52 Ways eCommerce Businesses Can Use ChatGPT

Ecommerce needs lots of administrative and assistantship tasks to run smoothly. Apart from raising your operations cost, using a human assistant for every task can expose you to avoidable errors.
That’s why an AI assistant like ChatGPT is gaining attention among eCommerce business owners.
To help you make the most of this tool, we’ve identified 52 ways you can use ChatGPT to drive better business results.
What we’ll cover:
1. Market research and competitive analysis
2. Write new or improved product descriptions
3. Social media engagement
4. Order management
5. SEO help
6. Build a list of influencers
7. Inventory management and restocking
8. Upselling and cross-selling
9. Write product launch and pre-order copy
10-20. Create personalized marketing messages
21. Interactive and gamified shopping experiences
22. Abandoned cart recovery
23. Return and refund assistance
24. Identify important holidays and dates by country
25. Find promotions and product launch ideas
26-28. Write administrative emails
29-33. Content ideas
34. Customer review response ideas
35. Understand your customers’ aspirations and pain points
36. User feedback and surveys
37. Prepare slide decks for Presentations
38. Complete business calculations
39. Create form fields
40. Gift selection assistance
41. Create job descriptions for permanent or contract positions
42. Prepare interview questions for hiring staff or hosting guests
43. Draft employee offer letter
44. Build prospect lists
45. Prepare discussion points for a meeting
46. Plan and schedule travel itinerary
47. Product troubleshooting and DIY support
48. Find a list of niche suppliers
49. Recipe recommendations and meal planning
50. Event planning
51. Sustainability and ethical sourcing information
52. Virtual shopping assistance and order personalization
Use cases:
You can even start with a regular chat without the API.
I asked ChatGPT “What’s the best demographic to target if you sell ball pens” and it provided six suggestions. Notice it identified specific target groups and offered some insights on their needs.
Here’s another example about Sephora campaigns:
Generate new or improved product descriptions based on these elements:
ChatGPT shortens the time spent to generate a compelling and informative product description. The software performs best when your prompts reflect the specifications, features and customer reviews.
Using ChatGPT is only a starting point as some information about the product would be placeholders for you to fill with the appropriate information.
For example, I asked ChatGPT to “Write a product description for our running shoes using Nike’s running shoes as a guide for specifications and features.”
So, product sellers can use information from ChatGPT to improve their product description.
I can choose to be platform-specific. So, I modified the request for the Amazon marketplace:
Use cases:
If you integrate ChatGPT with social media channels you can respond more promptly to your audience’s requests. However, you can generate ideas and content directly from the software.
Here’s an example:
I requested ChatGPT to “Generate copywriting ideas for a week-long promotion on social media for our keto snacks brand” and got the reply below.
Treat this like a template and adapt them to your target audience and program.
Use cases:
For example, when I asked to “Generate a personalized order confirmation email for our sustainability conscious makeup kit,” it provided the template below.
The template provides placeholders for all the information you should add.
Use cases:
For example, I asked ChatGPT “What keywords do sellers of omega 3 supplements rank for” and it gave me this reply:
I can take my research further from here by doing these:
So, I took my own advice and tried this SEO analysis with ChatGPT. I copied and pasted an article from the NCCIH and asked ChatGPT to identify how many times each of the 20 terms above appeared in this article.
Identify how many times each of the 20 terms above appeared in this article.
Here’s what I found:
Do read: 15 Critical Steps In eCommerce Competitor Analysis
Use cases:
This can be industry or topic-specific. For instance, I requested a “List the top beauty industry influencers in North America based on their social media following.” It focused on their Instagram following and showed follower numbers.
However, ChatGPT warns users to research further as information changes over time.
You can set a specific follower range too. But ChatGPT will not provide a follower count even if you request it.
Manage stock and inventory with ChatGPT:
You’ll have to train the language model to perform these tasks.
Check this out: Labor Day Marketing: 15 Amazing Ideas and Examples (2024)
Use cases:
I asked ChatGPT to “Write a compelling upsell email for our cycling helmet suggesting that for extra $30 buyers can get 2 helmets instead of 1 for $50,” this is what I got:
Create template email copies and customize them for your launch:
For example, I enter this prompt:
Write a personalized product launch email for our new scented beard oil offering discounts on pre-orders and free products for people who refer at least two people to buy.
But I think the message is long. So I requested that ChatGPT make it shorter, sharper, and more engaging and it did.
Look at what I got:
Create personalized notifications for your campaign, website, email and app.
Here are 11 examples:
Use cases:
I requested that ChatGPT write a personalized welcome email message for my subscribers to show them when they opt-in to get my free 30-day workout program and keto recipe book.
