I Accidentally Discovered That ChatGPT Was Sending Me Users. Then I Figured Out Why.
June 1, 2026 · Dominik Sikora
In March I was on vacation in Spain when I noticed my 26th user had signed up. I checked where they came from, and it was ChatGPT. Someone had asked it for a free alternative to ScoreApp, and it recommended FluoTest. I had no idea this was happening. I had not run a single ad. I had not pitched a single journalist. I was sitting on a beach, and a robot was quietly recommending my product to strangers. That one signup kicked off three months of figuring out exactly what was going on — and then leaning into it as hard as I could.
Why ChatGPT was recommending us
I dug deeper and realized it came down to one thing: a comparison blog post I had written months earlier. I had put together a post comparing FluoTest to ScoreApp — explaining exactly what FluoTest is, how it compares, and that it is free. ChatGPT was pulling from that content to form its recommendation.
It was not magic. There was no secret algorithm I had cracked, no growth hack. It was just clear, specific content that answered a question someone would actually ask. A person typed 'what is a free alternative to ScoreApp?' and my post answered that exact question in plain language. The AI did the rest.
What I did next
So I wrote more. A lot more. More comparison posts, more use case pages, more content that answered the specific questions people ask an AI when they are looking for a tool.
'Free Typeform alternative for scoring.' 'Quiz tool for lead qualification.' 'How to qualify leads before a call.' 'FluoTest vs Google Forms.' 'FluoTest vs Tally.' 'FluoTest vs Jotform.' Every single post was structured to answer one specific question as clearly as I could manage.
I was not trying to game anything. I was just trying to be the clearest possible answer to a question someone might ask. If a person typed that question into ChatGPT, I wanted my post to be the thing that made the answer obvious.
How AI search is different from Google
This is completely different from SEO. Google rewards keywords, backlinks, and domain authority — the stuff you spend years and a marketing budget building up. ChatGPT rewards something much simpler: clear answers to specific questions.
A blog post that says 'FluoTest is the free alternative to ScoreApp because it includes scoring and unlimited responses at $0' gives ChatGPT exactly what it needs to recommend you. No SEO tricks. No link-building campaigns. Just clarity.
And here is the part that still surprises me: I never submitted FluoTest to a single AI directory. I never optimized a page specifically for AI search. I never reached out to OpenAI. I just wrote content that answered questions directly, and the recommendations followed.
The results after 3 months
Three months later, ChatGPT is responsible for roughly half of all my signups. 131 users, across 15 countries, with zero ad spend.
For comparison, Google brings in about 12% of my signups. Reddit brings about 15%. The rest is word of mouth and direct traffic. The single biggest channel for my product is an AI I never paid, never pitched, and never set out to optimize for.
The unexpected use cases
The most interesting part is not the volume — it is who showed up. ChatGPT matched people to FluoTest for use cases I never marketed for, and would never have thought of myself.
A vet in the UK is using it to screen dogs before surgery. A workplace safety officer in South Africa runs compliance assessments with it. A program manager at CalArts screens student applicants. Someone from Universal Music signed up. A physiotherapist in Poland uses it to help diagnose shoulder injuries.
None of these people searched for 'lead qualification.' They asked ChatGPT things like 'free quiz tool for patient screening' or 'scoring tool for assessments,' and it connected the dots between their problem and my product better than I ever could have.
What I learned
AI search is probably the biggest distribution shift since SEO. It is free, it compounds, and it rewards clarity over optimization. Every clear post I write keeps working for me around the clock, in 15 countries, without me touching it.
If you are building a SaaS product in 2026, writing clear comparison content that answers specific questions is probably the highest-ROI marketing activity you can do. You do not need backlinks. You do not need domain authority. You just need to clearly explain what your product is, who it is for, and how it compares to the alternatives. The AI will do the rest.
The numbers
- -131 users in 15 countries in 13 weeks
- -Zero ad spend, zero paid acquisition
- -ChatGPT is the number one acquisition channel at roughly 50% of all signups
- -Google is number two at roughly 12%
- -Reddit is number three at roughly 15%
- -Zero intentional AI optimization was done
- -The discovery happened by accident, on vacation in Spain
FluoTest is free
No credit card, no response limits. If you want to try it, it is at fluotest.com.
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