Marketing has become significantly easier thanks to major advancements in AI & technology. With the right tools and AI, you can reduce your manual load of content creation by 60%+.

There are dozens of AI tools I love, but I especially value ChatGPT! 

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence system developed by Anthropic that is capable of generating human-like text. It uses a large language model trained on massive amounts of data to have conversations and respond to prompts in a natural way. 

One of the most useful applications of ChatGPT is for generating marketing copy and content. The AI can quickly produce well-written text that sounds like it was written by a human (when you use the right prompts). This makes it a strong tool for email marketers, creatives and small business owners who are constantly creating campaigns, writing copy, and sending messages.

With the right prompts, ChatGPT can help generate email subject lines, body copy, and even entire sequences tailored to specific customer segments. While it does have some limitations, if used properly, ChatGPT can save email marketers time and effort while potentially improving the quality of their messages.

Let’s explore 5 prompts you can use with ChatGPT to enhance your email campaigns and copy. We'll also look at best practices for optimizing the AI and discuss some of the risks to be aware of when leveraging this powerful technology. 

SIDE NOTE: You can make the copy produced more personalized in ChatGPT by creating your own custom GPT trained by your copy, tone & writing style HERE.

Prompt #1: Email Subject Line Generator

ChatGPT can be a useful tool for quickly generating a variety of catchy, compelling email subject lines. With the right prompt formatting, you can provide context about your email campaign and have ChatGPT instantly suggest numerous subject line options to choose from.

For example, if you are sending a promotional email about a sale, you could try the Prompt below:

```

• Write 10 creative and compelling subject lines for an email about a [sale detail, 20% off for example] sale on an ecommerce store selling [product type]. Make the subject lines exciting and persuasive to add a sense of urgency.

```

ChatGPT may respond with subject lines like:

• Don't Miss Out! 20% Off Everything Today Only  
• Our Biggest Sale of the Year - 20% Off Sitewide!
• Act Fast: 20% Off Your Entire Order at [Store Name]
• Today's the Day! Get 20% Off Site-wide
• Last Chance at 20% Off - Sale Ends Soon!

For a welcome email to new subscribers, you could prompt:

```

• Write 5 subject line ideas for the first welcome email to new subscribers of [your business]. Make the subject lines friendly and engaging. Also, make them relevant to [branding detail] & write it using [brand persona]?

```

And ChatGPT may suggest:

1. Welcome to the [Blog Name] Family!  
2. We're So Glad You Joined Us! 
3. Welcome Aboard - We Can't Wait to ____ With You!
4. Happy to Have You Here! 
5. Thanks for Subscribing! 

The key is to provide context about your specific email purpose and campaign. Then ChatGPT can instantly generate a wide range of relevant subject line options for you to choose from, saving you time and creative effort while producing high-quality results.

Remember: You can make the copy produced more personalized in ChatGPT by creating your own custom GPT trained by your copy, tone & writing style HERE.

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Prompt #2: Email Copy Generator

ChatGPT can be a useful tool for generating initial draft email copy for campaigns, saving time over writing from scratch. However, as a professional copywriter I recommend writing your own content, then asking ChatGPt to edit, enhance and restructure your essay based on [customer persona + their interests].

If you’re going to use chat GPT to write emails from scratch, never use the very first thing it generates for you. Treat the first campaign generated as a draft that needs editing, not a final copy.

I do love using it for email copywriting because you can give ChatGPT a prompt explaining the goal and audience for the email campaign. Then ask it to generate engaging email body copy in a certain tone and style and it’ll make a strong first draft campaign. 

The Prompts to use:

• "Write a friendly, energetic 150-word email body promoting a flash sale for a [brand type, EX: athletic apparel] brand's email list of [Audience demographics, EX: 18–25-year-old customers]. Keep the email concise and create a strong call to action that emphasizes low stock, limited availability and high demand to induce FOMO ("Fear of Missing out).”
• "Compose a professional 200-word email for a [Company type, EX: financial services company] announcing a new retirement planning webinar, aimed at [Audience demographics, EX: 45–60-year-old customers.]”

