ChatGPT can act like your personal AI assistant, generating professional-sounding drafts, whether you need a cold pitch to potential clients or boilerplate out-of-office replies. It all starts with the “prompt”—the instructions you give to ChatGPT. When you craft a prompt, act like a journalist and consider the Ws: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Specify the format (e.g., a template versus a one-time message), the tone, the audience, the timing, the key details to include, and why you’re writing in the first place. Context in the prompt helps ChatGPT meet your goals. Luckily, ChatGPT is a conversational tool, so you can engage in back-and-forth dialogue to ensure a draft email meets your expectations.
The biggest pros of using ChatGPT for these tasks are saving you time and energy. By delegating tedious tasks to ChatGPT—like first drafts, research, and inbox management—you can dedicate more focus to tasks that only you can do—finessing the tone of an email or making a personal connection with the recipient.
Here’s a closer look at some ways you can use ChatGPT for small business emails.
1. Create Email Filters
ChatGPT can help you set up email filters and focus on essential emails that hit your inbox. For small businesses, this means saved time, increased productivity and improved responsiveness—crucial for staying competitive. ChatGPT can guide you through the process. With a simple prompt like, “How do I set up a Gmail filter to automatically delete emails with the subject 'Spam Offer'?” ChatGPT will generate step-by-step guidance for platforms like Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and Thunderbird.
2. Review Draft Email Structure
To craft impactful emails that achieve their objectives, use the following email formula: Start with the action you want the recipient to take, follow up with the context of why you require that action, and then end by letting them know you’re available for questions.
ChatGPT can help you maximize the effectiveness of your emails by reviewing their structure and offering tips for improvement. For example, you can share the above formula with ChatGPT, paste your email into the conversation, and ask if the email mirrors the structure. A well-structured email saves time for sender and recipient alike. It can also enhance customer engagement, build trust and increase response rates, all of which can positively impact your small business.
3. Copyedit Emails With A Fine-Tooth Comb
ChatGPT can quickly review emails for typos, grammatical errors and clarity, ensuring they are polished before hitting send. Why does this matter? Even the most well-structured, engaging email loses its impact if a silly typo slips through. Seemingly minor errors can end up hurting your credibility and undermining trust in your business.
Using ChatGPT is simple: copy your email draft into the tool, ask it to review for errors, and make adjustments as needed. This small investment of time can save embarrassment and fortify your small business’s reputation.
4. Draft Promotional Emails
For small business owners, email subscriber lists take time to acquire—but they’re an essential part of any marketing strategy. ChatGPT can help you to leverage those hard-earned customer and potential customer contacts by drafting emails to promote new products and offerings.
Let’s say you’re having a holiday sale. You can use ChatGPT to create an engaging message using email marketing best practices. Just provide the essential details, specify the tone you’re after, add any structure specifications, and provide any additional context to refine the email to meet your needs.
5. Create Templates For Fielding FAQs
ChatGPT can generate template drafts, leaving you more time to focus on perfecting the message. Start by making a list of the email types and questions frequently received. Group the full list into categories, and then tap ChatGPT to help you prepare a draft template for each category. Edit the drafts as necessary and save the templates in your email program with easy-to-recognize labels. Whenever you receive a query that matches a category, update the recipient information in the template and send the email. You might be surprised at how much time you save, freeing you to think about higher-level questions like business strategy and growth.
What Are Some ChatGPT Prompts For Small Businesses?
Effectively using ChatGPT all begins with the prompt. Having ChatGPT draft email templates for FAQs can enable you to focus on bigger-picture questions: like what are the current pain points in the business? Is there anything the business can do to solve some of those pain points and obviate the customers’ need to ask those questions?
For drafting email templates, you can use the following prompt:
“I’d like you to draft an email template I can use to respond to customers asking about [specific FAQ topic]. The email should be [insert tone: friendly, professional, informal, etc.], include a concise answer to their question, and offer to provide further assistance if needed. Here's some context about my business: We sell [products/services]. The FAQ topic is [e.g., shipping times, return policy, product usage]. Details to include in the response: [insert details]. The email should also end with a friendly closing.”
If you’d like ChatGPT to draft a promotional email, you can use the following prompt:
“I’d like you to write a [insert tone: upbeat, friendly, professional, etc.] email announcing [briefly describe the promotion]. The email should end with a sense of urgency to [describe the call to action: purchase, subscribe, etc.] before the promotion ends.”
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