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| Using ChatGPT prompts to create effective email marketing campaigns that get more opens and clicks |
Email marketing continues to generate significant revenue for businesses. But writing good emails takes forever, and you need lots of creative ideas. ChatGPT changed everything for people who send marketing emails and struggle to come up with new content all the time.
The secret is knowing how to write prompts that get you good results.
Why ChatGPT Is So Good for Email Marketing
Writing one email campaign usually takes marketers three or four hours. They sit there thinking about subject lines. Worrying if the tone sounds right. Changing the call-to-action button over and over.
ChatGPT cuts down this time a lot. Your quality stays good, too.
This AI tool is really fast at making different versions of the same thing, which helps you test stuff without getting tired or running out of ideas. You still have to read everything and fix it, but starting with something is way better than staring at a blank screen for hours.
Getting Started with Prompts for Email Marketing
How good your ChatGPT results are depends on the prompts you write. If you're vague, you get boring generic answers. When you're specific and give lots of details, you get content that actually works for your audience.
Don't just ask ChatGPT to "write a marketing email" and expect it to be good. Give it context about everything. What product are you selling? Who reads your emails? What do you want the email to do? How should it sound?
More information equals better results.
A basic prompt needs these things: what kind of business you have, the product or service you're promoting, who your customer is, why you're sending this email, and special stuff like how long it should be or what tone you want.
Writing Subject Lines That People Open
Subject lines basically make or break your whole email campaign. If nobody opens it, then nothing else matters.
ChatGPT can make like fifty subject lines in under a minute. That gives you tons of choices for testing.
Try this prompt: "Create 10 subject lines for an email promoting a summer sale on outdoor furniture. The audience is homeowners aged 35-55. Make them compelling but not clickbait."
See how specific that is? You told it exactly what you're selling, who you're selling to, and what style you want. That's gonna give you way better stuff than just saying "write me some subject lines."
You can ask for specific styles too. Tell it you want subject lines that make people feel urgency. Or ones that ask questions. Numbers work well in subject lines. Some people even use emojis if that fits their brand.
Try different approaches and see what your subscribers respond to best.
Here's a trick - if you got subject lines from past emails that did really good, show them to ChatGPT. The AI can figure out what made them work and create more like those.
Making the Email Body Content
The main part of your email needs to grab people right away. ChatGPT handles this pretty good when you tell it what you need.
Start your prompt with the subject line you picked already. This makes sure the email matches what you promised in the subject line. Then list the important points you want to cover and say what action you want people to take.
Like this: "Write a 150-word email body for a subject line about our summer furniture sale. Highlight free shipping, 30% off select items, and same-day delivery. Include a clear call-to-action button. Keep the tone friendly and enthusiastic."
That prompt gets you something you can actually use.
Always say how long you want it. Email marketing works better when messages are short. People is busy and don't want to read forever. Most promotional emails should probably stay under 200 words.
Short and sweet wins most of the time.
Personalizing Your Emails
Personalization makes people open emails more and buy more. ChatGPT helps you create personalized templates that feel individual without writing each one by hand.
Ask ChatGPT to make different content for different groups of people. You might need one version for new subscribers. Another for customers who have already bought from you before. And maybe a third for people who haven't bought anything in a while.
Use prompts like: "Write three opening paragraphs for a product launch email. Version one for new subscribers unfamiliar with our brand, version two for existing customers who purchased similar products, and version three for customers who haven't bought anything in six months."
Now you have three versions, and you can use the right one for each group on your email list. This approach lets you plug in the right version based on how you segmented your list.
Creating Welcome Emails for New Subscribers
Welcome emails get opened more than almost any other email type. When someone just signs up, they expect to hear from you right away.
ChatGPT can write a whole welcome series in just a few minutes. Use a prompt like: "Create a three-email welcome series for new subscribers to a yoga apparel brand. Email one: thank them and introduce the brand. Email two: share our story and values. Email three: offer a first-purchase discount. Keep each email under 150 words."
Then you just refine each email and add your specific brand voice and details.
Welcome series are important because they set the tone for everything that comes after. First impressions matter in email just like in real life.
Writing Abandoned Cart Emails
When people put stuff in their cart and leave your website without buying, abandoned cart emails can get some of those sales back. But the messaging needs to be right.
Too pushy and you annoy people. Too passive, and they ignore you.
Try this prompt: "Write an abandoned cart email for a customer who left running shoes in their cart. Remind them gently, highlight free returns, and offer help if they have questions. Don't sound desperate."
That gives ChatGPT enough to work with.