ChatGPT will generate unique copy based on those prompts. It will need some polishing, but it does provide a strong starting point.

You can also give ChatGPT customer personas and have it write personalized email copy tailored to different segments.

The Prompt to use:

• "Write a 100-word email for a [describe the person, EX: female college student] announcing new spring break travel deals. Make it sound like it was written by [how you want the email to read, EX: a friend looking out for her and helping her save money]. Plus, highlight the top 3 questions she would have about [Campaign topic, EX: this vacation] and their answers." 

This allows rapidly creating initial drafts tailored to different customer groups.

The AI's copy will always need human review and editing. But having ChatGPT generate initial versions can save significant time over writing multiple individualized emails from scratch. It provides a framework to then refine into polished, personalized copy.

Remember: You can make the copy produced more personalized in ChatGPT by creating your own custom GPT trained by your copy, tone & writing style HERE.

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Prompt #3: Email Sequence Brainstorming

ChatGPT can be a useful tool for brainstorming and outlining an entire automated email nurture sequence. With the right prompts, it can suggest objectives, customer segments, timing, and message topics for each email in the sequence.

For example, you could ask ChatGPT to propose a 5-email nurture sequence for new ecommerce customers:

```

Suggest a 5-email nurture sequence to send to new customers of an [business type, EX: online clothing store]. Outline the objective, recipient segment, delivery timing, and message topic for each email. Write in bullet point format.

```

ChatGPT may respond with something like:

Email 1 

• Objective: Welcome new customers
• Segment: Customers who recently made their first purchase
• Timing: Immediately after first purchase 
• Topic: Thank you, provide order confirmation, and invite to create an account

Email 2

• Objective: Get repeat purchase
• Segment: Customers who have created an account after first purchase
• Timing: 3 days after first purchase
• Topic: Recommend products based on initial purchase

Email 3

• Objective: Get repeat purchase
• Segment: Customers who have not made additional purchases after creating account
• Timing: 7 days after first purchase
• Topic: Reminder of account creation, promo code for next order

Email 4 

•     Objective: Win back lapsed customers
•     Segment: Customers who still haven't made additional purchases  
•     Timing: 14 days after first purchase
•     Topic: Miss you, incentive to return, reminder of products in cart

Email 5

• Objective: Get product reviews
• Segment: Customers who made a second purchase
• Timing: 2 days after second purchase
• Topic: Request for product reviews of recent purchase

This demonstrates how ChatGPT can quickly generate and organize ideas for an automated email nurture sequence when provided with the right prompts. Marketers can take its suggestions and customize them further for their specific needs.

Remember: You can make the copy produced more personalized in ChatGPT by creating your own custom GPT trained by your copy, tone & writing style HERE.

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Prompt #4: Customer Segment Persona Development

ChatGPT can be a useful tool for developing fictional customer personas that represent your target segments. By providing prompts, you can have ChatGPT generate detailed personas with realistic demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data.

For example, here are some prompts you could use:

DETAIL TYPE	PROMPT	OUTCOME OR BENEFIT
Demographic	"Write a persona for a fictional 35-year-old female with 2 children who lives in Los Angeles and works as a marketing manager at a technology company."	ChatGPT would then generate a persona with those key demographic traits specified.
Psychographic	"Build out the persona further by adding details about her personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyle."	This allows you to get a richer perspective beyond just demographics.
Motivations and Goals	"What are this personas motivations and goals related to the products/services our company offers?"	Understanding motivations helps craft messaging that resonates.
Media and Shopping Habits	"Detail this persona's media consumption habits, preferred websites and apps, and online shopping behaviors."	This provides insight into how to best reach them.

 

By iterating on these types of prompts, you can create robust fictional personas without lengthy questionnaires or interviews. Just be sure to review ChatGPT's responses with a critical eye to fill any gaps.

