Market Like a Genius with Ahmet Dogan
Listen to Ahmet Dogan on Spotify: How to Set Up the Conversions API on ChatGPT Ads and Feed the Platform Every User Signal - by Ahmet Dogan, CEO at Citatix ChatGPT Ads Agency
Transcript of the Episode
Welcome back to The ChatGPT Ads Playbook. I am Ahmet Dogan, C E O of Citatix ChatGPT Ads Agency, and an official OpenAI Select Partner. Today we are talking about one thing. How to set up the Conversions A P I on ChatGPT Ads. And how to feed the platform every signal it needs about each user. This is the most important measurement upgrade you can make, so let us keep it simple and clear. Here is the big idea to start. The Conversions A P I is not just a reporting tool. It is a data pipeline. And at the end of that pipeline sits a model. That model predicts how likely each user is to convert. Then it bids for you in real time. That model learns from the data you send it. Send it rich data, and it gets smart. Send it thin data, and it stays weak. Your job is to feed it well. So why does this matter right now? Because the old way is breaking. The old way used a browser pixel. The pixel runs inside the user's browser. And browsers keep blocking it. Ad blockers stop it. Privacy settings limit it. Network errors drop it. Every time that happens, you lose a conversion, and the model never sees it. The fix is server side. The Conversions A P I sends events straight from your server to the platform. No browser needed. Nothing to block. You capture the conversions you were losing before. Now here is the smart move. Do not choose between the pixel and the A P I. Use both. Run them side by side. The A P I becomes your source of truth. The pixel becomes backup and enrichment. Together they give you a complete picture. Let me walk you through the setup at a high level. Step one. Get your access token. Store it safely as a secret. Never put it in the browser. Then build a small server service that sends your events. Keep it simple and reliable. Step two. Choose the events that matter. Do not track everything. Track the moments tied to real value. A lead. A sign up. A purchase. And when you send a purchase, send the value too. That way the model can optimize for revenue, not just for clicks. Step three. And this is the key part for today. Send the platform as much about each user as you can. This is called the customer information. Send the hashed email. Send the hashed phone number. Send your own customer I D. Send the first name and last name, hashed. Send the country, the city, the region, and the postal code. And for mobile app conversions, send the Android advertising I D. Why send all of this? Because each piece is a match key. The more keys you send, the more likely the platform can match your event to a real person. More matches means more data for the model. And more data means better results for you. Now here is a step people always get wrong. Hashing and formatting. Sensitive data must be hashed before you send it. That protects the user. But you have to prepare the data first, or the match will fail. So do this. Remove extra spaces. Make everything lowercase. Put phone numbers into the full international format with the country code. Then hash it. Do this the exact same way every time. If two systems format data differently, the match breaks. Keep it consistent. Step four. Handle duplicates. Since you are sending events from both the pixel and the A P I, you might count the same conversion twice. Fix this with an event I D. Give each event a unique I D. Send the same I D on both the pixel and the A P I. The platform will then merge them into one. No double counting. Step five. Test everything. Never assume it works. Send test events. Check that they arrive. Check your match rate. A low match rate means your formatting is off, or you are missing data. Watch these numbers over time. If the match rate drops, you are losing power. Fix it fast. And one more thing. Respect consent. If a user opts out, do not send their data. Good privacy is good business. Build it in from the start. So let us bring it home. The Conversions A P I trains the engine that spends your budget. Server side beats the old pixel. Rich user data beats thin data. Clean formatting beats sloppy formatting. And testing beats hoping. Send the platform everything it is allowed to receive. Every match key. Every high value conversion. Do that, and the model rewards you with sharper targeting and a lower cost per result. That is the episode. If you want help building this the right way, come find us at Citatix ChatGPT Ads Agency. I am Ahmet Dogan. Thanks for listening. And I will see you in the next one.