8 Ways I’m Using AI to Hack My Writing.

It happened. I’ve well and truly dived into the world of AI tools like a kid with a shiny new bike. I’ve been riding AI everywhere; falling down steep cliffs into rabbit holes that are truly enlightening, careening off-road with rogue prompts, the correct ones bringing me back on course. Finally, raising my fists in glory as I find myself at the top of my AI mountain - the query quest, competed. And while it’s taken me a few years to jump on this bike - I’m here now. And I love it!

While other writers complain about AI coming to take their jobs, I’ve decied to“hire” AI tools at pennies on the dollar to be my second in command, junior writer, market researcher, editor-in-chief, compliance officer, and more!

If it had arms and legs (…wheels), I’d be sending it off to make me a coffee.

So far, it’s worth every penny, helping me to hack my own writing to make it even better. It’s saved time, and reduced those common errors that happen at the end of a long writing session.

I don’t know what you’re using AI for, but here’s what I’ve been doing with it this year, so far.

1.Compliance Checks

I actually ditched the free version of ChatGPT and signed up to 4.0 because this task was so important.

Recently I worked on a skincare brand. Fondly thinking back, 9 years ago we could write all sorts of fun stuff on Amazon, but fast forward to now, and it’s a Terms of Service maze. Not only must you follow Amazon’s TOS, but you must also follow FDA requirements, as they pertain to skincare advertising.

But wait, there’s more! This particular product has stepped into the human stem cell market. Gulp. The thought of a bot crawling those keywords made me nervous.

So when it came to checking compliance on EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. I started with my own research into forbidden keywords and claims, and then used ChatGPT after I had written it, to help tidy things up that I’d missed, or that could be picked up by TOS if someone decided to complain.

Google was great at giving me the overarching rules, showing me some FDA pages with the basic info while helpfully showing me some website cases that had been taken to the FDA. But it didn’t give me any EXACT wording. And it only re-hashed the basics that this product is not intended to heal, cure…

And so, I asked ChatGPT the things that I needed to know, I got the answers faster and they were more exact. I pasted my own copywriting in, and asked if it was in compliance. ChatGPT would rewrite and teach at the same time! And while some tasks were fast, some took longer - exposing a few glitches and my anxiety around not going to TOS jail.

2. Same Content, Different Format

I’ll never forget the 50x Jewelry listings I wrote 6 or so years ago. That project, also popped up at the same time as a project for 6 different style of party sunglasses that were all kind of the same.

Writing the same thing over and over again is mind numbing. It feels like data entry. But now, GPT does duplicates for me.

And maybe you think this is lazy, or maybe you’re like me, and realize that by doing it this way you eliminate the “copy and paste” fatigue that often comes with this kind of work. I simply start with my primary piece of writing - the writing that I completed without automation, then, I turn it into whatever it needs to be! A 30 second video script, skeleton for A+ content, selection of headlines, or whatever it is I need to make sure everything is consistent with the original.

Then, (and this is the real secret sauce) I go in and edit things to make sure they don’t sound like a generic piece of crap. ChatGPT does regurgitate a lot of the same stuff, so if someone is using the same prompt as you; or even something remotely similar, then you’re going to get the same output. In some cases using ChatGPT in this way takes much longer than popping some organic creativity out of your head!

3. Warm It Up For Me GPT!

Anyone who knows me in person, also knows I’m not very warm or maternal. I love helping and try to be nice, but warmth isn’t my strongest game. So I get my friend GPT to adjust tone for me!

Instead of spending half an hour trying to write you an email, I write it in 30 seconds and then ask ChatGPT to “warm up the writing” for me. That way, I can say what needs to be said without offending anyone.

And I use the same prompt for any Amazon copy that needs a certain tone to it.

But Stacey, you’re a writer, you already know how to tone things!

You are correct! But don’t deny the fact that everyone has a bad day and when you’re writing thousands of words every day, fatiguing every neuron in your brain, the extra help, helps me stay productive in those moments. In a perfect world, I’d write everything and be done in time for 5pm cocktails. But in the real world, saying the perfect thing is completed faster and more effectively with a team. That’s why one of the most common phrases is, “what do you think”?

