ChatGPT Copywriting: Best Practices for Shopify Stores

ChatGPT, the generative AI chatbot that can produce everything from poems to computer code, has been taking the world by storm.

When it comes to writing copy for your Shopify store, ChatGPT can help boost your productivity and improve your creative output. However, as with all powerful tools, it needs to be used carefully.

Read on for our advice on how to get the most out of this remarkable innovation and use it for ecommerce copywriting.

Mistakes to avoid

It’s easy to get carried away with a new tool like ChatGPT. Before we dive into all the cool things you can do with it, let’s walk through some potential pitfalls you need to avoid first.

1. Using ChatGPT to generate body copy

As OpenAI themselves admit, the tool sometimes produces content that is factually incorrect (or even nonsensical).

Sometimes the mistakes will be obvious, as with the person who searched for their own name in ChatGPT and was informed they had died. Often, however, the errors are more subtle and difficult to detect.

It’s best, therefore, to avoid using ChatGPT to generate your body copy from scratch on any topic where fact-checking matters.

2. Plagiarising

ChatGPT might steal someone else’s work, including copyrighted content, without acknowledging this.

While it’s true that the tool won’t just copy and paste external sources, it might still produce content that mimics something closely enough to be considered plagiarism. What’s more, there are tools out there like ZeroGPT that can identify AI-written content.

So it’s best to stick to using ChatGPT to support you with tasks like producing ideas and basic outlines, while always ensuring that the actual substance of what you’re writing and the words on the page are original.

3. Replacing human editing and writing

Occasionally ChatGPT might produce excellent copy that requires few edits, but more often than not it gives you something bland and robotic.

There’s a risk that if you’re inexperienced with copywriting, you might mistake passable ChatGPT content for excellent copy. For this reason—as well as the abovementioned issues around fact-checking and plagiarism—relying on ChatGPT without the oversight of copywriting experts is a bad idea.

As we discuss below, you can use ChatGPT to help you create outlines for certain types of copy. But to create copy that’s really the finished product, you still need to educate yourself about copywriting or hire someone with this know-how.

The best copy always reflects insights and messaging that are unique to your brand and its target audience, but ChatGPT just isn't capable of achieving this on its own.

Good uses of ChatGPT for copywriting

Now that we’ve covered what can go wrong, let’s look at what the tool can do for your Shopify store.

1. Brainstorming

ChatGPT can use its 45-terabyte dataset to produce endless ideas for topics to cover in your content.

If you give ChatGPT an instruction like “produce 20 ideas for email newsletters for a fashion ecommerce store”, it will come back with a list of suggestions.

Inevitably, many of the ideas will be unimaginative or unsuitable. However, brainstorming has always been about throwing lots of ideas out there until you arrive at something that works.

So ChatGPT may well be able to produce that one idea that you can use — or something that sparks your own creative process and gives you that lightbulb moment.

2. Help with copywriting outlines

ChatGPT can help you create basic outlines for your copy, speeding up the writing process. While you shouldn’t use ChatGPT to generate your actual body copy, it can be a helpful tool for pointing you in the right direction on what to cover.

And if, like many, you struggle with not knowing where to start when writing—so-called “Blank Page Syndrome”—then using ChatGPT to set the wheels in motion can be very useful.

The outline it produces will almost always be too generic, but it can nonetheless give you something basic to build on. This can save you time and improve the quality of your copy.

3. Rewording your copy

Is there a sentence you just can’t seem to get right, even after several attempts at rewriting it?

In cases like these, asking ChatGPT to reword it might finally give you something you’re happy with.

What’s more, you can ask ChatGPT to rewrite your copy with a particular goal in mind. For example, you can ask for it to be made punchier, more playful, or more somber in tone.

However, as with all ChatGPT content, results aren’t guaranteed, and you need to be careful that the underlying meaning of the text isn’t changed.

Making the most of new technology

Leveraging up-to-date software is vital in all parts of your Shopify business, not just copywriting.

Enter Sufio, a powerful invoicing app that enables Shopify stores to automatically generate and send invoices that are tax-compliant and in the right currency.

By implementing automation in your invoicing process, you can save your accounting team time and reduce errors.