The use of AI for email marketing might seem impossible right now. Maybe you’ve tried to use ChatGPT for yourself, and not been impressed with what it came up with.

If you’re looking for a way to speed up and streamline your writing process for emails, this article is specifically for you.

So, I ran a little experiment for myself the other day…

How easy is it to use ChatGPT to write an email or social media post by following my own frameworks?

Could I use the tool to create something coherent, persuasive and that matches my voice?

In this article I’m taking you through the step-by-step process I’ve created to get ChatGPT to write a REALLY good first draft for your sales emails.

Here’s a quick overview of how it works:

Step 1: Get clear on the offer you’re sharing in your email

Step 2: How to use ‘Triggers’ to spark ideas and decide your email topic

Step 3: Decide the angle you’ll be using for your email copy

Step 4: Use a proven copywriting framework as your starting point

Step 5: Follow the RPA (Response-Prompt-AI) Framework for each section of the email

Step 6: Pull the AI-generated response into a first draft

Step 7: Edit to create the final email that is true to your voice and energy.

Let’s dig in!

Step 1: Get clear on the offer you’re sharing in your email

Usually you want to go into writing an email sequence with a clear idea of what the offer is that you’re promoting.

Getting clear on what you’re selling makes it easier to then write and generate content that links directly to the offer – taking your reader on a journey that logically moves them towards the sale.

However, when I was writing the email for this experiment, I actually ended up deciding to focus on a slightly different offer.

I found that by working through this process, it made more sense to use this particular trigger (which was a testimonial) to lead through to new service that I wanted to offer.

By having the framework and process in place, it meant I was able to adjust as I went along without getting myself tied up in knots.

So…if you’re clear on the offer you want to promote – that is perfect!

But if you’re not 100% sure when you start, know that this process can help with that decision making process!

Step 2: How to use ‘Triggers’ to spark ideas and decide your email topic

Using ‘triggers’ to write content or copy in your business is the foundation of how I run my copywriting business (and how I teach copywriting to business owners).

In a nutshell, it’s about using simple research techniques to gather the language of your audience.

You then use those snippets of language to trigger ideas for your content.

This approach also works well to trigger ideas for your offers.

If you’re interested in a full breakdown of how you can really get into the head of the buyers in your audience, check out my Uncover Your Brand Message mini-course. It’s all broken down in there.

For the emaiI wrote during this particular experiment, the trigger content I used was a client testimonial.

Step 3: Decide the angle you’ll be using for your email copy

Before writing anything, take a moment to think about the angle for your email.

In this example, the testimonial talked about how I helped my client turn her podcast episodes into ideas for social media contrnt.

As my offer is going to be for a VIP writing session to write story-based content for my clients, I wanted to make sure to include the story angle in the final email.

As you can see from the example above, a quick sentence is all you need to jot down your angle.

Step 4: Use a proven copywriting framework as your starting point

I create and share a lot of frameworks for the clients inside my copywriting community.

I’m not a big fan of plug’n’play templates, as I find them restrictive and complicated.

Instead I create simple step-by-step frameworks for writing things like emails and social media posts – and these are really popular and effective.

And layering AI tools like ChatGPT is actually perfect for this sort of approach!

For this experiment, I took the framework above that’s I designed to turn a testimonial into an email that gets people in your audience who are potentially ready to buy – to be primed to take the next step.

The “sales psychology” for this framework is that you’re leading with a result (showing authority).

You then link that specific result to the struggles and desire of the people in your audience who are in a similar position.

You then link that to your offer (without going into loads of detail about what it is).

And finally, you hint that you’ll be opening up the offer in the near future, and ask them to be ready to hear more…or you could use this format to create a waiting list.

Step 5: Follow the FRPA (Framework-Response-Prompt-AI) Framework for each section of the email

The FRPA method (Framework-Response-Prompt-AI) is the framework that came out of doing this experiment.

I already have my trigger (the testimonial), so I know the big-picture angle that I’m going for.

This step is all about going into each part of the email framework, and layering on the FRPA method.