Remember: You can make the copy produced more personalized in ChatGPT by creating your own custom GPT trained by your copy, tone & writing style HERE.

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Prompt #5: Email Campaign Improvement Suggestions

ChatGPT can be a useful tool for reviewing and optimizing existing email campaigns. By providing details about your current campaigns, you can ask ChatGPT to analyze performance metrics and make data-driven suggestions for improvements.

For example, you could provide prompts like:

```

I run an ecommerce store selling home goods. My current welcome email series has 3 emails sent over the first week after signup. 

The open rates are:

Email 1: __% 

Email 2: __%

Email 3: __% 

The clickthrough rates are:

Email 1: __%

Email 2: __% 

Email 3: __%

The conversion rate from the series is 10%. Provide specific suggestions for improving the performance of this 3-email welcome series. Give me a list of questions you have about this data so that I may supply more detail to refine them.

```

ChatGPT can analyze those metrics and respond with helpful recommendations, such as:

• Shorten the series to 2 emails instead of 3, since engagement drops significantly by the 3rd email.
• Move the most critical information from Email 3 into Email 2.
• Add more personalized content in later emails based on the customer's browsing history.
• Increase promotional offers in Email 2 and 3 to boost conversions.
• Test subject line improvements for higher open rates.

By tweaking your prompts with details of your actual email campaigns, ChatGPT can provide an extra pair of eyes to spot potential improvements you may have overlooked. This can help enhance the results of your email marketing program.

Optimizing ChatGPT for Email Marketing

When using ChatGPT to generate email marketing content, there are some best practices to follow to get the most relevant and effective results. Here are some tips for optimizing your prompts specifically for email marketing use cases:

Provide Context and Details

Give ChatGPT the background information it needs to understand your goals and tailor responses. For example, you may want to specify:

• The industry or niche your business operates in 
• The products/services you offer
• Your target customer personas and demographics
• Your brand voice and tone preferences
• The goal of the email (promotional, educational, transactional etc)
• Any relevant campaign or messaging details

The more context you provide upfront, the better ChatGPT can hone in on relevant ideas tailored to your situation.

Use Clear and Concise Prompts 

Craft your prompts to clearly explain the specific type of content you need, whether that's email subject lines, body copy, calls-to-action, etc. 

For example, "Write 5 promotional email subject lines for a fitness apparel brand targeting young professionals" rather than just "Write email subject lines".

Being as direct and detailed as possible gets better results.

Ask Follow-Up Clarifying Questions

If ChatGPT's initial responses don't quite capture your intent, don't hesitate to have a back-and-forth dialogue. 

Ask follow-up questions to refine and improve the content until it aligns with your goals. For example:

• "Can you make this subject line more urgent and action-oriented?"  
• "How could we make this email body copy more focused on our current sale?"
• "What are some alternatives for this call-to-action that convey more scarcity?"

Iterating with additional prompts helps shape the content.

Request Different Options

Rather than accepting ChatGPT's first suggestions, get more email content variations to choose from by requesting 3-5 options for things like subject lines, headlines, etc. 

Having choices allows you to select the best fit for your campaign's unique needs.

By optimizing prompts with these tips, you can tap into ChatGPT's potential for quickly generating high-quality email marketing copy tailored to your business.

Remember: You can make the copy produced more personalized in ChatGPT by creating your own custom GPT trained by your copy, tone & writing style HERE.

ChatGPT Limitations and Risks

While ChatGPT shows promise for assisting email marketers, it's important to be aware of its limitations and potential risks. Over-relying on AI to generate content can lead to low quality, inaccurate, or unoriginal work. 

Here are some key issues to keep in mind:

AI-Generated Content Needs Review and Editing

• ChatGPT cannot fully replace human writing and critical thinking. Its output will require substantial review, fact-checking, editing and modifications by the marketer to reach publishable quality. AI lacks true comprehension and cannot reason or research like a person. Mistakes, false premises, and logical gaps are common.

