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Retailer AI Assistant vs ChatGPT Shopping Preference Study

Compares how shoppers use a retailer's own AI assistant versus general tools like ChatGPT or Gemini for product research and purchase decisions. Built for retail and ecommerce teams deciding where to invest in AI shopping tools. The AI follow-up interview reconstructs the specific moment a shopper picked one over the other and what would change their mind.

Sample questions

A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.

14 questions · ~7 min
Q01
Message

Thanks for joining! We're trying to understand how you use AI tools while shopping — including our own AI assistant and general tools like ChatGPT. Honest answers help us most. About 5-6 minutes.

Q02
Multiple ChoiceRequired

In the last 30 days, which AI tools have you used while researching or buying a product? Select all that apply.

  • (Retailer name)'s AI shopping assistant
  • ChatGPT
  • Google Gemini or Search AI Overviews
  • A different retailer's AI assistant
  • None of these
Q03
Multiple ChoiceRequired

When you last used an AI tool for a shopping decision, which one did you turn to first?

  • (Retailer name)'s AI shopping assistant
  • ChatGPT
  • Google Gemini or Search AI Overviews
  • A different retailer's AI assistant
  • I didn't use an AI tool
Q04
Opinion ScaleRequired

Compared to general AI tools like ChatGPT, how much do you trust (Retailer name)'s AI assistant to give unbiased product recommendations?

Scale: 17
Min:Trust it much lessMax:Trust it much more
Q05
MatrixRequired

Rate (Retailer name)'s AI assistant on each of the following compared to a general tool like ChatGPT.

5 rows × 5 columns
  • Knows accurate, in-stock product details
  • Gives unbiased recommendations
  • Understands my specific needs
  • Saves me time
  • Feels trustworthy overall
Columns: Much worse · Somewhat worse · About the same · Somewhat better · Much better
Q06
Ranking

Rank these reasons by how much they influence whether you'd use a retailer's own AI assistant instead of a general AI tool.

  1. Confidence the answer is accurate for that store's products
  2. Speed of getting an answer
  3. Ability to complete the purchase directly
  4. Trust that the AI isn't just upselling me
  5. Familiarity with the tool
Drag to rank
Q07
Best–Worst Trade-off (MaxDiff)Required

Which of these would most, and least, make you choose a retailer's AI assistant over a general AI tool like ChatGPT?

  • It knows real-time stock and pricing
  • It can complete the checkout for me
  • It gives personalized recommendations based on my order history
  • It answers return and policy questions accurately
  • It's faster to get to an answer
  • It feels less like it's trying to sell me something
  • It remembers my past purchases and preferences
Pick best & worst per setBest:Most influentialWorst:Least influential
Q08
Opinion ScaleRequired

How likely are you to use (Retailer name)'s AI assistant for your next purchase decision?

Scale: 010
Min:Not at all likelyMax:Extremely likely
Q09
Multiple Choice

If you have used ChatGPT (or a similar tool) for shopping instead of a retailer's own AI assistant, what was the main reason?

  • It compares options across multiple retailers
  • I trust it to be more objective
  • It's the tool I already have open
  • The retailer's assistant felt limited or pushy
  • I didn't know the retailer had one
  • Not applicable — I haven't used ChatGPT for shopping
Q10
AI Interview

Reconstruct the most recent specific instance where the respondent chose either the retailer's AI assistant or a general tool like ChatGPT for a shopping decision: what they were trying to buy, why they picked that tool over the other, and whether the answer they got changed their purchase. If they rated trust or likelihood-to-use low, probe exactly what would need to change about the retailer's assistant to make them prefer it, anchoring on their own words rather than generic complaints.

Q11
Message

Just a few quick background questions, then you're done.

Q12
Multiple Choice

How often do you shop with (Retailer name)?

  • This is my first time
  • A few times a year
  • Monthly
  • Weekly or more
  • Prefer not to say
Q13
Multiple Choice

Which age range do you fall into?

  • 18-24
  • 25-34
  • 35-44
  • 45-54
  • 55-64
  • 65+
  • Prefer not to say
Q14
Message

That's everything — thank you! Your responses feed directly into a report on how our AI assistant compares to tools like ChatGPT, and what would earn more of your trust.

What’s included

  • AI follow-ups

    Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.

  • Attention checks

    Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.

  • AI-drafted copy

    Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.

  • Auto report

    Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.

How it compares

We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.

Why this template

  • Includes an AI follow-up interview that reconstructs the specific recent moment a shopper chose a retailer's AI assistant over ChatGPT/Gemini (or vice versa), probing what would have changed that decision — something static question sets can't do.
  • Combines quantitative measures (opinion scales, matrix comparison, ranking, max-diff) with open-ended adaptive probing, so teams get both benchmarkable scores and the underlying reasoning.
  • Directly benchmarks a named retailer's AI assistant against general AI tools on trust and specific attributes, rather than asking generic online shopping attitude questions.
  • Auto-generates a report from responses, with transparent prompts showing exactly what the AI asked and why, so retail/ecommerce teams can audit the methodology behind the insights.

QuestionPro

Demographic and Retail Shopping Survey Template

This is a static demographic and retail shopping questionnaire, aimed at general shopper profiling rather than AI-tool comparison. It's fielding-ready but doesn't address AI assistant usage or retailer vs. ChatGPT decision-making at all. Useful as a baseline retail demographics template, not a competitive AI-shopping-tool study.

What it does well

  • Fielding-ready template with structured demographic and shopping-behavior questions
  • Backed by QuestionPro's established survey platform and distribution tools
  • Likely covers broad retail shopping habits useful for general segmentation

Where it falls short

  • No mention of AI shopping assistants, ChatGPT, or retailer AI comparison — off-topic for this use case
  • Static question list with no adaptive follow-up to probe a specific decision moment
  • No automated quality scoring or auto-generated insight report tied to AI usage patterns

SurveyMonkey

Online Shopping Survey: Questions & Template

A general online shopping attitudes template covering broad ecommerce behavior questions. It's a ready-to-use static form but has no specific focus on AI assistants, retailer-branded AI tools, or comparisons to ChatGPT/Gemini. Good for general shopping attitude benchmarking, not for AI-tool investment decisions.

What it does well

  • Established, easy-to-deploy template for general online shopping attitudes
  • Backed by SurveyMonkey's large-scale distribution and analytics dashboard
  • Likely includes standard purchase-behavior and satisfaction questions

Where it falls short

  • No content addressing retailer AI assistants vs. ChatGPT/Gemini or AI shopping tool preference
  • Fixed question flow with no adaptive interview to reconstruct a specific shopper decision moment
  • No transparent prompt methodology or automated per-response quality scoring

Ready to launch?

Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.