Custom Studies in Gutsy are flexible, chat-based workflows designed to predict how your AI-lookalike Audiences will respond to your ideas, messages, and strategies. Each study begins with a short set of input questions and a simple instruction, written as a command to the tool, so it knows exactly what to do.
Below are common study types you can create and run. Each includes an instruction (to be entered in the study setup), along with the input questions the tool will ask the user to provide.
To build one of these studies, go to the Custom Studies tab, click + Create Custom Study, and paste the instruction into the setup screen. The input questions will guide the user each time the study is run.
Key Message Testing
Instruction: Analyze and help optimize different messages or headlines to determine what will drive the most awareness and engagement with a specific audience. Also identify any likely opposition or risks for each message.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to test?
What messages do you want to test?
Focus Group
Instruction: Generate a panel of realistic, AI-powered participants who reflect the selected audience, so I can ask them questions in real time, test concepts, or explore reactions—just like a live focus group, but faster and more flexible.
Input questions:
What audience should I use?
How many participants do you want to include in the focus group?
Hook Testing
Instruction: Analyze and help optimize different promotional hooks or messages to determine what will improve content and ad performance for specific new offers or promotions with a selected audience.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to test?
What messages do you want to test?
What are you trying to sell?
Competitive Analysis
Instruction: Analyze the websites, social media posts, or ads of competing brands and provide insights into how each is winning or losing with the selected audience.
Input questions:
What competitors do you want to test?
What audience do you want to use?
Issue Reaction
Instruction: Evaluate a crisis or issue scenario and predict likely public and stakeholder reactions by analyzing the incident description. Forecast sentiment, media amplification potential, stakeholder impact, and reputational risk, and recommend a tailored communication response.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to use?
What is the issue or scenario you want to evaluate?
Innovation Testing
Instruction: Evaluate the commercial potential of a new product or service idea for a specific audience, including demand likelihood, key motivators and barriers, and suggestions for improvement, messaging, and positioning.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to use?
Provide as many details about the product as you can.
Brand Narrative Test
Instruction: Analyze different versions of a brand narrative or manifesto to determine which will drive the strongest emotional connection and brand affinity with the selected audience. Flag phrases that may alienate or confuse, and suggest areas for refinement.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to use?
Provide the manifesto(s) you want to test as an image or in text.
Likelihood to Get Involved
Instruction: Evaluate how effectively different ideas, topics, or themes are likely to motivate the target audience to volunteer, attend events, or donate. Analyze emotional resonance, alignment with values, and persuasive elements—and provide recommendations to increase impact.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to use?
What idea(s), topic(s), or theme(s) do you want to test?
Tone & Voice Check
Instruction: Evaluate how the provided content or message will be perceived by the selected audience in terms of tone, clarity, trust, and emotional impact. Flag risks or misalignment and suggest improvements.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to use?
Provide the copy or content to test.
Internal Message Alignment
Instruction: Evaluate an internal communication (e.g. memo, update, leadership message) to predict how it will be received by employees or internal audiences. Highlight clarity, emotional response, and trust indicators, and suggest refinements.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to use?
What internal message or memo do you want to test?
Call-to-Action Optimization
Instruction: Compare multiple calls-to-action to determine which will most effectively drive behavior (e.g. clicks, signups, purchases) for the selected audience, and suggest ways to strengthen each.
Input questions:
What audience do you want to use?
What CTAs do you want to test?
What’s the intended outcome?
High-Opportunity Audience Finder
Instruction: Analyze the provided product, service, or idea and identify which AI-lookalike Audiences are most likely to show interest, intent, or engagement—based on fit, values, motivations, or unmet needs.
Input question:
Provide a description of the product, service, or idea you want to test.