Long considered a traditional marketing strategy, sales letters remain relevant today by continually evolving. Sometimes sales letters are still sent by snail mail, but the format has seamlessly adapted to email, web page copy, and even videos.
The most recent technological advancement to affect sales letters is generative AI, leading to questions like “How do I write a sales letter with ChatGPT?” or “Can AI handle all kinds of copywriting?” In this guide, we talk all about the sales letter, AI, writing prompts, and how you can use text generation to make your copywriting easier.
Sales letter AI: Text generation and long-form sales letters
Generative AI is changing the way marketers approach long-form sales letters. Before we get into specifics, let’s first explain the sales letter, AI prompts, and how to use text generation in general.
What is a sales letter?
A sales letter is a long-form piece of copywriting that aims to persuade the reader to purchase a product or service. Traditionally, sales letters were mailed to potential customers, but increasingly they come in digital formats—through emails or videos or as part of web page copy.
How do you start a sales letter in AI?
Generative AI like Grammarly or ChatGPT has quickly become a favorite tool for marketers to streamline the writing process. AI copywriting may not be ready for perfect writing out of the box, but AI text generation can still help with creating rough drafts, generating ideas, outlining, and polishing the final word choice and phrasing.
Like all generative text, sales letter AI writing begins with AI writing prompts. The AI prompt is the command the user types into the AI chat window to produce the results they want. Think of the AI prompt as the instructions you give to the AI, indicating specific details like the topic, length, recipient, and any particular information you want included.
If you’re using Grammarly for text generation, you can also set your desired formality level and tone. Do you want to sound serious and professional, or is your brand more casual and friendly? Grammarly can generate text in whatever tone fits your sales strategy best, closely mimicking a human writer’s voice and cutting down on revisions later.
How do you write a simple sales letter AI prompt?
Don’t overthink AI prompts—they don’t need to be anything fancy. The goal of the AI prompt is simply to let the AI know what you need, so you can write your prompt in plain, elementary language. All you have to do is provide whatever information you want included; for a sales letter, this might be product details and features.
If that still sounds a bit overwhelming, relax: AI prompts for Grammarly include prompt suggestions, which are recommended prompts, already written, that anticipate what you might need. You’re free to tweak these prompt suggestions to add any details left out.
How do you write a sales letter with AI?
1 Decide what to include
The first step in writing a sales letter with AI is to determine what you want in the letter. AI will include whatever you mention, but you have to actually mention it first.
Consider which details you want in the sales letter. To help inspire you, here’s a short list of topics that people often include in sales letters:
- Product name
- Product features
- How the product helps a particular problem or type of person
- Unique selling proposition or company value proposition
- Product pricing
- Any promotional deals for the product (including a “ticking clock” for urgency)
- Recipient’s name
- Recipient’s job title
- Preferred branding voice and tone
- Testimonials from other customers (you can include these verbatim in the prompt or add them yourself later)
- Text length in paragraphs, word count, or pages
- Call to action and/or instructions on next step
- Sales letter headline
- Persuasive statistics or data
- A postscript (PS) to make the letter more personal
- Your contact or follow-up information
Of course you don’t need to include all of these, but think about which ones would work for your product or brand. The best part about AI is that you don’t have to actually write any of these, but you still need to know what to ask for.
2 Carefully phrase your prompt in generative AI
We’ve already talked a little about marketing AI prompts in our guide on how to write a cold email with Grammarly. Sales letters follow the same idea, although with more particular details.
The important thing to remember about AI prompts is that you should include everything in one message (that is, in one prompt). Most AI text generators, including Grammarly, treat each separate message as an independent session, which makes it difficult to go back to change things in a second message.
In general, you don’t need to worry about phrasing or writing eloquently—that’s the AI’s job. The prompt just needs to communicate the necessary information, so feel free to use basic and plain wording.
3 Revise the AI sales letter and add a human touch
As we suggested above, with the current state of AI technology, it’s not suggested to post AI writing without revising it first. Always read through the AI text to fix errors and add your own personal style.
For starters, you need to double-check that all the facts are correct. Considering that AI gets its knowledge from the entire internet without filtering fact from fiction, it’s common for misinformation to seep into AI writing. Review the details in the sales letter to make sure they’re all accurate.
Next, marketing materials benefit from a touch of humanity—AI’s biggest weakness. Luckily, you can use AI-generated text as a foundation or first draft, and then add the human touch yourself. If you’re on familiar terms with the sales letter recipients, you could ask about their personal life. Otherwise, a relatable anecdote about yourself, related to what you’re selling, could help to form an emotional connection with the potential customer.
Sales letter AI example
The sample below was written with Grammarly.
Sales letter AI prompt example
Write a sales letter for Grammarly’s generative AI. The sales letter should be 5-7 paragraphs and written as an email to anonymous marketers. Mention how Grammarly AI text generation can automatically handle copywriting and save time on writing tasks. Use a formal and professional tone. Include a call to action at the end with a link to the Grammarly Pro landing page and a postscript after the signature.
Sales letter example
To Whom It May Concern,
I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to introduce you to the power of Grammarly’s generative AI text generation tool, which can help you save valuable time on your writing tasks and improve your copywriting.
As you know, engaging and persuasive copy is a crucial aspect of any marketing campaign. However, it can be a time-consuming and challenging task. This is where Grammarly’s AI-powered text generation tool comes in. It uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze your needs and generate high-quality text in seconds.
With Grammarly’s AI text generation, you can quickly create compelling headlines, product descriptions, email subject lines, and much more. Plus, the tool’s intuitive interface and customizable settings make it easy to tailor the generated text to suit your specific needs and style.
Using Grammarly’s AI text generation tool can save you hours of time that you would otherwise spend brainstorming and writing copy. Instead, you can focus on other essential aspects of your marketing strategy and let the tool handle the writing.
In addition to saving time, Grammarly’s AI text generation tool can also help you improve the quality of your copywriting. By analyzing your writing and generating suggestions for improvement, the tool can help you refine your writing skills and create more effective marketing content.
If you are ready to revolutionize your writing process and take your marketing to the next level, I highly recommend trying Grammarly’s AI text generation tool. You can get started today by visiting our Grammarly Pro landing page and signing up for a free trial.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
PS: Thank you for considering Grammarly’s AI text generation tool. I look forward to hearing about the positive impact it has on your marketing campaigns.
Sales letter FAQs
How do you start a sales letter?
A sales letter should begin with an introductory paragraph that explains who you are and why you’re writing. Sales letters typically mention the product or service early on, although some sales strategies start off with a more casual and friendly introduction if the writer knows the recipient personally.
How do you write a professional sales letter?
Sales letters include persuasive text to convince potential customers to buy a specific product or service. For that reason, they usually mention features or advantages of what you’re selling, such as a unique sales proposition or value proposition. Aside from those basics, the rest of the sales letter can be tailored to suit your specific sales style and the recipient’s preferences.
How do I write a sales letter with ChatGPT?
Writing a sales letter with any AI like Grammarly or ChatGPT begins with the prompt. The AI prompt is the command the user types into the AI chat window, indicating specific details like the topic, length, recipient, and any particular information you want included. If you write an comprehensive prompt, the AI will then generate the sales letter with everything you need.
