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Creating a New Custom Study

How to set up a specific study that is unique to your brand, business or industry.

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Written by Stefan Wirth
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Custom studies are chat-based research formats you can design for specific use cases, like message testing, focus groups, reputation reactions, or competitive analysis. Once created, they can be launched anytime using a simple command in chat.

Tip: Custom studies are ideal for reusable workflows. You can create one for each type of testing your team does regularly, then run them anytime, with any of your AI-lookalike Audiences.

Step 1: Go to Custom Studies

  1. Click Custom Studies in the sidebar

  2. Click + Create Custom Study in the top-right corner

  3. This opens a two-step setup process.

Step 2: Name and Describe the Study

What should we call this custom study?
​Give it a clear name your team will recognize. This name will appear in the Custom Studies list.

What does this custom study do?
​Briefly describe the purpose of the study—what it helps you test or evaluate, and what kind of outputs it provides.

The command name
​This is the shortcut your team will type in chat (e.g. /reputation-reactions or /hook-testing). It auto-generates from the study name, but you can edit it.

Click Next: Set up questions to continue.

Step 3: Set Up Study Inputs

Now define the questions Gutsy should ask when someone runs the study in chat. These ensure Gutsy collects the right information to make accurate predictions.

For each question:

  1. Use plain, conversational phrasing (e.g. “What persona(s) do you want to use?”)

  2. Toggle Required question on or off depending on whether it’s essential

  3. Click Add another question to include additional fields

  4. You can also click Advanced options to add notes or internal guidance, if needed.

When you're done, click Save changes.

Step 4: Launch in Chat

Your custom study will now appear in the Custom Studies tab, with its command visible at the top of the card.

To run it:

  1. Go to the Chat tab

  2. Type / and select the custom study by name

  3. Fill in the answers as prompted

  4. Gutsy will generate predictions based on your inputs

Best Practices

Choose Clear Names

Good: "Customer Feedback Analysis", "Competitor Pricing Review"
Avoid: "Tool 1", "AI Helper", "Analysis Thing"

Write Descriptive Explanations

Good: "Analyzes customer reviews to identify common pain points, feature requests, and satisfaction trends. Provides actionable insights for product and service improvements."
Avoid: "Looks at feedback", "Helps with customers"

Describe the Output your Expect

Add formatting preferences: "Present findings as numbered list"
Set tone: "Write in executive summary style"
Include requirements: "Always end with 3 specific recommendations"

Craft Specific Questions

Good: "What is the URL or name of the competitor you want to analyze?"
Avoid: "Competitor?", "What do you want?"

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