You should probably send more than one abandoned cart email, too. The first one goes out a few hours after they left. Then maybe the next day. And a third one that adds urgency without being aggressive about it.
ChatGPT can write all three with slightly different messaging for each.
Making Emails for Different Industries
An email for a clothing store shouldn't sound like an email for a software company. ChatGPT understands this when you give it context about your industry.
Always specify your industry in every prompt. "Write a promotional email for a SaaS company announcing a new feature" yields entirely different content than "Write a promotional email for a bakery announcing a new pastry line."
The language people use in tech is way different from the language in the food industry.
Include the specific problems your product solves, too. Every industry has different pain points, and what keeps your customers up at night is probably different than other industries. When you include this stuff, ChatGPT writes emails that actually speak to your audience.
Testing Different Email Formats
Email marketing needs constant testing. ChatGPT makes it easy to create multiple versions for A/B testing.
Ask for variations of the same email with different structures. One version leads with benefits. Another starts with a story. A third opens with a question.
You can test different tones too. Make one email professional. Another casual and friendly. A third playful and funny. Send each to a small part of your list and measure which performs best.
Testing used to take forever because you had to write everything yourself. Now it's way faster.
Making Better Call-to-Action Buttons
Your call-to-action tells people what to do next. If it's weak or confusing, people won't do anything even if they liked your email.
ChatGPT can suggest CTAs that actually get clicks. Use prompts like: "Suggest 10 call-to-action button texts for an email promoting a free trial of project management software. Make them action-oriented and specific."
You'll get ten options, and you can pick the best one or test a few.
Think about where you put your CTA, too. Top of the email? Bottom? Middle? Ask ChatGPT to write versions with the CTA in different spots and test which converts better.
Best Ways to Use ChatGPT
You always have to edit what ChatGPT writes before sending it to customers. Always. The AI gives you a good starting point, but you need to add your own voice and make sure everything sounds right.
Check facts really carefully. Sometimes ChatGPT makes stuff up. It'll say statistics that aren't real or details that are wrong. Verify specific claims before you send them to thousands of people.
Use ChatGPT for inspiration when you're stuck, not as a complete replacement for your creativity. The best campaigns mix AI speed with human understanding of what your audience actually wants.
Save your best prompts somewhere. When you find prompts that work well, keep them in a document so you can use them again. You can change them a little for different campaigns.
Some people keep a whole library of prompts organized by email type. That might be overkill when you're starting, but it's not a bad idea if you send lots of emails.
Adding ChatGPT to Your Workflow
Make ChatGPT a regular part of how you do email marketing. Use it during brainstorming to come up with ideas fast. Let it write the first draft while you focus on strategy.
It works great for writer's block. When you know what you want to say but can't figure out how to say it, just describe your goal to ChatGPT, and it gives you the words. Then you tweak them to sound more like you.
After using ChatGPT for a while, you'll figure out what it's good at and what it's not so good at. Subject lines and basic email copy? It handles those great. Complicated stories or really technical stuff? Those usually need more editing.
That's fine, though. You're not trying to have AI do everything, just make your job easier.
Moving Forward with AI Email Marketing
ChatGPT gives you a big advantage, and you don't need to be technical or spend lots of money.
You can make more content faster. Test more variations. Figure out what your audience likes quicker than ever before.
Start small, though. Don't try changing everything at once. Pick one thing to improve with ChatGPT. Maybe subject lines this month. Email body copy next month. Build your skills gradually and refine your prompts based on what results you get.
The marketers getting the best results treat ChatGPT like a partner, not a replacement. They bring strategy, audience knowledge, and brand understanding. ChatGPT brings speed, variety, and creativity that never run out.
That combination produces email campaigns that perform well and don't take all your time.
Extra Tips for Better Results
Tell ChatGPT about your brand voice in detail. Is it serious or funny? Formal or casual? What words do you use a lot? What phrases do you avoid? The more ChatGPT knows about how your brand talks, the better it can match that style.
You can even show them examples of your best emails and say, "Write like this."
Also, try having conversations with ChatGPT instead of just one prompt. If the first response isn't quite right, tell it what to change. "Make it shorter." "Use simpler words." "Add more urgency." You can keep refining until you get something really good.
And don't be afraid to get creative. Ask ChatGPT to write emails from unusual perspectives or in unexpected styles. Some of the best campaigns come from trying something different that stands out.
The bottom line is that ChatGPT is a tool, and like any tool, you get better at using it with practice. The more you use it, the better your prompts become and the better your results will be.
Email marketing isn't going anywhere. It's still one of the best ways to reach customers and make sales. ChatGPT just makes it easier to do it well without burning out or spending all your time writing instead of running your business.
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