Companies find it hard to resist the math of using AI to write at least some of their copy and content.
There are huge productivity benefits and costs savings when you compare AI-generated work with the same tasks written by human writers.
And sometimes, when writing informational content, optimized for SEO, and published in bulk, with some light human editing AI can come close to being “good enough”.
But when it’s not just about sharing information, the math changes.
As any seasoned copywriter will tell you, if you want someone to take action, you need to appeal to their emotions.
Wherever you are along the sales funnel, you’ll achieve higher conversion rates with copy that has a stronger emotional appeal.
This means that while it might help to use AI to write some early drafts, it’s going to take a human writer to weave in a strong emotional layer.
Why? Because the nuances of human emotion are a weak spot for even the best AI writing tools.
We can get there in three simple steps.
Step 1 – Emotional mapping of your audience
Experienced copywriters already try to figure out the emotional triggers of their audience.
Within the context of the product or service you’re selling, what are the principal desires and fears of your audience? Which desires can we speak to? Which fears can we address?
One of the ways I do this is to read product reviews on sites like Amazon. Or service reviews on sites like Yelp. I’ll also ask clients if they have transcripts of customer service calls or chat sessions.
Basically, I want to examine the language of my prospects. I want to see the language they use, and the emotions they express.
I might even copy and paste all the reviews, comments and transcripts I can find, and ask ChatGPT to run a sentiment analysis. It turns out ChatGPT is really good at that.
With all that done, I have now mapped the emotions of my audience. I know how they feel about the product or service being offered, and am familiar with the language they use when talking about it. I also have a sense of their emotional triggers… the desires and fears they might be feeling.
I now have what it takes to engage with my audience with a high level of Emotional Intelligence.
Step 2 – Emotional audit of your AI copy
Let’s say I want to create an email, a sales page or landing page.
First, I write a prompt for an AI tool like ChatGPT. As part of my prompt, I’ll include or reference the sentiment analysis for context.
Hopefully, with the analysis to work from, the first draft will be close to what I want.
Sometimes it is. Sometimes not so much.
But here are some questions I’ll ask myself as a way to audit the text for Emotional Intelligence:
1. Is the voice human and conversational?
AI-generated writing can feel stiff and wooden sometimes. Emotionally intelligent writing has an authentic human feel to it.
2. Is the tone empathetic?
Based on the desires and fears we have identified as part of our audience mapping process, is the copy empathetic to the emotions and beliefs of our readers?
3. Does the copy include elements of story?
Stories are shared and enjoyed by everyone, across all cultures. They are almost always rich in emotions, and are a reliable and quick way to create a deep connection with your readers.
4. Is the copy respectful and non-manipulative?
ChatGPT knows how to write sales copy, but sometimes it can feel a little too direct, salesy and manipulative. If that’s what you see, rephrase the sales pitch in a more sensitive and respectful way.
5. Is the copy culturally sensitive?
Tools like ChatGPT can be biased, depending on the data sets on which they were trained. Review the copy and make sure it isn’t insensitive to people, based on their gender, ethnicity or religious or political beliefs.
Step 3 – Emotion-driven rewrites where necessary
Once I’ve completed the emotional audit, I’ll go back in and edit the AI-generated text.
To hit all 5 points in the audit may involve quite a lot of rewriting. That said, there have been times when ChatGPT pretty much nailed it, and there was very little I needed to do.
One way or another, to get copy with maximum impact, you should go through each of these three steps when working with AI-generated copy and content.
To learn more, and to advance your skills as an emotionally intelligent writer, check out my course, Futureproof Copywriting.
