Adding prompts
What prompts are, how to write effective ones, and how Promptive's Active / Suggested / Inactive states work.
What is a prompt
A prompt is a question or phrase that Promptive sends to every AI engine on your plan, every day, and checks whether your brand appears in the answer. Think of prompts as the queries your potential customers would type into ChatGPT or Perplexity when looking for something in your category.
Good prompts are specific, intent-driven questions — not keywords. "What's the best AI brand tracking tool?" is a prompt. "AI brand tracking" is a keyword.
Four prompt categories
Structure your prompt library around these four types:
| Category | What it tests | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Are you recommended when someone starts looking? | "What are the best tools for AI brand monitoring?" |
| Comparison | How do you stack up head-to-head? | "How does Promptive compare to Profound?" |
| Use-case | Are you mentioned for specific jobs-to-be-done? | "How do I track my brand across ChatGPT and Gemini?" |
| Purchase | Do you show up when someone is ready to buy? | "What should I look for in an AI visibility tool?" |
Suggested prompts
During onboarding and on an ongoing basis, Promptive surfaces Suggested prompts — queries it identified as high-relevance for your brand based on your category, website, and current AI search patterns.
Suggested prompts don't count against your plan limit and aren't tracked until you accept them. Review the Suggested tab in the Prompts section regularly — new suggestions appear as AI search behavior evolves.
Adding manually
Click New Prompt in the Prompts section to add a prompt manually. Type your prompt, assign a tag if you want to organize by category, and save. It will be queued for the next daily refresh.
Tips for writing effective prompts:
- Write in natural language, the way a person would actually ask
- Include your category, not just your brand name — "best AI visibility tools" not "Promptive pricing"
- Include comparison prompts even if they're uncomfortable — you need to know what AI says about you vs. competitors
- Start narrow and expand. 20 focused prompts give cleaner signal than 200 loosely related ones
Active, Suggested, Inactive
Every prompt is in one of three states:
- Active — tracked daily, counts toward your plan limit
- Suggested — identified by Promptive, not yet tracking, does not count toward your limit
- Inactive — previously active, now paused; does not count toward your limit but retains history
Deactivating a prompt stops tracking it without deleting its data. Reactivating it picks up from where it left off at the next refresh.
Plan limits
| Plan | Active prompts |
|---|---|
| Trial | 20 |
| Starter | 50 |
| Pro | 100 |
| Growth | 200 |
| Scale | 400 |
When you hit your limit, deactivate prompts you no longer need to make room. Your data for deactivated prompts is preserved.
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