Why your AI copy isn’t converting
It seems to me that we’ve reached the tipping point. Generative AI exploded on to the marketing scene and everyone had a good old play to see what it could do. Many of us did more than play, and we’re starting to see that the copy we produced might seem fine on the surface but it isn’t actually doing the work for us when it comes to bringing in clients.
If you’re in this boat and your AI copy isn’t converting the way you’d hoped, here are some potential reasons why and what you can do about it.
Because it isn’t based on what your customers think and feel
What your AI copy is saying about your product or service feels generic and worn, and it doesn’t ring true to your customer. Maybe it’s too descriptive instead of really selling the benefits. Or maybe it just sounds like every other product on the market. Maybe it’s banging on about a certain feature when the thing that actually turns your customers’ heads is something completely different. This copy doesn’t sell because it doesn’t speak to the customers’ needs, fears and desires.
The trouble is the machine hasn’t taken the time to talk to your customers, listen to what matters to them and spin that into doubt-killing copy. Without that research, that insight, that intelligence, there’s only so much your copy can do.
The answer: Do your customer research and use it to make your copy razor-sharp and focused on exactly what matters to the people that matter.
Because it doesn’t accurately represent your brand personality
You could be looking at one of two issues here. Either your copy sounds like everyone else and your customer isn’t getting to know you and your point of view. Or it feels like a step change from how you used to speak and your customers are feeling discombobulated, wondering where you’ve gone. Either way, pretty damaging to your brand. This copy doesn’t sell because customers lose trust or they don’t understand whether your brand is for them or not.
The answer: You only get there by really knowing who you are and by having that codified in a tone of voice guide. Then you need a real human absorbing that tone of voice guide and turning it into copy with a beating heart.
Because customers can tell it was written by a computer
If you used AI to write your copy, there’s a high chance it feels scripted and generic. If there are little stories or jokes, they probably feel hackneyed and cliché. This kind of copy doesn’t sell because people don’t read it. If something is boring and isn’t saying anything new or interesting, people are going to click away.
Worst of all, it’s often pretty obvious when something was written by a machine. And, to put it bluntly, if we didn’t bother to take the time to write it, why should they take their time to read it. We’re humans after all, and we actively seek and celebrate things with a human touch. Always have. We love the painterly strokes on a celebrated masterpiece. The sound of a singer’s ragged inhale on our favourite record. Heck, we even look for human touch where there is none, like when you hear your name in birdsong or see a human face in a cloud.
And this is what it all boils down to. Sales, converting, it’s all about building a connection. AI is just a machine for regurgitating things that already exist. How can you build a connection on regurgitated information?
Am I saying never use AI? Absolutely not. It earns its place analysing and synthesising swathes of information. It reduces effort, it saves time. But it lacks breath in its lungs and blood in its veins, and that comes through in the copy, however much we think we’ve hacked it with the best ever prompt.
Imagine if you went on a date and everything you said started with “Well, I read that…” or “Wikipedia told me that…”. Your date would leave with no sense of who you are or what you think about the world. You probably wouldn’t get a second date. And you also won’t win that customer over.
If you’d like to chat more about writing for your business, I’d love to hear from you.