ChatGPT Prompts for Ecommerce: Tips and Examples

ChatGPT prompts can direct the tool to draft a marketing email, summarize sales data, or generate 10 social media campaign ideas in seconds. The usefulness of those results depends on your ChatGPT prompts, or the instructions you type into the chat.

“If you don’t know how to prompt AI correctly, it’s not going to shoot out what you’re looking for,” says Lindsey Carter, founder of activewear brand SET Active, on an episode of Shopify Masters.

For example, when Lindsey wanted to give feedback to a new assistant, she wrote down which tasks were falling through the cracks and asked an AI model to act as an expert executive assistant. 

The AI turned her notes into an email with clear guidance on prioritizing work and communicating more effectively. Lindsey says the task took five minutes, whereas years ago it probably would have taken her five hours.

This guide explores what makes a ChatGPT prompt effective, offers tips for writing better prompts, and provides examples you can use for SEO copy, product descriptions, customer service, data analysis, and other ecommerce tasks.

What are ChatGPT prompts?

ChatGPT prompts are the instructions you type into the AI tools’s message field to get a response. The practice of writing effective instructions for generative AI is called prompt engineering. 

A generative AI use case for a prompt can be a question, such as, “What are the pros and cons of AI dropshipping?” or an instruction, such as, “Write a 100-word product description for a travel backpack.”

A well-written prompt gives an AI model the context and direction it needs to return a useful response. This may include background information (for example, what you sell and who your customer is), the format you want (say, a 50-word paragraph), and an example of the style and tone you’re after.

Why learning to write good prompts matters

Writing good prompts can save you time, as Lindsey’s experience at SET Active shows. When you write a strong prompt, you spend less time correcting and refining the generative AI (GenAI) output.

Strong prompts can also help you produce more original content. 

“[Unless] you’re prompting really, really well, [generative AI tends to] spit out pretty generic things,” says Jaz Fenton, cofounder of brand studio Otherhalf, on Shopify Masters. 

A detailed prompt—for example, one that includes your ideal customer profile and examples of your brand messaging—gives the model something unique to work with.

Detailed prompts can also improve accuracy. 

One of the dangers of AI is it can hallucinate, stating something confidently that isn’t true. When your prompt includes product and store details (like your fabric composition or return window, for example), the model has less room to invent those specifics. Regardless, always verify factual information before publishing.

5 tips for writing effective ChatGPT prompts for ecommerce

• Include context
• Define the format
• Guide the tone
• Use examples
• Refine the output

Writing better ChatGPT prompts for your ecommerce business requires providing clear instructions about the format, tone, and goal of the response. Here are five tips:

Include context

Context is the background only you can provide. Instead of asking ChatGPT to “write a product description for a candle,” supply more detail about your product, your branding, and your primary audience. 

For example, you could include that your customer base is highly interested in the ingredients used in your candles, which are soy wax and hand-poured, with no dyes or additives.

If you’ve connected ChatGPT to your Shopify store, some of that context can come from your live store data. That means you don’t always have to paste product information into your prompt. 

Shopify also has a built-in AI assistant, Sidekick, with direct access to your Shopify data, saving you from so many upload tasks.

Define the format

Specify the content type and format you want—a paragraph, a step-by-step list, a table, a blog post—and provide a target length. You might limit your product description paragraphs to 75 words and then ask for three short bullets under each paragraph.

Guide the tone

If you use ChatGPT to generate a written asset, like a blog post or an Instagram caption, tell it what tone to use. You can do this in several ways: by stating the tone directly (e.g., conversational or educational), by referencing a known format like a press release, by asking the AI assistant to take on a specific role, or by sharing the target audience for the asset. 

Alex Pilon, a Shopify developer and AI advocate, says when you give ChatGPT context, define the format, and guide the tone, “you draw a little boundary around what AI is able to do, and it’s much more capable of operating in a certain context and giving you better results.”

For example: “If you want to make a marketing agent, you tell it it’s an expert marketer, give it information about the system it’s working with, give it tools to set data and make campaigns, and hook it up to documentation,” Alex says. 

“It’s not only a marketing expert, it’s a marketing expert that’s connected to my systems in my business. And that’s like a superpower.”

Use examples

Show ChatGPT what you want by giving it a sample. Paste in a few lines of your existing marketing copy so it can match your brand voice, which helps keep your content consistent across sales and marketing channels. 

On Shopify Masters, Sean Frank, CEO of accessories brand Ridge, describes building a custom copywriting assistant trained on the company’s favorite copy and best-performing emails. 

When working on a new campaign, the Ridge team prompts the assistant with an outline of their ideas and a photo or product rendering, giving it the context it needs to generate on-brand copy.

Refine the output

If a response isn’t what you need, tell the model what to change instead of starting over. You can provide follow-up instructions to make the output more conversational, cut it by a certain number of words, or change the format from paragraphs to a list. 

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, calls this process “iterative refinement” and considers it a best practice for prompting.

You can also run the same instruction more than once to get variations. On an episode of Shopify Masters, Andrew Faris, founder of ecommerce marketing agency AJF Growth, describes writing one long explainer ad script, asking the model to cut it by 50%, and then repeating the process. This leaves him with long, medium, and short versions of the same script to test. 

