Everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence (AI) copywriting tools these days.
To be honest, I’ve mostly shrugged off all the hype and haven’t spent a single minute worried they’re going to take my livelihood away.
But over the past month or so, I’ve seen some pretty big names talking about how great one AI copywriting tool is. It’s called “Conversion.AI” and taking a look at their Facebook group for people who’ve bought it (11,000+ members strong) I see many copywriters in there I know are Copy Insiders and some I’ve even mentored.
Conversion.AI supposedly takes all the grunt work out of writing “high-converting” copy. But in a nutshell, I can tell you it has ZERO chance of holding its own in the highly-competitive markets and channels many of us (including yours truly) write copy for.
I will say it CAN generate some “sh*tty first draft” copy that, with some (or lots of) finessing can be turned into something usable and possibly even quite good.
But it’s obvious a big part of the recent buzz about Conversion.AI is the result of the affiliate campaigns it’s been running. Here’s the pitch they’re making that has likely been what’s luring some of those big names out there who are promoting it…
Now look, I have nothing against earning affiliate commissions. I’ve promoted several products that I believe can be highly beneficial as an affiliate and earned commissions.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s good to keep in mind as you read the “glowing reviews” and over-hyped pitches you see for this product that someone is also looking to get a cut of the monthly $100+ fee you’ll be shelling out.
In fact, I got one of these pitches via an email from Sean Vosler back on April 30th (with the weird but attention-getting subject line, “[End 👀] the lion, the witch, and the entrepreneur”, which clearly did not come from an AI program!)
And needless to say, it’s clear he did NOT use Conversion.AI to write his email. Take a look at the opening…
Personally, I find this email copy approach a bit meandering and confusing…but he’s really doing a good job building up this AI software as some sort of “magic wardrobe” (that, once again, he CLEARLY did not rely on to write this email, as you’re about to see).
And that, to sum things up, is my main beef with AI copywriting software, including this “magical” technology.
If you were to take the copy they actually generate and use it, my bet is that 99% of the time it would fail to beat something written by even a moderately-competent human.
That’s because in spite of all the great structure options Conversion.AI gives you (AIDA and PAS–Problem/Agitate/Solution) and all the different ad options under the sun (from emails to Facebook ads to long-form articles and blog posts), it has one HUGE limitation…
You can only input up to 600 characters for a description in order for it to produce the copy.
Yes, that’s right, 600 characters! That includes spaces and punctuation marks.
It’s really tough to boil everything about your product and market and benefits and problem it solves and unique features, etc., in just 600 characters!
Generally if I’m writing a brand new promo, I’ve got dozens of pages of copy fodder and research I’ve pulled together. Probably more like 6 million characters’ worth.
It’s a MAJOR limitation to be only able to enter 600 characters for your entire ad.
That means if you’re using this tool, you need to put in a well thought-out and well-written description. The output generated is only as good as the input.
But seriously, unless you are writing for a very simple product, that has little to no competition and thus doesn’t need to have a unique mechanism brought to the forefront, I really can’t see how 99% of the copy Conversion.AI generates is usable “as is”.
I know, because I tested it out myself!
Yes, I decided to buy it from Sean Vosler’s email since it was the last day before the price went up. I figured I’d test it out and see what all the hype was about.
(And I have the date already penciled into my calendar for when to cancel before the end of the first month!)
So let’s take a look at the “high-converting” copy this AI tool generated for me based on my 600-character description. I decided to test it out for a new research product I’m planning to introduce in the near future. So I put in my boiled-down description:
Any top copywriter will tell you research is the single most important phase of any project. But how do you know where to start and what process to follow, so you can avoid spinning your wheels and wasting hours drifting off course and getting nowhere? Research Beast gives you a proven structure for doing the research phase of every copywriting project you tackle. Not only will it help your copy generate far better results, it can save you time by giving you an effective, efficient, and repeatable process.
That’s ALL you get to input before hitting the button below that says “Generate AI content”.
Notice there’s a whole lot I simply don’t have space to include here…like what exactly do you get? What differentiates it from other research tools? Etc etc etc.
So let’s take a look at what it generated using the AIDA (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action) framework. I got the following 3 options (I’ve included comments after each one):
OPTION 1:
Attention: You want to be a better copywriter, but you don’t know where to start?
Interest: Research Beast is the most comprehensive and effective research tool for copywriters. It’s designed specifically with your needs in mind. Whether you’re just starting out or have been writing for years, it’ll help you produce better results faster than ever before. And that means more money in your pocket!
Desire: Your time is valuable – so why waste it on research when there’s an easier way? With Research Beast, you can finally get back to doing what matters most – creating great content that sells!
Action: Get started today with a free trial of Research Beast and see how much time and money this will save you over the long run.