The first draft was long so I requested that it makes it short, sharp, and very engaging. Here’s what I got:
So I requested a short and sharp welcome message to help me engage first-time app users for my keto workout app. It gave me this:
I liked the initial draft but wanted it to keep some elements and remove other elements.
So I requested, “This is supposed to be an in-app message. So write with that in mind. I like the emojis so keep them, but make this message shorter, sharper, and super engaging.”
And got this:
Use cases:
I asked ChatGPT to draft a re-engagement email to first-time buyers who remained on my email list after their first purchase.
My prompt: Draft an email to first-time buyers of our scented candles who never bought again but didn’t unsubscribe from my list. Offer them special 30% discounts, and that they enter into a sweepstake when they buy to win one of our premium products.
The outcome:
It produced a lengthy message and I requested that it shorten it. Here’s what I got:
Use cases:
I segmented shoppers who buy often and might be interested in our bestsellers and drafted a message targeting them.
I asked ChatGPT to “Write a product recommendation email asking my customers to consider our best seller cologne and perfume collections. Also, for being a previous buyer we will offer them 15% discounts that run until the end of month regardless of how many items they buy.”
It came back with this:
Use cases:
We launched a new product and I needed to get reviews from customers willing to test the new product for free and leave honest reviews.
So, I asked ChatGPT to write a review request asking our existing customers who would want to test our new hair spray to get it for free in exchange for an honest product review on Amazon and our website.
The result:
I like that ChatGPT also provided review guidelines for our customers which I can modify to fit our needs.
Use cases:
I got new product arrivals and wanted to write a compelling copy to attract our existing and potential customers.
So I asked ChatGPT to write a short, sharp, and engaging new product arrival announcement for our stylish summer sun shades. The message is for our social media followers offering the first 30 persons a $15 off.
Use cases:
We sold out our sunscreens just as the summer approached. Now we have it back in stock. So I asked ChatGPT to write a short, sharp, and compelling social media back-in-stock message for our sunscreens offering a buy one get one promotion.
Here’s what it gave me:
Use cases:
If you’ve collected your customer’s birthday dates you can make them offers on their special days.
I asked ChatGPT to write a short, sharp, compelling, and personalized birthday email to our July-born customers. We’ll send the message out on their birthdays offering them a special 20% discount on our makeup and grooming kits, scented candles, and body care bundles.
I got this:
Recommended reading: Back To School Email Marketing: 24 Amazing Examples From eCommerce Brands
Use cases:
I wanted to attract seniors to our stores. So I launched a campaign offering their frequently bought products at a bundle price lower than the sum of individual items.
My ChatGPT prompt: Write a compelling, short, and sharp Email message for seniors who shop at our stores, offering them a bundle of their frequently bought products at a 15% discount if they buy them together this month.
Here’s what I got:
Use cases:
I asked ChatGPT to write a promotional message inviting our subscribers to follow a link on our website to post a customizable message on social media and then get a subscriber-only coupon they can redeem any time.
See what I got:
Use cases:
So I asked ChatGPT to write a thank you message to our customer who left a positive review even though we delayed their product delivery. Thank them for accepting the delivery agent’s explanations and protecting the brand reputation.
Outcome:
Use cases:
Hypothetically, our store launched a loyalty and an affiliate program to improve customer acquisition, sales, average order value, and customer return rate.
So I asked ChatGPT to write an invite letter to our customers to join our skin care loyalty program and that if they also invite people using their unique affiliate links, they win redeemable points.
Here’s what it gave me:
Use case:
I requested that ChatGPT list and explain product recommendation games we can use to engage parents on social media to buy our childrens’ play toys and games.
It came up with this:
Use cases:
I asked ChatGPT to write an abandoned cart recovery message to help us recover sales after our website went down during the year’s black friday and cyber monday rush.
Here’s what it gave me:
Save time and lower customer service costs by using ChatGPT to do these:
I asked ChatGPT to write an email addressing an overcharging issue on a shopper’s credit card and that we have effected a refund.
Here’s what I got:
Use cases:
E-commerce sellers understand how important it is to sell season-appropriate products. Hence, the need to know what people buy on popular holidays.
I asked ChatGPT to list 20 special holidays in Canada and their dates with the best gift for each holiday. Here’s the result:
Use cases:
I asked ChatGPT to “Provide me a list of product launch ideas using case studies from highly successful skin care product launches from leading brands.”
It came back with this result:
Write emails for managing your business operations.
Here are three examples:
Use cases:
ChatGPT provides suggestions and a template for an engaging and compelling cold email. When you provide the right information about the recipient and their company, the software will fix them in relevant areas.
After you get the structure and suggested content from ChatGPT, remember to adapt it to your brand voice. Also, ensure your marketing practices follow applicable laws and regulations.