In the Google document that I was working with, I colour-coded each part of the framework so I could track what I was doing:

• The email framwork is in green
• My reponse (ideas and thoughts that got triggered while working through the process) are in blue
• The prompt I put into ChatGPT is in red
• The copy that ChatGPT created for me in in purple

Let’s look at it in more detail

Part 1 – Lead With a Hook

Framework:

The first part of the email framework is about leading with a hook.

In the template document, I link to another document that I’ve created with copywriting templates for writing hooks.

I picked out the hook template I wanted to use, and made a note of it in my document.

Response:

I didn’t need to write a response for this part, as I was using a copywriting template

Prompt:

ChatGPT is bloody brilliant at this sort of thing, so I typed in the following prompt:

Write a hook for opening an email. Use the formula – Like the sound of [easy win]? In place of [easy win] write an outcome that the opposite of the painpoint of struggling to come up with ideas for social media content

An explanation of the prompt

• I told it what I wanted it to do (write a hook)
• I gave it the hook templates
• I told it which part of template I wanted it to swap out with a specific idea
• I wrote out which idea I wanted it to flesh out when using the hook template

My notes and thoughts

Although I love writing, I’m not always great at getting coherent ideas down on the page the first time I sit down to write something.

On the day I ran this experiment, it was a Saturday afternoon and I was pretty brain dead.

It was amazing to be able to just write out in stream-of-consciousness sort of way, and let the AI tool do the ‘creative thinking’ for me.

AI generated content:

Like the sound of never again struggling to come up with ideas for your social media content? Say goodbye to endless hours of brainstorming and hello to a steady stream of engaging, attention-grabbing posts that connect with your audience. Let me show you how storytelling can be the secret weapon in your social media strategy!

My notes and thoughts

I think this is a pretty damn good first draft for what I was thinking about for the opening hook.

In the final email (see the bottom of the post ) I kept some of the language because it was basically perfect.

I tweaked it a bit for my voice – but that heavy lifting between the vague idea and the final product was done in a couple of seconds using the power of AI. Amazing!

Part 2 – Share what they were struggling with when they initially reached out to work with you

Framework

The next part of the email framework is about sharing the struggle that this particular client had when they first started working with me.

The beauty of using testimonials as a trigger, is that you get very specific struggles and language around those struggles – but the scenario itself will be common to many people in your audience.

Response:

My response to the idea of what she was struggling with was very vanilla (remember – Saturday afternoon brain-dead mode)

She was struggling to come up with ideas for social media content.

Prompt:

Can you write 2 sentences about what the client was initially struggling with when she reached out to work with me. She was struggling to come up with ideas for social media content.

My notes and thoughts

I wrote my literal vanilla response, specified that I wanted 2 sentences, and left the rest of it up to ChatGPT

AI generated content:

When this client first reached out to me, she was struggling to come up with fresh and engaging ideas for her social media content. She was feeling stuck and wasn’t sure how to stand out in a crowded newsfeed and capture her audience’s attention.

My notes and thoughts

I didn’t love this paragraph, but it had the seed of the idea I wanted, and I knew I could quickly tweak it and make it more engaging.

To be clear – you don’t want AI to write the entire piece of content for you…adding your voice and flourishes and energy to your content is important…and I don’t think the need for that will ever go away.

Part 3 – Then share what outcome they got after working with you

Framework

The next part of the email framework is to share the outcome. How did you help your client go from their “Point A” to “Point B”?

Response:

When thinking back over what I did with this client, I remembered that we specifically look at some podcast episodes, and I helped her pull out the stories and create content ideas.

Here’s my brain-fart response – a mix of a note to myself and what I wanted to tell the AI to write for me.

During our conversation I worked out that she had a podcast. We pulled the stories out of the podcast and repurposed them into a 30 day content calendar of ideas

Prompt:

I plugged in my literal thoughts. I specified I wanted 3 sentences (because I know that I’d probably edited them down to 1-2 sentences…and I wanted more material to work with.

I also started specifying a tone, so that the AI tool used language that wasn’t too stiff or stilted.

