My mission was simple: Create copy with ChatGPT for an email blast to tell our subscribers about the new Firebrand Labs team. Since our team’s mission is to test generative AI tools and determine where they may fit best for our clients, it was the perfect time to take a spin on ChatGPT to create this copy.
This email announcement was an especially fitting task for ChatGPT because there’s one thing the experts all agree on: Giving ChatGPT detailed prompts is absolutely critical to the finished product. With a published blog post in hand, I had plenty of input data.
Read on for a recap of my experience, plus the good and not-so-good of using ChatGPT for email marketing:
Prompt #1: Write an email about the launch of Firebrand Labs based on this blog post: (I then copied and pasted the blog post directly into ChatGPT)
ChatGPT’s Response:
Subject: Announcing Firebrand Labs: Our New Initiative to Harness the Power of AI in Marketing
Dear [Recipient],
I hope this email finds you well. I’m excited to share some big news with you. As a marketer, you’re aware of the tremendous potential of generative AI in shaping the future of marketing. At Firebrand Labs, we’re embracing this new technology with open arms, and we want to take you on this journey with us.
We’ve assembled a tiger team of Firebrands to guide our agency and our clients in the use of AI for marketing. Our new initiative, Firebrand Labs, is dedicated to testing the best AI tools for marketing, figuring out how they apply to our work, and developing ways to deploy them.
Our goal is to harness the power of AI to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and open up new opportunities in marketing. We believe that early entrants to AI marketing will have an advantage, and it’s our duty to determine the best path forward for our clients.
We’re excited about the impact that generative AI tools will have on marketing programs. From strategic planning to optimization and measurement, AI can remove friction, save time, and open up new opportunities. Today, we’re seeing clear wins in areas such as meta description creation in SEO, drafting headlines for blog posts, creating ad variations, video and audio editing. But we believe that this is just the beginning, and AI will extend deeper into each marketing practice.
At Firebrand Labs, we’ll be conducting split-testing to give you apples-to-apples comparisons of how our work performs against AI. We’ll also provide you with analyses of specific AI marketing tools, capabilities, opportunities, and pitfalls. We’ll share what we learn, and collectively, we’ll build new ways of doing things.
We’re aware that there are some major unknowns, and we’re keeping a close eye on them. The addition of Open AI to Bing or Bard into Google Search has some potentially far-reaching implications. We’re committed to figuring things out and sharing our findings with you.
In the coming weeks, our PR, Digital, and Content Marketing experts will start sharing their insights with you. We hope you’ll find them valuable, and we look forward to your feedback.
Thank you for your time, and we’re excited to embark on this journey with you.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
Firebrand Labs Team
OK, so that’s really long (including a subject line that’s too long) and a bit stuffy. It’s clear ChatGPT didn’t mimic the brand voice in the blog post.
Prompt #2: Make this more conversational and much shorter.
ChatGPT’s Response:
Hey there!
Have you heard about Firebrand Labs? We’re a team of marketing experts who are jumping headfirst into the world of AI marketing tools.
We believe that AI has the potential to revolutionize the way organizations market themselves. And we’re not just talking about small improvements – this could be as big as the advent of the internet!
We’re testing out the best AI tools for marketing, figuring out how they can apply to our work, and developing ways to deploy them. Our goal is to drive down the cost and time on execution, so we can focus on the higher value aspects of marketing like storytelling, insights, ideation, and empathy.
We’ll be sharing our findings in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more information about the specific AI tools, capabilities, opportunities, and pitfalls. Together, we can build new ways of doing things and embrace the exciting world of AI marketing.
That’s definitely better. Definitely not perfect, but my robot friend and I can work with this. But first, let’s see what kind of subject lines ChatGPT can whip up.
Prompt #3: Add some subject line options to this version.
ChatGPT’s Response:
- Firebrand Labs: Exploring the World of AI Marketing Tools
- Join us as we Embrace the Future of Marketing with AI
- Are you ready to Jump into the World of AI Marketing with Firebrand Labs?
- Firebrand Labs: Where Innovation Meets AI Marketing
- Discover the Potential of AI in Marketing with Firebrand Labs
These are pretty good. I can envision them grabbing attention in a cluttered inbox. With subject lines sorted, I need to make some best practice updates to the email body copy — including adding a CTA to read our blog post for more details, which is the whole reason for sending this email.