Avoid Using ChatGPT as a Crutch 

• The technology should be viewed as an AI assistant to augment human creativity, not replace it. While it can help draft initial content, marketers should avoid becoming overly reliant on ChatGPT as a crutch. The best results will come from combining AI with human insight, strategic thinking and writing skills.

Plagiarism Risks 

• Since ChatGPT generates text by analyzing patterns in its training data, there is a risk of inadvertently copying or paraphrasing existing text. Marketers must thoroughly review its outputs to ensure originality and customize the wording. Plagiarism damages credibility and can result in penalties.

Customization and Human Touch Vital 

• Every email, campaign, and audience is unique. The marketer must customize and refine AI outputs by incorporating the human touch, brand voice, specific details, and personalized messaging. ChatGPT on its own lacks the nuance, strategy and empathy needed for great email marketing.

In summary, ChatGPT is a powerful tool when used thoughtfully, but human guidance is still essential. By understanding its limitations, and focusing on enhancing creativity rather than replacing it, marketers can maximize benefits while minimizing risks.

Overall Benefits for Email Marketers

ChatGPT can provide numerous benefits for email marketers looking to enhance their efforts and results. Here are some of the key ways it can help:

Improved Efficiency

• With ChatGPT's ability to quickly generate ideas, draft copy, and provide suggestions, email marketers can work more efficiently. Instead of struggling to come up with subject lines from scratch or write sequences by hand, ChatGPT can provide a solid starting point to then refine and optimize. This allows email marketers to get more done in less time.

Enhanced Ideation

• Brainstorming and coming up with fresh ideas is a crucial part of great email marketing. However, this can sometimes turn into a bottleneck. ChatGPT excels at sparking new ideas and angles, whether for campaigns, sequences, or individual emails. Its suggestions can kickstart the ideation process.

Draft Content Creation

• While the copy ChatGPT generates still requires human refinement, it can create rough drafts with speed and scale difficult for an individual. This allows email marketers to produce more content in a shorter time frame to test and iterate on.

Strategic Focus 

• With ChatGPT handling basic drafts and ideation, email marketers can devote more time to strategy, optimization, and maximizing creativity. Instead of getting bogged down in execution, they can focus on big-picture goals and innovation to stand out.

Human Creativity Maximization

• At the end of the day, ChatGPT is a tool to complement human creativity and strategy, not replace it. Its best use is amplifying email marketers' skills so they can spend more time on high-value strategic tasks instead of getting stuck in a content grind. This results in better email marketing through maximizing human potential.

So in summary, while not a silver bullet, ChatGPT can enhance productivity, ideation, content generation, and allow greater focus on strategy and innovation. When used properly, it enables email marketers to maximize their uniquely human skills and talents. The result is improved email marketing results.

Remember: You can make the copy produced more personalized in ChatGPT by creating your own custom GPT trained by your copy, tone & writing style HERE.

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ChatGPT has the potential to be a useful tool for email marketers and copywriters, when applied thoughtfully. The prompts covered in this article showcase some of the ways ChatGPT can help generate email subject lines, body copy, sequences, personas, and optimization suggestions. 

However, it's important to remember that ChatGPT has limitations. The AI lacks real-world knowledge and cannot replace human creativity or judgment. Any content produced by ChatGPT needs careful review and editing by a human expert.

Looking ahead, AI like ChatGPT may become even more advanced and nuanced. It could analyze data to provide increasingly customized and relevant recommendations. But for now, the technology is best leveraged to complement human skills and knowledge.

With the right balance, ChatGPT prompts can enhance ideation and efficiency for email marketers and copywriters working to engage their audiences.

The key is using ChatGPT as a supportive tool while maintaining human oversight over strategy, quality, and brand suitability. Approached thoughtfully, AI prompts show promising potential to aid email marketing efforts now and in the future.