Commercial prompt
A commercial prompt is a question to an AI platform from someone getting ready to buy, like "What's the best coffee subscription for an office?"
A commercial prompt is a question to an AI platform from someone who's getting ready to buy. "What's the best coffee subscription for an office?" is commercial. So is "Which coffee grinder is worth the money?" and "Cheapest whole-bean coffee delivered weekly?"
These questions usually carry words like best, top, cheapest, worth it, recommend or alternatives. The answer tends to name brands, and the person asking is close to acting on it. That's why most brands want their tracked prompts weighted towards them.
Commercial and learning questions
Set commercial prompts against learning questions, like "How do I descale an espresso machine?" or "What's the difference between light and dark roast?" Learning questions bring brands up less often, and when they do, the person isn't ready to choose yet.
Both have a place. Learning questions show whether the platforms treat you as an expert in your field. Commercial questions show whether they recommend you when it counts.
For example, Fernhill tracks 10 prompts. Seven are commercial, like "best coffee subscription for a small office," and three are learning questions, like "how should I store coffee beans." Fernhill is named in 40% of answers to the commercial prompts and 10% to the learning ones. The commercial number is the one closest to sales. The learning number shows where there's room to be seen as an expert.
Writing good ones
Write them the way a buyer asks, with the details a buyer adds: who it's for, budget, where they are. "Best coffee subscription" is a start. "Best coffee subscription for a 20-person office in Manchester" is closer to what people actually type.
In AnswerOrbit
When you click Generate prompts in Topics, you pick the mix of learning, comparing and buying questions. You can also tag your buying prompts so you can filter your numbers by them. See Topics and prompts.