4. Punchier. Shorter.

I’ll say what I need to say and then ask my friend ChatGPT to say it shorter. Now of course GPT is going to spit out some random generic phrasing that’s used everywhere. But that’s ok, because I’ll put my editor hat on and make it cool. Instead of spending an hour coming up with a bunch of headlines or short texts, I can be more efficient and productive.

I work with ChatGPT, talking to it as if it were a real human, always pushing it to give me a better answer. So long as I use intelligent prompts, and edit generic answers, I can turn a long task into something quick and effective.

5. Woof! Go Rufus!

Sometime last week, Rufus went live on my Amazon Mobile App. And while I haven’t used it yet to enhance product description creation, I certainly had a good look around to see how I’ll use it for my next job.

Here’s what you should know about Rufus: It tells you what is important about a product without you reading a single review. It’s a fantastic place to decide on certain product features and enhancements in your product research.

Here’s an example: I asked Rufus “What is a good baby blanket”. Answer: When shopping for baby blankets, prioritize soft, breathable fabrics like cotton or muslin that will keep your little one cozy and comfortable. Look for quality construction with durable stitching and safe materials to ensure the blanket stands up to everyday use.

Then, Rufus gives some shopping options: Cotton, Muslin, Fleece, Knit and Quilted Baby Blankets and follows up with some more clickable questions. The one I clicked on was “What are the benefits of baby blankets”. Rufus answered: Baby blankets offer warmth and comfort for infants. They provide a soft, familiar surface for babies to rest on and can help them feel secure. Then, Rufus provides options again and more clickable questions.

If I was to sell a baby blanket, there is a ton of information here already:

1. What are the different types of blankets I could choose to sell (cotton, muslin, fleece, knit, quilted). I might be inclined to sell a cotton or muslin blanket because that’s who Rufus is promoting first for this generic question.

2. What benefits should my blanket excel at. (familiarity, comfort, softness, a feeling of security, breathable)

3. What features should my blanket excel at. (fabric, durable stitching, safe materials)

I’ll stop there for now. Because with Rufus, you can ask thousands of questions to dial in what type of baby blanket you should sell, and what type of manufacturing quality it should have. Even, what time of year to start selling which type of blanket.

As for writing the copy? I’ve written numerous successful baby blanket listings, yet I’d never considered creating a narrative around “familiar surface for babies”. But thanks to Rufus trolling Amazon’s listings and reviews, I know it’s going to be a great narrative for my next baby blanket client. Rufus provides a ton of hot button words: quality, stitching, fabric, safe, familiar, comfort, soft, security, cotton, infants, breathable, cozy and more!

All that research that used to take me hours, can now be done at the push of a Rufus!

Pro Tip: Ask Rufus quality questions and get quality answers. And get good at reading AI outputs - you need to discern crap vs gold. And you need to “edit out the generic” so you don’t sound like everyone else.

6. Layering Tools x Empathy Engineering

Do you use Helium 10? One of the tools I adore using is the H10 extension for extracting reviews. Instead of clicking the next button on Amazon’s reviews, H10 lets you output them all to one spreadsheet.

And then, I download the H10 Review Insights into ChatGPT and start asking a bunch of clarifying questions, such as:

1. What are the most common words people use to describe the feature (eg, how do they describe the fabric)

2. What are the most common words people use to describe the product as a whole

3. How many reviewers care about this feature (eg, the size of the handle)

4. Do reviewers mostly describe this product as “beautiful” or “pretty”?

5. … and on.

Then, I cross reference the answers with the AI snippet in the reviews section on Amazon, followed by manually reading a selection of reviews to make sure things align.

And I can also ask ChatGPT about the target audience in general, outside of the reviews extracted.

Now I can write a product description that speaks to the conversation the customer is already having in their head. If they call it pretty. I’m going to call it pretty. If most people raved about the colors, then I will rave about the colors. If people are confused over sizing, then our product description will make sure there is zero confusion. If they’re worried about a certain feature breaking, then we can sell them on the idea that ours won’t (assuming it’s true, of course).

To be fair, I’m simply doing what I’ve always done with reviews. Except now ChatGPT is saving me time. GPT can read 1000 reviews for me in a fraction of the time I can. So long as I ask it the right questions, it will give me an accurate summary.

