Informational prompt
An informational prompt is a question to an AI platform from someone who wants to learn or understand something, before they're ready to buy.
An informational prompt is a question from someone who wants to learn or understand something. "How do I make cold brew?" and "What's the difference between a latte and a flat white?" are informational. The person isn't shopping yet.
Most of what people ask AI platforms looks like this. For a brand, these questions come early, before someone knows what they want to buy.
How it differs from other prompts
People sort prompts by what the person wants. Informational prompts are about learning. Commercial ones compare options before buying, like "best coffee subscription for two people." Navigational ones look for a particular brand or site, like "Fernhill Coffee login." The lines blur, and one conversation often moves through all three.
Are informational prompts worth tracking?
Many informational answers name no brands at all, and the person often gets what they need without clicking anything. So they're rarely where you'll win customers this week.
They're still worth some of your prompts. The pages an AI platform reads to explain a subject are often the same ones it reads when someone later asks what to buy. And if your guide is the one it cites, you're the brand in front of them at the start.
For example, if the answer to "how do I make cold brew at home?" cites Fernhill Coffee's brewing guide, a reader who later asks "which coffee is best for cold brew?" has already seen Fernhill once.
In AnswerOrbit
When you click Generate prompts in Topics, you choose the mix of learning, comparing and buying questions. Informational prompts are the learning ones. Tag them so you can read their numbers apart from the rest. See Topics and prompts.