Get a sourced customer research report in minutes with ChatGPT Deep Research
Louise Laurie got a sourced customer research report from ChatGPT Deep Research in 13 minutes. She says writing a report that detailed by hand would take days.
Who this is about: UK marketing consultant
What it takes
- Cost
- Free planChatGPT: Free plan. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month. Go, Pro, Business and Enterprise plans are listed on chatgpt.com/pricing.Price checked Oct 15, 2026 on help.openai.com. Prices change; check before you buy.
- Setup time
- Under an hourOur estimate from the source, for one business.
- Skill needed
- No codeApps and settings only.
Explain it simply
Deep Research is a mode in ChatGPT. You describe the business and the decision you need. It reads web pages for several minutes and writes a long report with links. A normal chat reply is faster and is not the same thing. Open the important links, because a cited report can still get a fact wrong. How many runs you get depends on your plan. OpenAI does not publish one number for every plan.
How do I use ChatGPT for market research for my small business?
Use ChatGPT's Deep Research mode: describe your business and who you sell to, and it searches the web for several minutes, then writes a report with sources you can check. Marketing consultant Louise Laurie's report took 13 minutes; she says it "would probably take me days to write a report as detailed" (her blog, 2025).
| Workflow / use case | Primary AI role / tool slot | Input data | Expected business output / time saved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer and market research | ChatGPT Deep Research | Business description, target customer, questions | A detailed sourced report in 13 minutes vs "days" by hand (first-hand) |
How does this differ from other ways to do this job?
A normal ChatGPT answer comes back in seconds from the conversation. Deep Research reads the web and cites sources, and it takes minutes. Gemini Deep Research is the Google version. The Gemini lead-research page on this site uses it to score leads, not to write a customer research report. Perplexity usually returns a shorter answer with links.
What was done
Marketing consultant Louise Laurie described using ChatGPT Deep Research for a customer research report on her blog, dated Apr 20, 2025.
She says the run took 13 minutes. She writes that a report that detailed would probably take her days by hand.
Her post names a plan in a way that does not match OpenAI's current plan names at that price. This page does not repeat the plan name. ChatGPT's paid plans, as checked on this site Oct 15, 2026, start at $20 a month.
OpenAI's help page says Deep Research usage varies by plan and that an in-product counter shows what you have left. No single public limit is cited here.
How it went
This is her own account of one research task, with a clock time and a comparison to writing the same report by hand. It is not a sales result.
- She writes that it "would probably take me days to write a report as detailed."
- Check the sources in the report before you spend money on the advice.
Prompt
- Context / Role
You run a small business and need to understand your customers or market before you spend money on marketing.
- The copy-paste prompt
PromptWritten by our editors from the source Run deep research for my business. Business: [BUSINESS_DESCRIPTION] Where we sell: [LOCATION_OR_CHANNEL] Current customers, in my words: [CURRENT_CUSTOMERS] Decision I need to make: [DECISION] Research and report on: 1. The 3 customer groups most likely to buy, with evidence for each. 2. The words those customers use to describe their problem (quote forums, reviews or articles, with links). 3. Where they look for solutions (sites, communities, search terms). 4. 3-5 competitors they compare us with, and what customers praise or complain about. 5. What this means for [DECISION]: 3 specific next steps. Cite a source for every factual claim. Mark anything you could not verify as "unverified". Keep the report under [MAX_PAGES] pages.- Variables to customize
- [BUSINESS_DESCRIPTION]
- [LOCATION_OR_CHANNEL]
- [CURRENT_CUSTOMERS]
- [DECISION]
- [MAX_PAGES]
- Expected output / next step
A sourced report with customer groups, their words, channels, competitors, and next steps. You open the important links before you act.
Written by our editors for any AI chat with a web-research mode. It is not a saved OpenAI prompt. Check every source you might act on.
Setup notes
- Write a short description of the business, where you sell, and the decision the report should help.
- Run it in Deep Research, not a normal chat reply.
- Open the sources behind any claim you might spend money on. Mark the rest unverified.
- Check the in-product counter for how many runs your plan has left. OpenAI says usage varies by plan and does not publish one number.
Business fit
Who this helps, and how:
Cafe checking nearby demand: ask who nearby office workers already buy from, and read the sources before you change the menu.
Local & serviceShopify store checking a new category: get a sourced read on complaints and competitors before you order inventory.
Shopify & ecommerceConsultant picking a niche: start here for customers you already know. Use the target-market page when you are choosing an industry.
Agencies
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Similar tools
Other tools for this job, and how they differ. Chosen by our editors, never paid for.
- Gemini
Google's assistant, with Deep Research. One page here uses it to research and score leads.
See it in use: A Consultant Turns a Company Name Into a Scored Lead in Under 20 Minutes
- Claude
Anthropic's assistant for long writing. A normal Claude chat does not browse and cite the way Deep Research does.
“Strong evidence” (grade B) means: The person who did the work describes the setup and results in detail. How we grade. Spotted a mistake? Suggest a correction.