How to launch your first ChatGPT ads campaign, step by step
By Hamza Rivera, updated
- You need an OpenAI sign-in with a work email, a billing profile, a payment method and account verification before an ad can run.
- Build in this order: campaign (objective, budget, dates, targeting), ad group (context hints, max bid), then ads (title, copy, image, landing page).
- Every ad is reviewed. It can sit in a "Not serving" state until the issue OpenAI names is fixed.
- Set up conversion tracking and UTM tags before launch, and wait out the reporting delay before changing anything.
OpenAI's own quickstart is short, and it is worth reading. This guide adds what the quickstart leaves to you: what to decide first, what to prepare on your website, and how to read the first week without panicking. It follows the product as OpenAI described it on November 12, 2026. Ads Manager is marked Beta, so screens may move.
If you would rather hand the account to someone, see our ChatGPT ads management.
Launching a first campaign is like opening a new shop counter. The account setup is the lease and the till. The campaign is the sign over the door. The ad group is the shelf. The ad is the thing in the window. If the shelf is empty when someone walks in, the window was wasted.
Step 0: decide what one customer is worth
Before you open Ads Manager, write two numbers on a piece of paper: what a new customer is worth to you, and the most you would pay to get one. You are going to be asked to set a budget and a max bid, and without those numbers you will be guessing. We do not give bid or budget recommendations here, because they depend on your margin and because OpenAI's auction decides what is competitive. Our free ROAS calculator and CPC calculator help with the arithmetic.
Step 1: set up the account
Ads Manager lives at ads.openai.com. OpenAI asks for a sign-in tied to a work email, a billing profile, a payment method and account verification. It also requires the advertiser and billing entity to be in a country where Ads Manager is available. If a business is registered somewhere else, that is a blocker, and it is better to learn it now.
- Sign in to Ads Manager with a work email, not a personal one you may lose.
- Create the billing profile and add a payment method.
- Complete verification.
- Add a second person to the account if the platform allows it, so the account does not depend on one inbox.
Step 2: prepare the landing page
OpenAI reviews the landing page as well as the ad. It is also one of the things used to choose which ads to show. So the page matters twice. Give each ad group one landing page that says the same thing as the ad, loads quickly on a phone and has one obvious next step, such as a call, a form or a booking link.
Put your measurement on that page before you launch. That means a conversion event for the action you care about, and a plan for UTM parameters so the visit shows up under a clear source name in your own analytics. A single tagged URL per ad group is enough to start.
Step 3: build the campaign
A campaign holds the objective, the budget, the dates and the targeting. OpenAI offers three objectives: Views, Clicks and Conversions. Match the objective to what you are testing.
| Objective | Good for | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Views | Getting a new name in front of people | Awareness only |
| Clicks | Sending visitors to a page you want them to read | Good first test |
| Conversions | Calls, forms or sales, once tracking works | Use after tracking is verified |
For a first campaign, keep the budget small so the lesson stays cheap. OpenAI says that when you create your first campaign you may not see start or end date options before you publish. They appear when you edit the campaign afterward, and when you create later campaigns. If you need ads to start on a specific date, do not publish the campaign just to reach those settings, because ads could start running before you have set a schedule. Once approval and the account, billing and campaign requirements are met, ads can begin running and spending, so check the campaign status, budget and schedule in Ads Manager right after you submit.
Step 4: build ad groups around situations
An ad group covers one theme or intent area, and it carries the context hints and the max bid. OpenAI says the hints are not exact keywords and do not guarantee delivery. So do not write a keyword list. Write the situation your customer is in.
- Weak: "roof repair".
- Better: "a homeowner who found water stains on a ceiling and wants to know whether the roof needs repair or replacement".
Keep one situation per ad group. If you put everything into one group, you will not be able to tell which theme earned the click.
Step 5: write the ad
An ad has a title, copy, an image and a landing page. OpenAI uses the copy as one of the signals for relevance, so write it for the person in the situation you just described. A plain line that answers their question beats a slogan. Do not promise results you cannot guarantee, and keep claims you cannot back out of the copy, because the ad is reviewed.
If you have many ads, OpenAI supports bulk upload, which is handy once the structure is proven. For the first campaign, build two or three by hand so you learn what each field does.
Step 6: submit, review and fix
After you submit, each ad goes through review. You may see statuses in review or "Not serving". When an ad is not serving, the reason is shown, so fix that reason rather than rebuilding the ad. Common causes in any ad platform are a landing page that does not match the ad, a claim that cannot be verified, or a page that fails to load. Check those three first.
Step 7: read the first week
Ads Manager reports impressions, clicks, spend, click-through rate, average cost per click, average cost per thousand impressions and conversions. Reporting refreshes about every 15 minutes, and spend can lag by hours. Practical rules for the first week:
- Do not change anything in the first day. Wait for the delayed numbers to land.
- Compare Ads Manager clicks with the visits you see under your own UTM tag. They will not match exactly, but a large gap means a tracking or page problem.
- Change one thing at a time, so you know which change did what.
- Judge a campaign on conversions that reached your own records, not on impressions.
Mistakes that cost money
- Sending every ad group to the home page.
- Launching on the Conversions objective before the conversion event has been tested.
- Putting several unrelated situations in one ad group.
- Changing the bid, the copy and the page on the same day.
- Forgetting that the ad is shown only to Free and Go plan users, and expecting results that assume everyone.
A campaign with no tracking is like a diet with no scale: it feels productive right up to the moment you look.
Run one ad group first and give it a full week. A tidy small test that you understand is worth more than ten ad groups you cannot read.
Where to go from here
If you want the account built and read for you, see our ChatGPT ads management service. The background is in how ChatGPT ads work. Passieon is an independent agency and is not affiliated with OpenAI.
Related guides
- How ChatGPT ads work
- How ChatGPT ads are priced and billed
- How to choose a ChatGPT ads or GEO agency
Sources
- OpenAI Help Center: Ads in ChatGPT, read November 12, 2026.
- OpenAI Help Center: Ads in ChatGPT, the basics, read November 12, 2026.
- OpenAI Help Center: Quickstart, launch your first campaign, read November 12, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need before I can run a ChatGPT ad?
An Ads Manager sign-in tied to a work email, a billing profile, a payment method, account verification, and an advertiser and billing entity in a country where Ads Manager is available.
What is the structure of a ChatGPT ads account?
Campaign, then ad group, then ad. The campaign holds the objective, budget, dates and targeting. The ad group holds context hints and the max bid. The ad holds the title, copy, image and landing page.
Which objective should I pick first?
Clicks is a sensible first test. Use Conversions once you have confirmed that your conversion tracking works. Views suits awareness.
Why is my ad not serving?
It has failed or is waiting on review. Ads Manager shows a Not serving state with the reason. Fix the stated issue, which is often the landing page or the claim in the copy.
How fast do the reports update?
About every 15 minutes, though OpenAI notes that spend can lag by several hours.
Can I upload many ads at once?
Yes, Ads Manager supports bulk upload. Build a few by hand first so you understand the fields.
Want this done for your site? See what our ChatGPT ads management page covers, or read the client results.
Read next
- How ChatGPT ads work: who sees them, how they are chosen and how to buy them What a ChatGPT ad is, which plans see it, what is excluded, how OpenAI picks one, and how advertisers buy in Ads Manager.
- The best local SEO tools, by the job each one does Local SEO tools matched to the job: Google's free ones first, then map rank tracking, citations, reviews and audits, and what none of them can do for you.
- How to get mentioned in ChatGPT: what you can control What decides whether ChatGPT names a business, and the seven steps within your control, from crawler access to a fixed question list.