We wanted to answer a question most companies cannot: how many customers actually come from ChatGPT? By tagging and tracking the links ChatGPT hands out, we found that 38% of our signups now arrive from ChatGPT, up from under 7% four months earlier. Here is exactly how we measured it, and why it happened.
How we measured ChatGPT-driven signups, and what actually moves them.
The problem: AI traffic is invisible by default
Traditional analytics have no 'AI' source. When someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation, clicks through and signs up, most dashboards file it under 'direct' or 'referral'.
So we had to make that traffic visible before we could measure it, let alone grow it.
How we tracked ChatGPT leads
When ChatGPT links to a site, the URL usually carries a tag: ?utm_source=chatgpt. We used PostHog to capture every UTM-tagged signup, then compared ChatGPT against YouTube, ads and Instagram.
The share climbed every month: 6.7% in August, roughly double in September, double again in October, and 38.1% in November. These are signups, not clicks.
Not clicks, signups. More than a third of the people who create an Arvow account now arrive from a ChatGPT answer, a channel that did not meaningfully exist for us a year ago.
LLM mentions are a byproduct of the work you do as a brand. There is no magic button.
The uncomfortable lesson
Everyone wants five tricks to rank first in ChatGPT. The truth is duller: almost everything that gets you cited in an LLM is the same work that ranks you on Google. Publish content that matches intent, build a real brand, and the AI mentions follow.
Chasing 'which prompt am I showing up for' is mostly a distraction. You cannot reliably track it, and it does not change what you should do next.
The results
- 38% of signups now come from ChatGPT, tracked, not guessed
- Up from 6.7% in August to 38.1% in November
- Measured with PostHog and utm_source=chatgpt tags
- Driven by classic SEO and brand work, not an LLM 'hack'
Want AI-driven signups you can actually measure? See how Arvow does it.
Common questions
Can you really track ChatGPT traffic?
Partly. ChatGPT usually tags its outbound links with ?utm_source=chatgpt, so any analytics tool can attribute signups that come through those links. It undercounts, since not every mention is clicked, but it gives a reliable floor. Ours was 38%.
Do I need to track which prompts I appear for?
No. Prompt tracking is unreliable and, honestly, beside the point. You cannot see most of it, and it does not change the work. Focus on ranking and brand, and the citations follow.
How do I get cited in ChatGPT?
By doing classic SEO well. There is a strong correlation between ranking on Google and Bing and being cited by LLMs. A handful of things nudge it directly, but roughly 90% is the same SEO and brand work you should already be doing.
What tool did you use to measure this?
PostHog. Google Analytics or any UTM-aware analytics tool works the same way. The method matters more than the tool.
