We Ran the First ChatGPT Ad Campaigns in Bulgaria. Here Is What We Saw
Since the beginning of September, ads in ChatGPT have been available in Bulgaria. Our team managed to run the first ad campaigns on the new platform practically the moment it launched. Here are our observations so far.
This is a very different channel from every digital advertising channel we have known until now. Why?
1. The user's mindset is different
People who talk to the chat are in a very different frame of mind from people scrolling Instagram or searching on Google. They ask it for advice and they trust it, so they also place more trust in the ads.
The ad appears at the moment the person has already put their problem into words and is expecting a solution.
That is the most expensive moment on every other platform, and here you get it by default.
2. Many people do not recognise the ad yet
Many people still do not realise they are looking at an ad rather than part of the answer, which significantly increases effectiveness. This will change over time, of course. It was the same in the early days of Google Ads (then Google AdWords). People did not distinguish between organic and paid results, which boosted the success rate of paid results considerably. To be honest, some people still do not make the distinction in Google either, so this phenomenon may linger in ChatGPT for a while.
The conclusion is practical
The advantage is temporary and it is biggest right now, while the channel is new and few advertisers are in it. The businesses that enter first accumulate data and account history before the competition drives prices up.
3. Setup is more specific than it looks
Ads are shown on a contextual basis. That means there is no exact matching of questions or keywords, no audience selection and so on. It sounds like it makes setup easier, but in reality it makes it harder, because in some cases it is difficult to tell a conversation with purchase intent from a conversation about looking for a job in a given field, for example.
Conversation 1
"I am looking for information on effective cosmetic products for cleansing and rejuvenation"
Conversation 2
"I am looking for a job in the cosmetics industry, I have experience as a consultant for a cosmetics brand with products aimed at cleansing and rejuvenating the skin"
Both conversations could trigger an ad for "facial cleansing cosmetics", for example.
And while Meta, for instance, keeps shrinking the role of technical setup, we now have a platform where we need to be quite careful when configuring a campaign.
In practice this means three things.
- First, the ad copy and the context description do the job that the keyword does in Google, so they are where it is decided whether the campaign will work.
- Second, tracking has to be in place before the first euro of budget is spent, otherwise there is no way to separate useful traffic from curious traffic.
- Third, the campaign needs active monitoring during the first weeks, not a launch and a check-in a month later.
4. The budget filters out a large part of the market
15 EUR minimum daily budget
and 0.20 to 0.25 EUR per website visitor.
At least 30 EUR realistic recommended daily budget
This will scare off a large share of small businesses and will probably keep the ad space from getting crowded for a while.
What product or service you sell matters a great deal. One thing has been certain in recent years: there is no effective advertising platform if your business relies 100% on new customers.
Ad spend has to be treated as the cost of acquiring a customer, not the cost of a sale.
Once acquired, that customer has to be served properly so they make a second, third and fourth purchase without you spending much to make it happen, or, for products and services that are not used frequently, so they recommend your business to others. Every other model that relies on one-off sales does not justify its advertising cost.
For more on the channel itself, who it suits and what a product feed is, read our article "Why ChatGPT Ads Could Be the Next Strong Channel for Your Business".
Who it makes sense for right now
From what we have seen so far, the channel suits businesses that meet three conditions at the same time:
- they sell a product or service that people research before buying, meaning they ask questions, compare and look for advice;
- they have a customer value that covers at least a 450 EUR monthly ad budget, and they measure it over the whole length of the relationship, not the first purchase;
- they have a working system after the click. A website that sells, tracking that reports, and service that brings the customer back.
If any of the three is missing, the wiser first step is not a new advertising channel but filling the gap. Otherwise the new channel will only expose the existing problem faster.
How we approach it
At CompassBG we work with this channel the same way we work with all the others. Tracking and measurement first, budget second. That is how our entire digital system is built.
A few things behind that:
- A team of 7 full-time staff, designers, developers and an account manager, not a group of freelancers assembled for a single project.
- An average client relationship of around 6 years. We have been driving sales for BALSAN since 2018, including radio and television partnerships.
- For AEmillius Caviar we built a complete online presence and, with SEO and AI optimization, took the site to top positions within 3 months.
- We work deliberately on visibility in AI environments: schema markup, llms.txt, rules for AI crawlers and monthly audits of visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overview.
That is why our recommendation for most businesses is not a standalone ChatGPT campaign but a combination. Meta for finding new audiences, Google Shopping for people with a formed intent, and ChatGPT for those who are only just putting their problem into words.
Want us to check whether your business is a fit for this channel?
Write to us at sales@compassbg.info or call 0895 796 123. We will look at the product, the margin and the current tracking and tell you straight whether it makes sense to enter now or whether your money would do a better job elsewhere.