Transactional prompt
A transactional prompt is a question to an AI platform from someone ready to buy or act, like "Order a bag of decaf beans under £10".
A transactional prompt is a question to an AI platform from someone who's ready to do something: buy, book, sign up, order. "Where can I buy a two-group espresso machine today?" "Order a bag of decaf beans under £10." "Book a coffee tasting in Bristol this Saturday."
These come at the very end of the journey. The person has mostly decided what they want. The answer decides where they get it.
How they differ from other prompts
Most prompts are about learning or comparing: what's the best grinder, how do these two brands differ. A transactional prompt wants a product, a price and a way to buy. The answers tend to show product cards, shops and prices, and fewer long explanations.
That makes them a different test. You can be described well in comparison answers and still lose the sale here, because your product isn't shown, your price is wrong, or the platform sends people to a shop that's out of stock.
An example
For example, Kestrel Roasters tracks "Buy a burr grinder under £150 with next-day delivery." In a week of answers, ChatGPT shows product cards in most of them. Kestrel's grinder appears in some, but usually third, after two products from a big marketplace. In two answers its price is shown as £20 higher than it is.
That's a job for Kestrel's product data: the price and stock in its catalogue, and how its product pages describe delivery.
Where it's going
AI platforms are adding ways to buy inside the answer, and agents that buy for people. As that grows, transactional prompts are where the sale happens.
In AnswerOrbit
In Topics and prompts, Generate prompts lets you choose the mix of learning, comparing and buying questions. Shopping shows which products ChatGPT shows for your prompts, how often yours come first and the prices it quotes, and offers Add buying prompts when a topic has none.