As an SMS marketing writer for Launch Control, I’m always looking for new ways to enhance my writing and streamline my workflow. So, when I heard about ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can assist with a range of communication tasks including writing SMS marketing campaigns. . . I figured, great! This is exactly what I’ve been dreaming about!

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of my experience using ChatGPT vs. traditional copywriting methods.

What Are AI Chatbots?

Have you ever chatted with an AI chatbot and were amazed by how human-like the responses were? That’s because AI chatbots are designed to mimic human interactions and provide quick and efficient responses to users’ inquiries, just like a resourceful assistant or helpful friend would.

But unlike traditional chatbots that rely on pre-programmed responses, AI chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to understand and respond more conversationally. They can also learn from past interactions. So, the more they interact with users, the more sophisticated and smarter they get. Input equals output.

Now, let’s apply this theory to ChatGPT’s ability to write personalized messages that resonate with the folks we’re trying to reach.

Pros

• It’s super speedy and efficient at generating messages, which is great when you’re short on time.
• ChatGPT is particularly awesome for creating drip automation messages for SMS marketing campaigns.

Cons

• ChatGPT struggles with understanding complex language commands and lacks reasoning skills.
• It tends to include negative keywords (words or phrases that can trigger spam filters to block messages) in its output messages even after being asked not to.
• It took a bit of tweaking to get ChatGPT’s messages just right.
• If you’re a Launch Control user, it’s difficult to replicate Launch Control’s Text Spinners, and I had to create a workaround to generate message variations.

How I Started Using ChatGPT for SMS Marketing

To start using ChatGPT to create my first message, I had to sign up for a free account. Once I created my account, I was able to access ChatGPT’s messaging features, which allow users to create custom messages using natural language inputs. I began by inputting this basic prompt to create an SMS message:

This is the response I received:

Not bad but ChatGPT made the false assumption that the seller’s house is “on the market.” My messages are aimed at securing off-market deals. Let’s try again.
Me: Input

ChatGPT: Output

Sounds nice, but as you can see, ChatGPT can get a little chatty. I asked it to keep the character count under 160 characters. That’s the carrier-wide standard for sending one message. Anything above that turns into two messages.

And, for all of you who will be using ChatGPT to write messages for use in Launch Control’s platform, we have a list of negative keywords. They are the words that can trigger spam filters and get you blocked by the big mobile carriers, which wouldn’t be a problem if you were creating messages directly in Launch Control because our software acts as a buffer and prevents any texts from including these words.

Moving on… I included my list of words to exclude.

After a few failed attempts to generate a message without any negative keywords, here’s what I got:

It got the character count right, but seriously… it still used the words CONSIDER and BUYER. Those were on my no-fly list! So, although I entered a command to not use certain words, it used them anyway. Hopefully, this will improve on the ChatGPT end in the future as it improves its learning.

Replicating Text Spinners For Launch Control Subscribers

Now, let’s assume you’re willing to put in the extra effort to proofread and clean up any ChatGPT errors, like I did to move on and create message variations to replicate Launch Control’s text spinners. For those of you who don’t know, text spinners are an AI algorithm that takes a single message and spins it into dozens of unique messages to avoid repetitive messages – which can also trigger big mobile spam filters.

Here’s my cleaned-up message:

There’s just one small problem. . . While ChatGPT can create a series of subsequent messages, it doesn’t understand how to take a single message and change its terminology to create a sequence of message variations. So, to do that, I created a workaround.

Workarounds for ChatGPT

Using my cleaned-up message, I pulled out three phrases and created message variations for those phrases. I took “Are you open to a sale” and asked it to create two variations.

After numerous attempts to get an error-free message, I was finally able to generate the following response:

Creating Message Variations in Launch Control

In Launch Control, our Text Spinners tool can create countless variations of messages. So, I pulled out two more phrases, “I’d like to discuss further” and “Thank you” and created another two variations for each – for a total of 27 variations.

After making a few minor edits to narrow down the character count, my final message looks like this in Launch Control:

Hi! {AliasRepName} here. I came across your home. [Are you open to a sale/Would you be willing to sell your home/Are you open to discussing a potential sale]? [I’d like to discuss further/I’m keen to discuss/I’d like to talk about] details. [Thank you/Thanks so much/Many thanks]!

Using ChatGPT to Create Drip Automations In Launch Control

Drip automation is what keeps customers engaged. They’re a series of automated follow-up messages sent over an extended period – designed to nurture and guide customers toward a desired action. As an SMS copywriter for real estate investors, my goal is to warm leads and get them on a call.

When I set up drip campaigns in Launch Control, they range anywhere from a couple of months to more than a year, depending on the type of campaign (i.e. not ready to sell, under contract, post-discovery, etc).

Using ChatGPT to create drips was a lot easier than initial messages because I didn’t have to worry about filtering out any negative keywords. I just followed the same process as I did for my first SMS.

Here’s Day 1 of my drip campaign:

Then, I asked ChatGPT to create a sequence of 8 follow-up messages to the first and gave it a few rules regarding character count. Let’s take a look:

If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the sequence of sentences is quite repetitive and sounds redundant. SMS engagement’s best practice is to bring new value with each message, not repeat the same message 10 different ways.

I suggest taking the free drip automation that Launch Control gives you when you activate an account and using it to create drips by doing the following. Take a look at this 270-day “Not Ready to Sell” example.

Copy the first message (Day 30) and ask ChatGPT to write 8 variations – if you were working on creating 8 new drips. These 8 messages will serve as the first message of each drip automation. See the example below.

Me: Input

ChatGPT: Output

Once you’ve completed this step for each message, all you have to do is plug the messages into Launch Control and establish when to send them (i.e. on Day 30, Day 60, Day 90, etc).

In my opinion, by using ChatGPT to write drip automation for SMS marketing campaigns, businesses can save time and resources while still providing a high level of personalization.

Pros and Cons of Using ChatGPT vs. Manually Writing Messages

Using ChatGPT has some serious perks over traditional copywriting methods. One of the biggest advantages is how fast and efficient it is at generating messages. Thanks to its fancy AI technology, it can whip up drip automation messages in a flash, way faster than a human could. Plus, it’s always learning and adapting from past interactions, making it awesome for crafting super personalized messages that connect with your audience.

But, there’s always a catch, right? Because ChatGPT runs on machine learning algorithms, it can only produce information based on what it’s been fed. So, if you plug in a poorly written SMS message and ask for five variations, you’ll get five equally crummy messages.

My suggestion? Ask it to proofread the first message before creating additional variations. Oh, and heads up, ChatGPT isn’t great at reasoning and had trouble understanding my command to exclude negative keywords from my messages. Just something to keep in mind!

Final Thoughts

Although ChatGPT is trained to follow instructions and provide detailed responses, I found that it had a bit of trouble understanding my command to exclude certain keywords when generating responses. It took me a few tries to get the responses I wanted. But hey, maybe that’s just a small hiccup that’ll be fixed in the next version, ChatGPT-4!

On the bright side, using ChatGPT to create drip automation messages was a breeze. It delivered message sequences with speed and accuracy, which is always a plus. Overall, it’s a fantastic tool that can be utilized in all sorts of SMS marketing campaigns. With ChatGPT, businesses can create compelling and persuasive messages that keep their target audience engaged and improve the performance of their SMS marketing campaigns.