9 ChatGPT prompt examples for ecommerce

• Write search engine optimization (SEO) copy
• Create a blog post
• Write product descriptions
• Brainstorm creative ideas
• Create social media assets
• Craft customer service responses
• Research marketing strategies
• Analyze performance data
• Support internal operations

Here are nine GenAI use cases for retail ecommerce tasks to try with ChatGPT. Use these example prompts as starting points, customizing them with details about your products, brand, audience, and business goals.

Write SEO copy

AI tools can generate website copy that supports your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts when your prompt includes the target keyword and clear formatting instructions. For example:

• Generate search-engine-optimized copy for a landing page marketing spicy pickles. The primary keyword is “pickles.” Emphasize the product’s unique selling points: It’s small-batch and uses organic ingredients. 

• Create a search-optimized outline with an H1, H2s, and H3s for a blog post about vintage train sets. The primary keyword is “vintage train sets.” The post includes tips on where to buy them online.

• Give me a list of keywords to target for a search-optimized blog post focused on candlemaking. Include a list of five tips for beginners and an FAQ. 

Create a blog post

ChatGPT can support your content marketing efforts by writing first drafts of blog posts, but the quality of the output depends on the guidance you provide. Include the topic, desired length, key points, and stylistic requirements in your prompts. For example:

• Write a 500-word blog post explaining how to upcycle old T-shirts into a quilt. Include step-by-step instructions, including sourcing tips and sewing instructions. 

• In 1,000 words, discuss five common myths about caring for sensitive skin and explain why they’re false. Write in the style of an educational blog post. Cite academic studies where possible. 

• Write an 800-word blog post for first-time gardeners in North America about how to plant an herb garden. Include a list of the tools and resources readers will need, and where they can find them.

Write product descriptions

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Sidekick can also draft product descriptions for your catalog. With Sidekick, you can describe the product in plain language, and Sidekick drafts copy inside your admin. A few starter prompts:

• Write a 75-word product description for dog shampoo. Highlight that it uses organic ingredients, detangles fur, and leaves coats shiny.

• Write a 100-word product description for a luxury skincare fridge. Emphasize that it’s made from stainless steel and has a sophisticated, elegant design.

• Write a 50-word product description for toffee crunch cookies. Focus on the sentimental appeal and mention it’s based on Grandma Rose’s original recipe.

Brainstorm creative ideas

You can use ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas for a project, whether it’s new content angles, sales strategies, or channels to test. For example:

• You’re a digital advertising specialist. Suggest 10 advertising campaign ideas for an ecommerce company selling kitchen supplies. Include five ideas for reengaging existing customers.

• You’re a brand marketer. List 15 low-cost ways an ecommerce company can increase brand awareness, including ideas for how to create engaging content.

• You’re a content marketer. Generate 20 blog post ideas for an ecommerce company that sells gourmet pickles. Include potential SEO keywords.

Create social media assets

ChatGPT can draft content for social media marketing, including posts, captions, and video content such as scripts. Name the platform in your prompt: A TikTok script and a LinkedIn post call for different formats, lengths, and tones. A few prompts to start:

• Write a search-optimized description for a YouTube video demonstrating how to wash a golden retriever. Include a call to action (CTA) encouraging viewers to subscribe to your channel.

• Write a script for a 30-second TikTok video about the therapeutic value of gardening.

• Write a caption for an Instagram post promoting a 20%-off flash sale on children’s rain boots. Mention that there’s a limited supply.

Craft customer service responses

Generative AI can support your customer service team by drafting response scripts and guidelines or generating replies to common inquiries and issues. Example prompts include:

• You are the head of customer service at a small business. Write a customer service script for declining a refund request. Include advice on conflict de-escalation and emphasize customer satisfaction.

• Write a polite customer service email responding to a customer inquiry about a missing shipment. Explain that the team will locate the item or issue a refund, and thank the customer.

• Generate an email responding to a customer requesting a return. Include instructions about returning the item in its original packaging. Use professional language.

Research marketing strategies

In addition to creating assets, you can use ChatGPT to research marketing topics, summarize information, and generate strategic ideas. For example:

• You’re a marketing expert. Summarize the latest best practices for market research for small ecommerce businesses. Answer as a bulleted list.

• Generate strategies for optimizing the sales funnel in an ecommerce setting. Include real-world examples, where available, of companies that improved their funnel and how they did it.

• List 10 to 15 strategies for converting potential customers for an ecommerce business. Include content marketing and paid advertising strategies.

Analyze performance data

ChatGPT can analyze datasets you upload, including spreadsheets, PDFs, CSV files, and JSON files.

Andrew of AJF Growth suggests uploading a large dataset, like your ecommerce profit and loss statements, and asking the AI model what it notices. The model can surface insights and patterns, including those you didn’t ask it to find—like an expense category that’s crept up over time. For example:

• You’re a finance expert. Analyze our sales data from last quarter and identify opportunity areas.

• You’re an ecommerce manager. Analyze our returns data for the past month and recommend solutions for reducing returns. 

• Summarize our product reviews from the past six months. Highlight themes related to product performance and pull out the most commonly used words.

Support internal operations

ChatGPT can create materials for internal business operations, such as company announcements, automation scripts, and presentation decks. Here are examples that span different tasks: 

• Write a company-wide email announcing that we’re hiring a social media manager. Remind staff to refer candidates via the HR portal. Keep it short and use professional language.

• Write Python code that uses inventory data to send an alert to the product team when inventory is low.

• Turn Q3 sales numbers into a 10-slide deck for a leadership team meeting. Give me a title and three bullets per slide. Keep the tone plain and direct.