AI writes competent marketing email by default. Competent marketing email gets deleted, because the inbox is the most competitive surface your business writes for and “competent” is the baseline everyone else already hit.
The prompts below are built to get past that. Every one of them forces you to supply the three things a model cannot infer: who is receiving this, what happened just before they received it, and what you actually want them to do.
Copy them, replace the bracketed parts, and paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or whichever assistant you use.
Three Rules That Fix Most Output
Name the trigger, not just the audience. “Write to my subscribers” produces generic copy. “Write to someone who downloaded our pricing guide four days ago and has not replied” produces something specific enough to send.
Give it your constraint. Models default to enthusiasm. If your brand is dry, understated, or never uses exclamation marks, say so in the prompt every time.
Ask for one call to action. Left alone, AI will offer the reader three options. Emails with a single ask consistently outperform, and you have to instruct for it.
Welcome and Onboarding
1. Welcome sequence from scratch
I run [BUSINESS] selling [PRODUCT] to [AUDIENCE]. Someone just subscribed via [WHERE THEY SIGNED UP]. Write a [NUMBER]-email welcome sequence. For each email give me: the send delay, subject line, preview text, body, and one call to action. Email 1 should deliver [WHAT THEY EXPECTED]. Do not pitch until email [NUMBER]. Tone: [DESCRIBE]. No exclamation marks.
2. Onboarding nudge for inactive signups
Someone signed up for [PRODUCT] [TIME AGO] and has not completed [KEY ACTION]. Write a short email that assumes they got busy rather than that they lost interest. Name the single most common reason people stall at this step, which is [REASON], and remove that obstacle. Under 120 words. One call to action.
Nurture and Content
3. Newsletter from a rough idea
Write a newsletter for [AUDIENCE] about [TOPIC]. My actual opinion is [YOUR TAKE]. Open with a specific detail or a short story, not a summary of what the email will cover. Keep it under [WORD COUNT]. End with one link to [DESTINATION] and explain why it is worth their time. Tone: [DESCRIBE].
4. Turn an article into an email
Here is an article: [PASTE OR SUMMARISE]. Write an email that gives away the single most useful idea from it in full — do not tease — and then links to the article for the rest. Subject line should reference the specific idea, not the article title.
5. Re-engagement for a cold list
Write a re-engagement email to subscribers who have not opened anything in [TIME PERIOD]. Acknowledge the gap honestly. Give them one genuinely easy way to stay ([ACTION]) and one clear way to leave. Do not guilt them. Under 100 words.
Promotional and Sales
6. Product launch sequence
I am launching [PRODUCT] on [DATE] for [AUDIENCE]. It solves [PROBLEM] and costs [PRICE]. Write a [NUMBER]-email launch sequence with send dates. Each email should make a different argument rather than repeating the offer louder. Cover: the problem, how it works, who it is not for, and a final deadline email. Being explicit about who should not buy is deliberate — include it.
7. Abandoned cart
Someone added [PRODUCT] to their cart and left [TIME AGO]. Write a [NUMBER]-email recovery sequence. Email 1 should assume a technical problem or distraction, not hesitation. Email 2 should address the most common objection, which is [OBJECTION]. [Include / do not include] a discount. Keep each under 100 words.
8. Objection-handling email
Prospects tell us [OBJECTION] before buying [PRODUCT]. Write an email that addresses it directly in the subject line rather than burying it. Concede what is genuinely true about the objection, then explain what changes it. Do not be defensive. One call to action.
9. Price increase announcement
We are raising the price of [PRODUCT] from [OLD] to [NEW] on [DATE] because [REAL REASON]. Write an email to existing customers. Be direct in the first sentence — no build-up. State exactly what happens to their current price. Do not apologise excessively or over-justify.
Subject Lines and Testing
10. Subject line options
Here is my email body: [PASTE]. Write 12 subject lines. Give me 3 curiosity-driven, 3 that state the benefit plainly, 3 that ask a question, and 3 under 30 characters. Also write matching preview text for each. No clickbait the email does not deliver on.
11. Diagnose a weak email
This email got [OPEN RATE] opens and [CLICK RATE] clicks, against my usual [BENCHMARK]: [PASTE]. Tell me specifically what is likely underperforming and why — subject line, opening, structure, or the call to action. Then rewrite the weakest element three ways. Do not rewrite the whole thing.
12. A/B test design
I want to test [WHAT] on my next campaign to [LIST SIZE] subscribers. Design a clean A/B test: what to change, what to keep identical, what metric decides it, and roughly what difference would be meaningful at this list size. Tell me honestly if my list is too small for the result to mean anything.
Segmentation and Strategy
13. Segment the same message
I need to announce [THING] to my list. My segments are: [SEGMENT 1 DESCRIPTION], [SEGMENT 2], [SEGMENT 3]. Write a version for each. Change the angle and the call to action for each segment, not just the greeting.
14. Audit my sequence
Here is my current [SEQUENCE NAME]: [PASTE ALL EMAILS]. Review it as a subscriber would experience it in order. Flag: repetition between emails, anywhere the ask is unclear, tone inconsistency, and any email that could be deleted without loss. Be blunt.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Not naming the trigger. “My subscribers” produces generic copy. What did they just do?
- Letting it write three calls to action. Ask for one, every time.
- Accepting the default enthusiasm. Specify your tone in the prompt or you will get exclamation marks and “excited to share.”
- Letting it invent proof. Models will happily write “join 10,000 happy customers” if you do not forbid it. Add “do not invent statistics, testimonials or customer numbers” to any promotional prompt.
- Sending the first draft. Use prompt 14 on your own output before it goes out.
- Ignoring deliverability. The best copy is worthless in spam. Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC — since the 2024 Google and Yahoo bulk sender requirements this is effectively mandatory.
FAQs
Will AI-written emails hurt deliverability?
Not because they were AI-written. Deliverability is driven by authentication, list hygiene, engagement and complaint rates. What can hurt you is sending more, worse email because generating it became cheap.
How do I stop AI emails sounding generic?
Give it the trigger, your opinion, and a tone constraint. Most generic output traces to a prompt that supplied only a topic. The model has no way to know what you think.
Should I disclose that emails are AI-assisted?
There is no general legal requirement to disclose AI assistance in marketing copy in most jurisdictions. Separately, commercial email law — CAN-SPAM in the US, GDPR and PECR in Europe — still applies in full regardless of who wrote it: accurate sender details, a working unsubscribe, and proper consent.
Which AI model is best for email marketing?
Any current frontier model handles this well. Differences show up when you paste a long sequence for review, where larger context windows help. Run the same prompt in two and pick the voice closer to yours.
Can AI write the whole sequence at once?
It can, and the output usually repeats itself between emails because the model loses track of what it already said. Generate the sequence, then run prompt 14 to find the repetition.
How long should a marketing email be?
Long enough to make one argument. Transactional nudges work under 100 words; a newsletter making a real point can run several hundred. Length is not the variable — having one clear ask is.
Key Takeaways
- Name the trigger, not the audience. What did this person just do?
- Supply your opinion and tone, or you get enthusiastic generic copy.
- Ask for one call to action explicitly.
- Forbid invented statistics and testimonials in every promotional prompt.
- Authenticate your sending domain — copy quality is irrelevant from the spam folder.
Start Here
Take prompt 14 and paste in your current welcome sequence. Fixing what you already send usually beats writing something new, and it takes ten minutes.
For platform decisions, our ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp comparison covers which tool suits automation-led versus newsletter-led sending, and Klaviyo vs Mailchimp covers the ecommerce case.