How to prompt AI to write email CTAs that can help you optimize your clicks

Get your email campaign optimized with an audit report and multiple CTAs you can A/B test
For conversion copywriters, growth marketers and anyone with a newsletter
About 5 minutes total

Write email that converts! Now you can use AI to optimize your email copy in minutes with a list of ready-made CTAs you can A/B test for more click-throughs.

There are never enough hours in the day to get all of the things done. You’ve cranked out a pretty amazing email campaign, but now you’ve got to seal the deal. Save yourself hours and optimize your entire email campaign copy in less than an hour.

Here’s what to do: Prompt GPT-4 to analyze your email, plus give you as many CTAs and P.S.s to test as you want. This is what GPT-4 created for me when I used the AI copywriting prompts I’m about to teach you:

Here’s how to use GPT-4 to get similar results for your business or client.

Step 1: Prompt GPT-4 to analyze your email copy

In GPT-4, ask it to analyze the copy of an email. The first part of this prompt is requesting GPT-4 to analyze your email copy so it can generate an audit report for you.

For more information on how this prompt is designed, see Trust Insights’s cheat sheet on how to write better prompts.

To use this prompt, fill in your answers after the colon for each line:
Email subject line:
Preview text:
Current CTA(s):
–
Current P.S.:
–

And then paste in your email body, in full, after the line “Email body:”.

To show you how this prompt works, I used it to get optimization recommendations for a recent email I received from Amy Porterfield.

Copy paste this prompt:

You are an email conversion copywriter who has the technical skills and psychological insight to write compelling emails that drive recipients to take desired actions. You write email copy that can persuade and engage readers. Your copy is clear, concise and compelling that holds the reader’s attention. You write emails with a deep knowledge of your reader/market, the product or service being offered, and the market landscape. You understand consumer psychology and how different words or phrases affect the reader’s emotions and actions. You can write copy for different brand voices and industries.You are creative and can come up with innovative ideas and approaches to convey messages and engage readers. Your email copy  addresses the needs, pain points, and interests of the audience.

Your first task is to analyze the email copy pasted below. Answer the questions below in your analysis and highlight recommendations to improve the email copy. Organize your answers in a table and show your thinking in a column labeled “Rationale.”

- Can you tell who the target audience is for this email?
- Is there effective use of personalization, such as the recipient's name or past behavior?
- Does the email address the recipient's pain points or interests?
- Is the message clear, concise, and easy to understand?
- Is the value proposition well articulated?
- Is the content engaging and compelling?
- Does it tell a story or use other engaging techniques such as humor or curiosity?
- Are the benefits of the offering clear?
- Is there a clear solution to the recipient's problem provided?
- Is the email easy to skim and find key information?
- Is the current CTA clear and compelling?
- Is the current CTA placed strategically within the email?
- Is the current P.S. clear and compelling?
- Is the current P.S. placed strategically within the email?

Email copy:

Email subject line: [ paste in your current email subject line ]
Preview text:  [ paste in your current preview text ]
Current CTA(s):
-  [ paste in your all current CTAs, one per dash ]
Current P.S.:
- [ paste in your all current P.S.s, one per dash ]

Email body:

[ paste in your current email body copy in full ]

Step 2: Prompt GPT-4 to give you a list of CTAs

Next, we’re going to have GPT-4 give you a list of CTAs that you can use to A/B test.

In GPT-4, ask it to give you a list of CTAs.

Type in the desired number of CTAs you want.

Under the line “Create the CTAs with these instructions in mind:” put in instructions for things like tone, voice and reading level.

I added the instruction “Mix it up,” so that GPT-4 could give me a list that was varied.

Copy paste this prompt:

Your second task is to give me:
[ desired number ] version(s) of a CTA for this email 

Organize the CTAs in a table and show your thinking in a column labeled “Rationale.” Include clickable links where appropriate.

Create the CTAs with these instructions in mind:

[ type in your instructions for things like tone, voice and reading level ]

Step 3: Prompt GPT-4 to give you a list of post scripts

Next, we’re going to have GPT-4 give you a list of P.S.s that you can use to A/B test.

Just as you did earlier in Step 2, modify the prompt to suit your needs.

If you don’t want to add a P.S., you can skip this step and start optimizing your email copy. If you change your mind, you can run this prompt in the chat at a later time.

Copy paste this prompt:

Your third task is to give me:
[ desired number ] version(s) of a P.S. for this email 

Organize the CTAs in a table and show your thinking in a column labeled “Rationale.” Include clickable links where appropriate.

Create the CTAs with these instructions in mind:

[ type in your instructions for things like tone, voice and reading level ]

Within a few minutes, AI had generated the following for me:

Read the full chat here.

I tried this AI prompt on an email from Drip, the automated marketing platform. Here’s what happened.

Drip is an automated marketing platform. They sent me an email earlier this year promoting a webinar on preparing for Black Friday. I used the prompts you just learned on that email, and GPT-4 generated this for me: