For every client, we keep a list of 8 to 12 questions a customer might ask ChatGPT before hiring someone. Each week one of our AI agents asks ChatGPT those questions and records which businesses it names. This article covers what October 2026 looked like, and where we think an email list fits in.
If you want to go deeper on this, read How to Use ChatGPT Prompts for Abandoned Checkout Flows.
What October looked like
We asked ChatGPT 223 questions across 13 client accounts in October. The client was named in 77 of the answers, which is about one in three.
I cover a related piece of this in How to Script Klaviyo Flows with ChatGPT Prompts.
The results varied a lot between businesses. A preschool in Auckland was named on 9 of its 10 questions. A mould removal business in Sydney wasn't named on any of its 10, and two of its competitors came up on 7 and 4 of them. A family law firm came first for its town and for business valuation, and second for separation across its wider region.
The answers change week to week
A roofing client in South Auckland was named on 7 of 8 questions on 16 October. A week later it was named on 5 of 8, and nothing on its website had changed. Research we read earlier this year found that the same question gets a different answer about 70% of the time, so we check every week.
The details don't always match
On one plumbing account, ChatGPT gave a phone number that was one digit off the number on the website. On a pipe relining account, a different company with a similar name came first in 3 of 11 answers. Someone reading those answers could ring a dead number or ring the other company, and our client would never know.
We fix what we can see. We match the name, phone number and address across the website, Google Maps and the directories the answers draw from, then check again the next week.
Where an email list fits
Getting a business named in these answers takes a lot of work, and the result can still move in a week. An email list sits outside all of that. Every email carries the business's own name, phone number and address, so a customer on the list has the right details in their inbox whatever ChatGPT says that day.
From what we've seen so far, the businesses in the strongest spot do both, and the email list is the part they own outright.
What we ask clients to do
- Keep your business name, phone number and address identical everywhere, including the email footer, so every source ChatGPT reads says the same thing.
- Ask ChatGPT about your own business once a month. Check the phone number it gives and compare the answer with last month's.
- Put a sign-up form on your service pages and location pages, because those are the pages the questions are about.
- Email your list regularly, so a customer who got a different number from ChatGPT still has the right one in their inbox.
How we work with In-box
In-box looks after email, and Cluo looks after search, including the weekly checks above. If you'd like to know which questions name your business today, book a call with Cluo.
Sources
- Cluo weekly AI visibility checks, ChatGPT, 11 to 28 October 2026, 13 client accounts (Cluo records)
- Superlines, AI Search Statistics 2026 (answers change around 70% of the time)
- Cluo letter: How often do AI search answers change?
