Can AI Newsletter Better than You? Part One.

If you ask an AI to plan and execute a newsletter business in 2024 (or beyond), will it succeed, or will it simply add to the stacks of low-grade content already piling up all over the internet?

I have previously written about how AI may contribute to the dead internet and how generative AI could promote writers to editors. Recently, I wondered whether AI could create and generate a good, quality email newsletter. So I decided to give it a try.

In this article, I will walk you through the newsletter plan and setup. I will provide updates about this AI-created-and-managed newsletter in future posts on You, Money, Happiness.

The Experiment

With relatively little input from me —the human manager and editor— I am asking several AI tools to develop an email newsletter business plan and write or at least outline much of the copy.

I will then promote the newsletter using the AI's marketing and growth recommendations.

Ecommerce Focus

In this experiment, I told the AI that I wanted to create a newsletter focused on ecommerce and retailing.

I picked ecommerce because I have significant experience in the industry; I have published more than 1,000 articles about ecommerce; and I have an ecommerce-focused X account with about 19,000 followers (at the time of writing).

What's more, I recently wrote an article about using AI to generate 100 X posts for that same ecommerce account.

Finally, as mentioned, I have published more than 1,000 ecommerce articles, mainly as a contributing editor for Practical Ecommerce. I hoped that if this newsletter was successful —and it if curated links— it could drive additional traffic to Practical Ecommerce, which is the best ecommerce-focused site on the internet. (Hat tip to Kerry Murdock).

OpenAI's ChatGPT model started the newsletter planning process with a detailed outline. The first step in that outline was to identify the newsletter's purpose and position.

ChatGPT desired four specific pieces of information, including the proposed newsletter's objective, value proposition, mission statement, and tagline. In turn, I told ChatGPT to quiz me, asking several questions about the proposed newsletter one by one and then generating the aforementioned objective, etc.

I wanted this project to be AI-driven, so when ChatGPT asked me for input related to the newsletter's objective, I used a second AI, X Grok, to answer.

As ChatGPT stepped through its questions, I employed X's rather long-winded Grok AI to generate answers. Here is what the dual AIs came up with.

Objective. To provide ecommerce and retail SMB professionals with actionable marketing and management insights that drive competitive advantage, boost ROI, and keep them informed on trends impacting their businesses.
Value Proposition. By subscribing, ecommerce and retail SMB professionals gain access to over 20 years of expert insights with a comprehensive format that delivers actionable guidance, curated industry highlights, and quick tips to improve their businesses week by week.
Mission Statement. Empower ecommerce and retail SMB professionals with data-driven insights, customer-centered strategies, and innovative practices. The newsletter aims to support these businesses in making impactful, ethical, and agile decisions that drive growth, maximize ROI, and foster strong community connections. Through comprehensive content on trends, operations, and continuous learning, the newsletter strives to be a trusted resource that keeps SMBs competitive and informed.
Tagline. "Actionable Retail and Ecommerce Insights, Delivered."

Identify Core Content Pillars

Next, ChatGPT recommended that I "develop four or five key content pillars that address the needs of the audience." The AI recommended five, which I also ran through SEMRush before finalizing.

Marketing strategies — Best practices, case studies, and actionable tactics on SEO, social media, content marketing, email marketing, and paid ads.
Customer experience and retention — Tips for building loyalty, improving customer service, and reducing churn.
Sales and revenue growth — Insights on upselling, cross-selling, pricing strategies, maximizing average order values, and covering ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy.
Operations and Inventory Management — Practical stock management, fulfillment, logistics, and supply chain advice.
Industry News and Trends — Weekly round-up of ecommerce and retail news, emerging trends, and market shifts that matter.

ChatGPT noted that the ecommerce newsletter should be "weekly, sent on Wednesdays (ideal for B2B audiences as it captures mid-week attention)."

Claude AI generated a wireframe of the proposed newsletter format that ChatGPT had generated.

Next, it dictated the newsletter's format.

Introduction/Editor's Note — Brief personal message introducing the theme or key takeaway.
Feature Article — A succinct article on a relevant topic (300-500 words).
Quick Tips — Three actionable tips or short pieces related to the week's theme.
News Round-Up — Highlights of industry news and changes.
Tool/Resource Recommendation — Feature a helpful tool or resource relevant to ecommerce marketing or management.
Q&A/Ask an Expert Section — Answer questions from readers or interview industry experts.

ChatGPT intended to offer a comprehensive email newsletter. To its list, I added a sponsorship or advertising section. I also noted that the tool and resource recommendation section could include affiliate links to help the newsletter earn money.

Brand Colors

Separate from my chat with ChatGPT, I asked Google's Gemini AI to create the brand colors for the proposed ecommerce email newsletter. It chose a couple of nice blues and a gray, to which I added black and white.

Google's Gemini AI created a list of brand colors for the newsletter. Here they are expressed in the Adobe Color Library.

Logo

The Midjourney AI came up with the newsletter's logo.

Even the newsletter's logo is AI generated.

Editorial Calendar

Be warned. AI is a hard taskmaster.

While a human would have probably gone straight to building a website or selecting an email service provider for the proposed newsletter, ChatGPT had something else in mind.

The AI wanted to "plan topics three months in advance, aligning with seasonal events or industry milestones (e.g., "Holiday Campaign Planning," "End-of-Year Inventory Tips").

I was concerned that it would be a lot of work to develop 13 or so newsletter topics in advance, but then I remembered that the whole point of this experiment was to let the AI do it. So, I asked ChatGPT.

ChatGPT generated an editoral calendar for the next three months. I was able to download that calendar as a CSV file and inport it into a Google Sheet. It was interesting that ChatGPT took Christmas Day off.

Landing Page and Subscription Form

In the ChatGPT newsletter plan, it was time to get a landing page and set up the subscription form. This meant I needed to decide how to host and send the proposed email newsletter.

At the time of writing, I had experience running email newsletters on MailChimp, Klaviyo, and Kit, which is how I send the You, Money, Happiness newsletter every Tuesday and Friday.

I was really tempted to use Kit again, because it has an excellent user interface, and I am very familiar with how to use.

Nonetheless, I recently met with Beehiiv's CEO, COO, and CTO, and I was very impressed. So, I decided to try Beehiiv.

The Ecommerce Shelf Life landing page on Beehiiv.

The Beehiiv setup took a while, but there is now a live signup page at https://ecommerceshelflife.com/subscribe.

Next...

In "Can AI Newsletter Better than You? Part Two," I will describe the welcome series the AI's suggested.