Write 3 sentences about what I helped the client achieve. During our conversation I worked out that she had a podcast. We pulled the stories out of the podcast and repurposed them into a 30 day content calendar of ideas. Write in a friendly and conversational tone

AI generated content:

It was such a pleasure working with this client! During our conversation, I discovered that she had a podcast and I knew right away that we could turn those stories into some amazing content for her social media. We pulled the stories out of the podcast and repurposed them into a 30 day content calendar full of ideas that were both fresh and engaging. The end result was a social media strategy that truly set her apart and helped her connect with her audience in a powerful way.

My notes and thoughts

Reading this I could quickly see which bits I was going to keep, and which was fluff.

But as a first draft that was written for me in around 5 seconds – I was very excited!

Part 4 – Explain that you’ve got something coming up to share with them about how they can learn/apply the same thing

Framework

The next part of the email framework is to start planting the seeds that you’ve got an offer to help them get the same result.

This particular offer is a tweak on an existing one – so although not brand new, it’s still untested.

I wanted to put it out there as an idea to see if anyone was interested before committing to sharing it as a ‘thing’.

I also wanted to create some demand if it was of interest, to hopefully book myself out for a month or so with clients for this offer.

Response:

I wrote a couple of notes about what I wanted to the sessions to be, and what we’d be doing.

Going to be opening up spots for my 1:1 Stories That Sell sessions. These are VIP slots where we take your stories (client testimonials, your business stories, your personal stories…and turn them into copy for your business).

Prompt:

At this point it’s a copy/paste exercise.

• Copy/paste the ‘write 3 sentences’ bit
• Copy/paste my reponse
• Copy/paste the ‘conversational tone’ bit

Here’s what I put in:

Write 3 sentences that explain that I have limited 1:1 Stories That Sell sessions coming up.

These are VIP slots where we take your stories (client testimonials, your business stories, your personal stories…and turn them into copy for your business). Write in a friendly and conversational tone

AI generated content:

Hey there! I’ve got some exciting news! I have a limited number of 1:1 Stories That Sell sessions coming up. This is a VIP opportunity where we take your stories and turn them into copy that will help you sell more effectively. Trust me, these sessions are worth it – I’ll help you craft compelling stories that showcase your unique value and set you apart from the competition.

My thoughts:

Again…not perfect. But that middle bit of gettting the idea fleshed out…done in seconds!

Part 5 – CTA to keep an eye out on their inbox

Framework

This part of the email is the CTA. I actually have a document with pre-written boilerplate templates that you copy/paste, so using Chat GPT was a little bit of overkill.

However, in the past I used the AI tool to create those variations in the first place 🙂

For the sake of the experiment, I stuck to the process to see if I could squeeze any more value out of doing it this way.

Response:

Didn’t need one, I just wrote the prompt straight away.

Prompt:

Write one sentence letting them know to keep an eye on their inbox. I’ll have limited spots available, and am just working out space in my calendar

AI generated content:

Keep an eye on your inbox as I’ll be sending out more information soon regarding these limited spots, and I just need to work out the best dates and times in my calendar to fit in these 1:1 Stories That Sell sessions.

My thoughts:

I would have been able to write this myself from scratch without needing the help.

But as I said above, you can use it to find new ways to write the same thing – and as it’s just a few seconds…it’s definitely worth playing around with.

Part 6 – Second CTA to opt-out if not interested

Framework

With email, I recommend giving your subscribers the option to opt-out of any sales sequences that you’re running.

That means they can stay on your list for future stuff, but not get the emails that are for a specific offer that they’re not interested in.

Again, in the template document with my framework, I’ve got links through to boilerplate text that you can copy/paste…so could have skipped this bit.

But I like to see if ChatGPT can write a new angle or wording that improves what I’ve got.

Response:

Didn’t need one, I just wrote the prompt straight away.

Prompt:

I need a one-liner that lets the subscribers know that if they’re not interested in this particular offer, they can click a link and I’ll take them off this particular email sequence

AI Generated Content

If this offer isn’t for you, no problem! Simply click the unsubscribe link and I’ll make sure to remove you from this specific email sequence.

My thoughts:

This is perfect. I’d use it exactly as it is.

Step 6: Pull the AI-generated response into a first draft

All I did next was copy/paste all the AI-generated text into a single email.

Here’s what it looked like:

Like the sound of never again struggling to come up with ideas for your social media content?

