If time is money, why are small business owners not leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT? … (+)
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The expression “small and medium-sized enterprises” is a misnomer. Most small business owners and entrepreneurs have goals and ambitions that are anything but small. They just want to keep control of their business. It can be difficult to compete with VC-backed startups that have more resources at their disposal. But now, tools like ChatGPT are leveling the playing field for businesses large and small, including email creation and marketing.
As a bootstrapped business owner, I regularly use AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance communication, save time, and grow my business. This leaves more energy to focus on tasks that are truly transformational for your company. Here’s how to use ChatGPT for small business email.
How to write emails using ChatGPT
If you’re new to large-scale language models (LLMs), you may be wondering, “Can ChatGPT create realistic, professional-looking emails?” Short answer: Yes. ChatGPT works like a personal AI assistant, allowing you to generate professional-sounding drafts whether you need to pitch to a potential client or provide a canned out-of-office reply. It all starts with a “prompt”, or the instructions you give ChatGPT.
When creating your prompt, act like a journalist and consider the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. Specify the format (e.g. template or one-time message), tone, audience, timing, important details to include, and why you’re writing in the first place. Context within the prompt helps ChatGPT achieve its goals. Luckily, ChatGPT is a conversational tool, so you can iterate back and forth to make sure your email drafts meet your expectations.
Leverage ChatGPT for small business email
ChatGPT supports your business email and related marketing efforts in a variety of ways. ChatGPT allows you to quickly generate templates and first drafts. Act as a copy editor, emotional reader, or developmental editor, focusing on the big picture of your writing, such as tone and structure. You can filter out unnecessary communications. This allows you to conduct research quickly, include compelling facts, and email the audience where you can have the greatest impact.
The biggest advantage of using ChatGPT for these tasks is that it saves you time and energy. By delegating boring tasks like first drafts, research, and inbox management to ChatGPT, you can focus more on tasks that only you can do, like adjusting the tone of your emails and building personal connections with your recipients. You can. On the other hand, ChatGPT is not always reliable. I’ve been known to plagiarize or completely fabricate things. Research has shown that ChatGPT technology “hallucinates” about 3% of the time when summarizing facts.
Delegating email creation to ChatGPT doesn’t mean handing over the reins completely. You must be a diligent editor.
Here we take a closer look at five ways you can use ChatGPT for your small business email.
1. Create an email filter
Sorting through messy emails can be a huge drain on your energy and productivity. With ChatGPT, you can set up email filters and focus on the emails that matter, instead of wasting time deleting all the “**Special Holiday Deals**” that arrive in your inbox. My Priority Inbox highlights important messages and filters out distractions.
For small businesses, this means saving time, increasing productivity, and increasing responsiveness, which is essential to staying competitive. Technical instructions for setting up filters are available online, but you can use ChatGPT to guide you through the process. You’ll see a simple prompt like, “How do I set up my Gmail filter to automatically delete emails with the subject ‘Spam Offers’?” ChatGPT generates step-by-step guidance for platforms such as Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird.
ChatGPT helps small businesses prioritize important communications by cutting through the noise.
2. Review the draft email structure
Writing emails is easy, but writing effective emails is an art. To create impactful emails that accomplish your goals, Harvard Business Review suggests the following email formula: Start with the action you want the recipient to take, follow up with the context of why that action is needed, and finally let the recipient know about you. You can ask questions.
ChatGPT helps you maximize the effectiveness of your emails by checking their structure and providing tips for improvement. For example, you can share the above formula with ChatGPT, paste the email into a conversation, and ask if the email reflects that structure. A well-structured email saves time for both the sender and the recipient. It can also enhance customer engagement, build trust, and improve response rates, all of which can have a positive impact on small businesses.
3. Copy-edit emails with a fine-toothed comb
At my company, we encourage team members to use AI tools like ChatGPT to copy-edit their emails. ChatGPT can quickly review your emails for typos, grammatical errors, clarity, and more, ensuring your emails are polished before you hit the send button.
Why is this important? Even the most well-structured and attractive email can be sabotaged by a stupid typo. Even seemingly small mistakes can ultimately damage trust and erode trust in your business.
Using ChatGPT is easy. Copy your email draft into the tool, have it check for errors, and make adjustments as needed. This small investment of time can save you embarrassment and improve your small business’s reputation.
4. Draft promotional email
For small business owners, acquiring an email subscriber list is a time-consuming but essential part of your marketing strategy. ChatGPT helps you leverage your hard-earned contacts with customers and potential customers by creating emails to promote new products and services.
Let’s say you’re having a holiday sale. ChatGPT allows you to create engaging messages using email marketing best practices. Tailor your email to your needs by simply entering key details, specifying the tone you’re looking for, adding structural specifications, and providing additional context.
5. Create a template for your field FAQ
When I first started my business, I quickly realized that I was receiving similar inquiries from customers. We’ve created a template so you can respond to FAQs without having to create a new email every time. ChatGPT can generate draft templates, giving you more time to focus on perfecting your messages.
Start by making a list of the types of emails and questions you frequently receive. You can group the complete list into categories and tap (ChatGPT) to prepare draft templates for each category. Edit the draft as needed and save the template to your email program with an easily recognizable label. If you receive a query that matches your category, update the recipient information in the template and send the email. You’ll be amazed at how much time you’ll save and free up time to think about higher-level questions like business strategy and growth.
conclusion
If time is money, small business owners who aren’t taking advantage of AI tools like ChatGPT are wasting their money. With the right prompts, you can automate the first steps in your writing process, conduct research faster, draft professional-looking emails, and ultimately expand your business’ reach. ChatGPT allows you to focus on more impactful tasks.