This includes nothing about why THIS research product is far superior to anything else out there. And it talks about creating content vs. copy…PLUS takes the liberty of offering up a free trial!
OPTION 2:
Attention: If you’re looking for a way to make your copywriting more effective, efficient and repeatable, then you need Research Beast.
Interest: It’s the most comprehensive research toolkit on the market today. With it, you’ll have access to over 100 resources that will help guide you through every phase of your project – from finding keywords and creating headlines all the way up to writing compelling content.
Desire: You can use this system with any type of copywriting project – whether it’s an email campaign or a blog post – so no matter what kind of work you do, Research Beast has got your back! And best yet? It comes with lifetime updates at no extra cost! So as long as we’re around, so is this amazing resource.
Action: Click here now to get started using Research Beast in just minutes!
Wait…what? Who said anything about 100 resources? And lifetime updates?
OPTION 3:
Attention: Research is the single most important phase of any copywriting project.
Interest: But how do you know where to start and what process to follow, so you can avoid spinning your wheels and wasting hours drifting off course? That’s where Research Beast comes in. It gives you a proven structure for doing the research phase of every copywriting project you tackle – not only will it help your copy generate far better results, but it can save time by giving you an effective, efficient, and repeatable process.
Desire: With this tool at your disposal, there’s no need to waste time or money on trial-and-error methods that don’t work. You’ll be able to get right down to business with a tried-and-true system that has been used by some of the world’s top writers for years now – all without having to spend hours researching yourself! And if that weren’t enough…you also get access to our exclusive library of content templates which are ready for use as soon as they’re downloaded! This means less time spent writing from scratch and more time spent actually making sales with high converting content!
Action: Get started today with Research Beast by clicking on this ad below!
This is the best of the three (aside from the random mention of “content templates”), but it’s only because it’s simply regurgitating the copy I put in for the description.
Okay, now let’s see if using the PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solution) framework produces anything that’s better. Here are the 3 options it spit out using the same description:
OPTION 1:
Problem: When you’re writing copy, the research phase is often where you get stuck. You don’t know what to look for, how much time it will take or even where to start looking.
Agitate: Research Beast solves this problem by showing you a proven process that shows exactly what steps need to be taken and in which order they should be followed so your research can deliver results that really matter.
Solution: This book lays out a step-by-step process for doing the best possible job of researching any product, service or topic before starting on your project. It’s based on years of experience working with some of the top copywriters in the world and contains everything I’ve learned about doing great research quickly and efficiently – without wasting hours spinning my wheels getting nowhere at all!
Okay, this is now a book, and I’m pulling my hair out over how bad this copy is…
OPTION 2:
Problem: Research is important to copywriters, but most of us have no idea where to start. We know we need it for effective copywriting, but how do you find the right information and get started?
Agitate: There are dozens of ways to research a topic, from using an encyclopedia or Google search results to reading through online forums and message boards. But which one is best? And what if you’re not sure exactly what kind of information you want or where it will be found?
Solution: Our proven process takes the guesswork out of researching your next project by showing you exactly how we go about doing our research every time. You’ll learn how much time each step should take, why each step matters in creating better copy that converts more prospects into customers, and what tools work best for gathering high-quality data quickly so that you can spend less time on research and more time writing killer content!
Who is “we”? And what it’s saying is NOT what the product is going to be giving you, but I didn’t have the space to put that in…
OPTION 3:
Problem: As a copywriter and marketing consultant, I’ve helped thousands of clients with their projects. But there was one thing that frustrated me every time – the research phase. It was always hard to know where to start or what process to follow
Agitate: Before Research Beast, I had no idea how many hours people wasted on research before they could even get started writing. And when someone did find an approach that worked for them, it never seemed like it would work for anyone else. That’s because everyone has different goals and needs when they do market research. Everyone also has different resources available to them as well as different ways of gathering information (online surveys vs in-depth interviews etc). So if you’re going about your project without a strategy in mind, then you might be wasting more time than necessary by starting at the wrong place or asking the wrong questions from the outset
Solution: The truth is most writers don’t have any kind of structure or system for doing
See that last sentence? That’s how it came out…as an incomplete sentence. As far as the rest of that last option, there’s some good stuff in there it seemed to have randomly pulled out of its robotic a**, but not really accurate or usable.
Okay, hopefully if you’ve read through all these actual, real-life examples of using Conversion.AI, you can see how it really works…and what kind of copy output it produces. Far from being the “magic push button” copywriting technology Sean and all the others who are promoting and posting about it are saying it is.
But if this doesn’t convince you, wait until you see the Bullets and what they call “Perfect” Headlines this software generated using the same description.