Say goodbye to endless hours of brainstorming and hello to a steady stream of engaging, attention-grabbing posts that connect with your audience.

Let me show you how storytelling can be the secret weapon in your social media strategy!

When this client first reached out to me, she was struggling to come up with fresh and engaging ideas for her social media content. She was feeling stuck and wasn’t sure how to stand out in a crowded newsfeed and capture her audience’s attention.

It was such a pleasure working with this client!

During our conversation, I discovered that she had a podcast and I knew right away that we could turn those stories into some amazing content for her social media.

We pulled the stories out of the podcast and repurposed them into a 30 day content calendar full of ideas that were both fresh and engaging.

The end result was a social media strategy that truly set her apart and helped her connect with her audience in a powerful way.

Hey there! I’ve got some exciting news! I have a limited number of 1:1 Stories That Sell sessions coming up. This is a VIP opportunity where we take your stories and turn them into copy that will help you sell more effectively.

Trust me, these sessions are worth it – I’ll help you craft compelling stories that showcase your unique value and set you apart from the competition.

Keep an eye on your inbox as I’ll be sending out more information soon regarding these limited spots, and I just need to work out the best dates and times in my calendar to fit in these 1:1 Stories That Sell sessions.

Cheers,

Cathy x

PS If this offer isn’t for you, no problem! Simply click the unsubscribe link and I’ll make sure to remove you from this specific email sequence.

My thoughts:

Honestly…this is pretty good! There are some obviously clunky bits…but on the whole it’s not bad.

Is the content original?

I ran it through a plagiarism checker, and it came up clean.

I think that by following a framework and creating your email piece-by-piece like this, you remove the possibility of accidently having content that’s been plagiarised.

Step 7: Edit to create the final email that is true to your voice and energy

So, I took the first draft that ChatGPT created for me, and I edited it so it sounded more like me.

Personally, I love taking a first draft and making it better -that’s the fun part of writing for me.

Using a AI writing tool to do the heavy lifting to create that first draft is truly where it’s value lies.

And for coming up with different ways to say the same things.

Oh! and for writing the hooks.

Instead of sitting down trying to churn out lots of different ways to play around with the copywriting templates I use for these tasks – Chat GPT does the work in a matter of seconds.

A couple of notes

While reworking it, I turned it into a social media post (as that’s the place I want to share it first).

I’ll use the email version as well when I send it out to my list.

The lesson? Tools, templates and frameworks are only ever a guide – don’t ever feel like you have to slavishly follow anything exactly as it’s been laid out.

Usually they end up giving you the raw materials for a new idea – so run with it!

How long did it take?

I’m not sure.

This particular experiment was one that I wanted to document as I went along, and during that process I teased out the framework that I’ve been sharing in this article.

That’s why I want to turn this into a workshop.

Want to watch me do this in real time?

I’ve got the framework now, I know the steps.

In the workshop I’ll be testing and sharing how to do it quickly and efficiently.

My best guess?

I think it’ll take me around 10 mins (or less) from the point of deciding on the trigger content to the final piece.

The final post…

Ready to say goodbye to endless hours of brainstorming content ideas…

…and instead say hello to a steady stream of engaging, attention-grabbing posts?

I’m going to share how storytelling can be THE secret weapon in your social media strategy.

A couple of years ago I worked with a client who was feeling stuck.

She didn’t know how to come up with original ideas to share on social media.

I dug around a bit on our consultation call, and discovered that she had a podcast.

#contentgold

So here’s what we did…

We took her podcast episode and mined it for stories.

I then helped her repurpose the stories to create a 30 day content calendar FULL of ideas for her social media.

Not to brag tooooo much, but…here’s what she said:

“In 9 years in business, I’ve worked with various people on marketing, social media, tips, advice, training and I’ve never seen anything as wonderful and powerful as the work Cathy did”

Want me to help you do something similar?

I have a limited number of 1:1 Stories That Sell sessions coming up.

This is a 2 hour session where I help you take your stories and turn them into copy that sells.

We’ll craft compelling stories that showcase your unique value and set you apart from the competition.

I just need to work out the best dates and times in my calendar to fit in these sessions…so if you’re interested, reach out and I’ll pop you on the waitlist.