pay ChatGPT to send you 100 people and it costs $172, and they buy $89 worth of stuff.3 So the free profile is the shop window, and the till behind it is set up for you to pay OpenAI, not the other way round.
Claim it anyway. Just don't build your business on it. VIA works the other way round. Nobody pays to be seen. A shopper's Personal Shopper says exactly what they want, and the brands that fit pay a tiny amount to answer. You pay to talk to a customer who's already asked, never to get noticed by one who hasn't. Join at app.getvia.xyz.