Prompt #4: Shorten this email to two paragraphs and add a CTA to read our blog post for more information.
ChatGPT’s Response:
Subject Line: Join Firebrand Labs in Embracing the Future of AI Marketing
Hey there!
We’re excited to introduce you to Firebrand Labs – a team of marketing experts exploring the world of AI marketing tools. Our goal is to drive down the cost and time on execution, so we can focus on higher value aspects of marketing like storytelling, insights, ideation, and empathy.
We believe that AI has the potential to revolutionize the way organizations market themselves, and we’re testing out the best AI tools for marketing, figuring out how they can apply to our work, and developing ways to deploy them. Want to learn more? Check out our blog post where we share our findings about the specific AI tools, capabilities, opportunities, and pitfalls.
Join us in embracing the future of AI marketing! Check out our blog post here.
Best,
The Firebrand Labs Team
I’m not totally sure where that subject line came from. Personally, I don’t like it as much as the five options it gave me above. But that’s easy to fix.
What did concern me, though, was the stated goal of the team. That’s not what we had in our Firebrand Labs blog post. While we did say that generative AI “can remove friction, save time and open up new opportunities,” we said our purpose is to “guide our agency and its clients through the use of AI for marketing… We are testing out the best AI tools for marketing, figuring out how they can apply to our work, and developing ways to deploy them.” ChatGPT summed up that one wrong.
Prompt #5: Change our goal to guiding our clients through AI for marketing, including which are the best tools, how they might apply to our work, and developing ways to deploy them.
ChatGPT’s Response:
Subject Line: Introducing Firebrand Labs: Guiding Clients Through AI for Marketing
Hey there!
We’re excited to introduce you to Firebrand Labs – a team of marketing experts who guide our clients through the use of AI for marketing. We evaluate the value of generative AI and identify potential opportunities for our clients, including which are the best tools, how they might apply to our work, and developing ways to deploy them.
Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the way organizations market themselves, and we’re excited to be at the forefront of this shift. We’re constantly testing out the latest AI tools for marketing and sharing our findings with our clients. Want to learn more about how we can help guide you through the world of AI marketing? Check out our blog post here.
Join us in embracing the future of AI marketing! Check out our blog post here.
Best,
The Firebrand Labs Team
That’s better. This copy is still a bit longer than best practice dictates, though.
Prompt #6: Make the second paragraph more concise.
ChatGPT’s Response:
Hey there!
We’re excited to introduce you to Firebrand Labs – a team of marketing experts who guide our clients through the use of AI for marketing. We evaluate the best AI tools for marketing, apply them to our work, and develop ways to deploy them for our clients.
Join us in embracing the future of AI marketing! Check out our blog post here.
Best,
The Firebrand Labs Team
Oops, that’s a little too concise.
Prompt #7: Add some details to the second paragraph.
ChatGPT’s Response:
Subject Line: Introducing Firebrand Labs: Guiding Clients Through AI for Marketing
Hey there!
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Firebrand Labs – a team dedicated to guiding our clients through the use of AI for marketing. Our goal is to evaluate the best AI marketing tools available, determine how they can be applied to our work, and develop effective ways to deploy them for our clients.
As the conversation around AI’s role in marketing grows, we believe it’s essential to stay ahead of the curve. We’re excited about the potential that generative AI has to offer and its impact on the strategic planning, creative implementation, management, optimization, and measurement of marketing campaigns. We believe that by embracing AI, we can drive down the cost and time needed to execute campaigns while freeing up resources to focus on higher-value tasks such as storytelling, insights, ideation, and empathy.
Join us in embracing the future of AI marketing! Check out our blog post here to learn more about how Firebrand Labs can help guide you through the use of AI for marketing.
Best,
The Firebrand Labs Team
I’m starting to feel a bit like Goldilocks. Now, this is too long for best practice. It’s clear my prompts haven’t been detailed enough.
Prompt #8: Shorten the body copy to roughly 80 words.