Let’s start with what they refer to as “bullets” (show something like this to your copy chief or client and you’ll either be fired immediately or laughed out of the room…)
- Research Services: 100%
- Improve Your Conversion Rates: 98%
- Boost Traffic And Revenue With Better Copywriting In Less Time-Research Beast Will Take Away The Headache Of Doing It All For You
- Get a Return On Your Investment (ROI) of $0.91 for every $1 spent on research
- Reduce the risk of wasting time
- Access to proven research process and structure
- Learn how to do research quickly and efficiently
- Get a head start on every project you work on
- Research Beast helps you save time
- Here is a consistent framework for research
- Doing deeper and more thorough research
- Rather than spinning your wheels, use Research Beast
- Be more efficient with your research time
- Save hours of reading and summarizing content for clients
- Spend less time on boring, drudge work
- Know what information is most relevant to target audience
All of these so-called “bullets” fall into the category of “so bad, it’s not even worth trying to fix them.”
Let’s see if the “perfect” headlines turned out any better…
– The proven research process for copywriting projects
– Research Beast gives you a systematic approach to writing effective headlines and winning sales letters.
– Research your way to better copy every time with the #1 resource for professional writers.
– If You Want To Be A Copywriter, You Need This!
– The ultimate guide to finding and using the best research for copywriting
– How to do your own market research in just 15 minutes a day
– Use this proven process for every project you write, save hours of work, get better results
– The research template that will improve your writing results
– Get the best copywriting results by following a proven process for researching any topic
– Use this research template to get more leads and make more sales
– Copywriters, use this proven process to write better headlines and content
Okay, I really have no words…these are so far from being “perfect” headlines, I don’t even know where to start!
As you can see, any copywriter who knows even the basics is going to be able to sleep well at night…this AI program isn’t going to take away your livelihood.
But I do think there are some ways it could be useful, at least if you’re still fairly new to copywriting.
I want to warn you though, do NOT think you can just hand in what this tool spits out and think it’s going to work and your client will want to hire you again.
You still have to do your research, your “copy thinking”, and come up with copy that won’t sound generic and like everything else out there.
But if you just need to get started with a “sh*tty first draft”, this tool could maybe be useful.
The thing is, it could start you off with such low-level generic crap that you spend more time trying to turn it into something good than if you just started with the process I teach my copywriting mentees…
Doing the in-depth research, creating a “prism” view of your target prospect, working through the 5-step features and benefits and dimensionalization of the product, and putting together a copy platform outlining possible “big ideas” and the flow of the promo, and more…before you even start writing.
If you are a COMPLETE newbie to copywriting, it could be useful just to play around with the tool to understand different structures and flows for various types of copy.
But honestly, you’d be far better off becoming a student of direct response and truly learning and mastering the principles of good copy…as well as constantly studying successful promos to understand what makes them work.
That’s all I’ve got today. No, there’s no pitch here for Conversion.AI lol…
However, if you check out my P.P.P.S. (yes, there’s 3 today!), you’ll see a reminder that the special 50% off price for Client Badassery Secrets is ending tonight at midnight.
So you’ll want to grab it now if you haven’t done so yet!
Yours for smarter marketing,
Kim
P.S. I’d love to hear about your own experiences using Conversion.AI or other AI copywriting software tools, if you’ve been using any.
I know I’m a bit biased and my experience and type of copy I write is different than yours may be, but my initial dabbling with it clearly has left me deeply unimpressed. If you feel differently (or the same), speak up and let me know at Kim@kimschwalm.com.
P.P.S. I’m going to start featuring a “Copy Insider of the Week” starting next Friday. If you’d like to be considered, shoot me an email with your answers to the following questions along with a head shot:
- What are you working on right now?
- What are you most proud of in the past year?
- What are you most excited about right now?
- What are you most interested in learning more about?
- What’s your favorite food or drink to order when you’re out?
- Where do you most want to travel on a future trip?
- What do you like most about Copy Insiders?
I’ll let you know if and when you’ll be featured so you can bask in your “15 minutes of fame” and tell all your friends!
P.P.P.S. If you want to build a successful, lucrative, satisfying copywriting business without relying on bottom-feeding clients who don’t value what you do (and think robots can do it instead), then you’ll want to get your hands on my new Client Badassery Secrets e-book right now.
I share with you my very best tips and strategies for finding and landing high-quality clients…and knowing which “red flags” to watch out for. You’ll gain insights on how much to ask for in your proposals…how to manage client relationships from start to finish…how to avoid costly hassles and headaches…and much more.
A few months ago, I made this e-book available as a special bonus for an email copywriting course that cost upwards of $997. Many Copy Insiders told me they wanted it, but the course was out of reach. That’s why I’m making Client Badassery Secrets available at this special price. But you have to act by midnight tonight!