ChatGPT Ads campaigns + tracking, from $690/month

The oaiq pixel and the Conversions API: where this is won or lost

Opening a ChatGPT Ads account takes ten minutes. What decides the outcome is the data you send back to OpenAI. With no conversions reported, the Conversions objective has nothing to optimize toward and you are paying for clicks without knowing what they return. This is exactly the work I have been doing on Google and Meta since 2012.

The browser pixel

The oaiq SDK loads in the <head> and initializes with the pixel ID you create in the conversions tab of Ads Manager. Conversions are then sent with the measure command:

oaiq("init", { pixelId: "YOUR-PIXEL-ID" });

oaiq("measure", "order_created", {
  type: "contents",
  amount: 2599,
  currency: "USD"
}, { event_id: "order_12345" });

The standard events cover most funnels: page_viewed, contents_viewed, items_added, checkout_started, order_created, lead_created, registration_completed, appointment_scheduled, subscription_created and trial_started. App events app_installed and app_opened are not supported by the pixel and must go through the Conversions API.

The click is tied back to the campaign through the oppref parameter, captured automatically from the landing URL. Your redirects, your cache and your consent banner must not strip it along the way — that is a classic reason conversions end up attributed to nothing. Automatic advanced matching hashes customer information with SHA-256 in the browser before it is sent: raw data never leaves the page.

The Conversions API, server side

The pixel alone no longer sees everything: ad blockers and browsers such as Safari that limit tracking. The Conversions API does not override a refused consent: it recovers what the browser loses, for visitors who opted in. The Conversions API sends the same events from your server, POSTing to https://bzr.openai.com/v1/events with the pixel ID as a parameter and Bearer authentication. Up to 1,000 events per batch, each with its id, type, timestamp_ms and data object, plus action_source for web events. Timestamps must fall within the last 7 days and no more than 10 minutes in the future.

Deduplication: the number one trap

Send the same sale through both the pixel and the API without linking them, and OpenAI counts it twice: your cost per acquisition looks half of what it is, and the algorithm optimizes toward an illusion. The rule is simple — the API id must carry exactly the same value as the pixel event_id. Deduplication keys on pixel ID, event name and that id; the first event received wins and later duplicates are dropped. Same trap as on Meta, and the first thing I check on an existing account.

Customer identifiers

To match more conversions when the click identifier is missing, the API accepts hashed customer data: emails_sha256, phone_numbers_sha256, external_ids_sha256, first_names_sha256, last_names_sha256, plus the obref reference read from the cookie dropped on landing. Normalize, then SHA-256 — the same hygiene as Google Ads enhanced conversions, and something your privacy documentation needs to reflect.

ChatGPT Ads or Google Ads? Both, but not with the same budget

Google captures demand that is already formulated, in keywords, at enormous volume and with twenty years of history behind it. ChatGPT captures intent expressed as a conversation, usually earlier in the decision and far more detailed: “what should I use for…”, “compare X and Y for a company that…”. The inventory, on the other hand, is limited to part of the user base, and volumes are nowhere near comparable yet.

Advertisers getting started report opening bids in the $3 to $5 per click range, with CPMs roughly between $25 and $60. Those are market observations, not official OpenAI rate cards, and they move quickly — I never build a media plan on them, I verify them on your own account.

My recommendation does not change: you do not move a budget that is working. Take a dedicated test budget, make sure conversions are reported correctly first, and judge the channel only on leads or sales measured on your side. If it does not work, you know within a few weeks and you stop, without having spent your Google budget on it.