The AI chat works best when your question is clear, specific, and scoped. These techniques will help you get accurate answers on the first try.
Be specific about time
The more precise your time range, the more accurate the response.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| "Recent sessions" | "Sessions this month" |
| "How have we been doing?" | "Daily sessions for the last 14 days" |
| "Lately" | "Last 7 days" or "since March 1" |
If you do not specify a time range, the AI will default to the last 28 days — but it is always better to be explicit.
Name the metric
Tell the AI exactly what you want to measure. Vague questions produce vague answers.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| "How is pricing doing?" | "Bounce rate on /pricing last week" |
| "Are ads working?" | "Google Ads ROAS for the last 30 days" |
| "How is email going?" | "Average open rate for Mailchimp campaigns this quarter" |
Specify the platform
When a metric exists on multiple platforms — like "clicks" or "impressions" — name the platform to avoid ambiguity.
- "Google Ads clicks this month" instead of "clicks this month"
- "LinkedIn follower count" instead of "follower count"
- "Search Console impressions for /blog" instead of "impressions for /blog"
If you intentionally want a cross-platform view, say so explicitly: "Total clicks across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads."
Use follow-up questions
The chat retains the full conversation context. Instead of writing one complex question, break it into steps:
- Start broad: "How many sessions this month?"
- Drill down: "Break that down by traffic source."
- Focus: "Show me just organic search, daily."
- Compare: "How does that compare to last month?"
Each follow-up builds on the previous answer without losing context.
Ask for charts when comparing
Visual formats make trends and comparisons easier to interpret. When you want to spot patterns, explicitly ask for a chart:
- "Plot daily sessions for the last 30 days"
- "Chart Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads clicks this month"
- "Show me a breakdown of traffic by device"
Keywords like "plot," "chart," "show me," and "trend" signal that you want a visual response.
When to use dashboards instead
The chat is ideal for ad-hoc questions — things you want to know right now. But if you find yourself asking the same question repeatedly, create a dashboard widget instead.
Dashboard widgets refresh automatically, so the numbers are always current without retyping the question. You can create a widget directly from a chat response by clicking Add to Dashboard.
Use the chat for exploration. Use dashboards for monitoring.