ChatGPT’s Response:
Subject Line: Firebrand Labs: Your Guide to AI Marketing
We’re excited to announce Firebrand Labs, a team dedicated to guiding clients through AI marketing. Our goal is to evaluate the best AI marketing tools, determine how to apply them to your work, and develop ways to deploy them effectively. With AI, we can reduce costs, save time, and open up new opportunities. We’re excited about generative AI’s impact on strategic planning, creative implementation, management, optimization, and measurement of campaigns. Embrace the future of AI marketing and join us on this journey. Learn more about Firebrand Labs on our blog post here.
Best,
The Firebrand Labs Team
We’re getting closer. But since best practice is to have short paragraphs that are easy to digest, I need to split this message up.
Prompt #9: Split the email into two paragraphs.
ChatGPT’s Response:
Subject Line: Firebrand Labs: Your Guide to AI Marketing
We’re excited to announce Firebrand Labs, a team dedicated to guiding clients through AI marketing. Our goal is to evaluate the best AI marketing tools, determine how to apply them to your work, and develop ways to deploy them effectively.
With AI, we can reduce costs, save time, and open up new opportunities. We’re excited about generative AI’s impact on strategic planning, creative implementation, management, optimization, and measurement of campaigns. Embrace the future of AI marketing and join us on this journey. Learn more about Firebrand Labs on our blog post here.
Best,
The Firebrand Labs Team
Conclusion of ChatGPT for Email Marketing:
The Good:
- ChatGPT’s copy was better than I’d expected, although I wouldn’t use the final version without a little bit of copyediting.
- I would forego the subject line in the final version and go back to one of the original five subject lines it generated since those do a much better job of grabbing attention.
- I really liked the subject line options it gave me. This shows me that ChatGPT can be a good brainstorming tool, especially since I make it a habit to give clients multiple subject line options to help reduce back-and-forth. Getting several solid options in a few seconds, rather than 10 or 15 minutes doing my own creative sprint, is a nice timesaver that doesn’t compromise the finished product. I can see using this for subject lines, blog post titles, and ad copy.
The Not-So-Good:
- It took nine prompts to get to the final version, which seems like an awful lot considering I had a blog post that was 600+ words as a basis for this copy. How long would it have taken without all of this input data?
- ChatGPT didn’t automatically pick up on the brand voice in the original copy. Clearly, part of the prompt needs to include the brand voice, tone, and attributes. If your startup hasn’t aligned on this information so that everyone can enter the same prompt, ChatGPT’s finished product will vary greatly — something that will prevent your brand from being consistent and memorable.
- ChatGPT’s version changed the goal of Firebrand Labs from what was in our original blog post, which I had to correct
The Noteworthy:
- A few of my prompts — make it more conversational, shorter, and two paragraphs — are directly related to email marketing best practices. Without a strong knowledge of those, the final version would not have met them.
My ChatGPT Prompt:
Write an email to announce the launch of Firebrand Labs. The email body should be less than 90 words in length and contain only two paragraphs. The CTA is to read the following blog post for more details. Include 5 subject line options, each of which is less than 70 characters long, and make the tone conversational and optimistic. The blog post content is: [blog post copy pasted here]
ChatGPT’s Response
Subject lines:
- Introducing Firebrand Labs: Our Take on AI Marketing
- Jump into the Future of Marketing with Firebrand Labs
- Firebrand Labs: Testing the Best AI Tools for Marketing
- Embracing the Impact of AI on Marketing with Firebrand Labs
- Join Firebrand Labs in the Evolution of AI Marketing
Hey there!
We’re excited to announce the launch of Firebrand Labs, our new venture into the world of AI marketing. We’re exploring the potential of generative AI and its impact on the way we market ourselves and our clients. From meta description creation in SEO to ad variations and video editing, we believe AI can remove friction, save time, and open up new opportunities. We’ve assembled a team of experts to guide us through the use of AI for marketing and we can’t wait to share our findings with you.
For more details, check out our latest blog post. We’ll be sharing our analyses, conducting split-testing, and collectively building new ways of doing things. Join us in embracing the impact of AI on marketing.
Best,
The Firebrand Labs Team
*Note: We used ChatGPT-3.5 for this experiment. We’ll be diving into the brand new ChatGPT-4 soon!
About the Author
Nicole Pytel is Vice President of Content Marketing at Firebrand Communications. With 15 years of content marketing and branding experience, she loves combining multimedia creativity with strategic data analysis to help clients reach their biggest goals.