Only got 10 seconds to do something super productive? Get ChatGPT to create word cloud from reviews and you’ll have a powerful dossier that reflects buyer sentiment - the foundation for enhanced product research and Amazon copy.

7. Style Guides.

Yup, I even got ChatGPT to create a style guide for a 300 character product description. I had to write 3 of these things in a certain way with tons of compliance. So I taught my GPT, through a series of PD creations what the general style needs to be. I now have a unique elevator pitch template for our other products.

But then ChatGPT did something to surprise me. When I went back through the settings log, I noticed ChatGPT had written out all the “rules” required to make this style of product description. I didn’t tell it to. It figured out the patterns and the structure through our work together. Isn’t that great!

Instead of a mindless output, AI provided a well-thought-out guidebook for future work.

8. Summarizing Materials

I use a one page product brief for all my clients. But, I sometimes have clients who like to provide a novella. Like the 21 page necklace brief from earlier this year. Or the 30 page powerpoint presentation last week, and the 11 page word document not so long ago.

The longer the product brief, the longer it takes me to wade through it. When I get to page 9, I’m wondering “Did I already read that”?

But, when I plug it into ChatGPT, it summarizes everything for me, and removes duplicate information.

But Stacey, what if it doesn’t read the whole thing!?

I already KNOW that ChatGPT misses things out. It’s part of being a smart AI user - understanding limitations. And that’s why I always reconcile information in multiple places to ensure I have all the information required.

But reconciling is much faster than reading 30 pages, agonizing over every word.

Here’s a cool example. I do a reviews scrape using H10 x ChatGPT and I discover that everyone loves FeatureXYZ. Then, I do a GPT summary of the very long product brief and I discover no mention of a FeatureXYZ. Ok cool, now I’ll do a quick “word find” to see if it’s there. No? Great! I’ll email my client and ask them if they have FeatureXYZ.

That whole process is important in getting the right information for product descriptions. It takes 60 seconds with AI.

So, Why Do I Love AI?

This is only a small list of what I’m using AI for. It saves me time, keeps those hairy things compliant, answers questions better and faster than a Google search, acts as my editor-in-chief so I can write with joy! And it helps me stay productive even if I’m in the throws of a migraine. But the surprising thing I love most, is that it gives me little snippets of learning as we go.

I also love the “team” vibe from ChatGPT - it has a little personality to it, always telling me it’s ready to get started!

Heck, when I needed an easy waffle recipe it delivered! And when I needed the recipe converted to just 4 waffles instead of 16, it recalculated everything within 10 seconds. I did get 4 waffles exactly, and they came out perfect.

AI Limitations.

They may have been around for a little while now, but AI tools are still emerging, but with limitations.

Here’s what I would never do with ChatGPT

1. I won’t let it write the final copy for me. Everything I do with GPT is either written by me first, or heavily edited by me. I haven’t yet received a piece of copy that is suitable for use. ChatGPT is generic and often leaves things out.

2. I won’t let it update a word document for me. I tried it, but it didn’t update even though ChatGPT said it did. So I still have to manually copy and paste things that were edited.

3. I won’t let it send me in circles. Sometimes ChatGPT will highlight and edit a piece of writing (lets use compliance as an example), but if I run the copy through again it flags the new version - even though the new version is compliant.

4. I won’t let it read an entire product brief and summarise it without me reconciling the information.

5. I won’t let it place keywords into writing without double checking and editing. It always misses words out!

A Quick Note on Amazon-Specific AI Writing Tools

I’m still not convinced you can completely automate your Amazon Product Descriptions. One tool I was looking at, requires you to upload your keyword list, in order of importance and it will place your keywords in that order. So that still requires manual work, right? This tool can automatically place 20-30 top phrases into designated parts of your listing and that’s great! But what if the product has another 100+ individual keywords that are crucial for indexing? You still have to manually edit the copy and make sure all those keywords, buyer-centric words and customer sentiments are in the product description. In the case of my skincare client, you still need to wade through all those compliance issues.

So, what are you using AI for, and how are you finding it?

…. P.S This blog was not written by AI.