Use cases:
Here’s my prompt for a delivery delay apology:
Write an email to a buyer from our eCommerce store apologizing for a delay in delivery time and explaining that bad weather (it's winter) impacted our logistics. So we're offering them a coupon as compensation.
Of course, ChatGPT’s initial response wasn’t this short. I asked it to shorten the message and keep it engaging.
Brainstorm the perfect response to an email message you received.
You can provide an appropriate prompt and ChatGPT will generate a customizable email for you.
For example, I copied and pasted a message from my inbox, provided some context to ChatGPT, and asked it to reply to the message.
Here’s the result I got:
Find your buyers’ pain points and then create newsletter content around them.
Here’s an example:
I ask to “Generate newsletter email ideas that target buyers of women cycling jerseys focusing on the pain points and aspirations they want to learn more about.”
And it gave me this result:
That’s not bad in itself. If I was looking for a welcome email template for our customers or leads, that’s a good starting point.
But that’s not what I’m looking for.
So, I refined my request, asking that it “Don't write the email, just give the ideas and cite any supporting stats.” And then it gave me these ideas:
So, I’ll just go on and create content around each of these items on the list or research further on them.
Use cases:
I asked ChatGPT to “Provide me with 10 real ad copies from top keto nutrition brands and then give me your own rewrite of the copy for each ad.”
The results:
Use cases:
My prompt: Write compelling product headline ideas for my wooden kitchen rack product to be sold on different marketplaces, format headlines for each eCommerce platforms: Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair, Wish, and Etsy
Reasons you to improve messaging:
Some of your use cases might include these:
Write your messages and ask ChatGPT to review grammar and sentiment for you. If I sold granite countertops on my website and was writing an article about it, I could do the basic editing on ChatGPT.
Here’s an example:
Use cases:
In the example below, I asked ChatGPT to provide the frequently asked questions for back braces and the appropriate answers. And here’s what the software showed.
This ChatGPT capability helps you discover questions your customers ask about your product and provide viable answers:
Use cases:
Here’s an example for a negative review and how ChatGPT provided an answer:
However, to avoid using a generalized answer, customize your responses to fit your brand voice.
Why responding to customer reviews matter:
Use cases:
ChatGPT analyzes customer reviews to extract insights, generate summaries, and identify trends, to help you make data-driven decisions.
As a starting point you can ask ChatGPT questions about your audience directly.
Use cases:
Here’s the prompt I used in this example:
“Build a user survey to collect customer feedback on preferences, satisfaction levels, and suggestions for improvement. Also suggest ways to use potential replies to improve our online store design, product experiences, features, etc.”
When you provide specific information about your survey, the software can suggest relevant questions to include in your survey. It also provides guidelines on best practice and design principles.
After you collect your survey responses, you can feed it to ChatGPT for analysis and interpretation.
Why gathering feedback and surveys matter:
Use cases:
As an AI text-based software, ChatGPT doesn’t directly create slide decks or add images. But, it helps with the structure and content of the presentation.
It’ll suggest an outline or starting point for you to create your slide decks. With this outline, you’ll know how and where to add relevant texts and images.
I asked ChatGPT to “Prepare a slide deck for a furniture brand trying to sell its office furniture to corporate buyers who are very savvy office furniture buyers.”
Why slide deck preparations matter:
Use cases:
When you input the necessary data, you can get ChatGPT for some calculations with accurate results. However, it’s safer to consult with financial experts and consultants before applying any information from this AI tool to your business situation.
For example, you can quickly calculate your inventory turnover ratio.
Use cases:
ChatGPT can’t generate files, but can guide you on the types of forms to use for your needs. It would provide a structure that lets participants provide information and legal compliance.
For instance, I asked ChatGPT to create form fields for Facebook sweepstakes. The goal was for a Mother’s Day marketing campaign to promote our products, and build loyalty.
Sweepstakes legal requirements and regulations vary, depending on the nature of the prize or jurisdiction.
So, we recommend that you consult with a sweepstakes expert or legal professional to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
Use cases:
Just ask ChatGPT to generate gift ideas based on your parameters and then you can use those suggestions to offer gift selection assistance to your shoppers.
Here’s ChatGPT’s response when I did that:
You can also request ideas based on a set of characteristics.
Use cases:
Create job descriptions for positions you’re hiring for in your business. Identify relevant tasks and work descriptions and remove irrelevant ones from the list.
For example, I asked ChatGPT to create detailed job descriptions for a permanent beauty and skin care salesperson position for our eCommerce brand.
Here’s the result:
You can also use ChatGPT to write the job ad to attract the perfect candidates for the position.
And if you want to give your job ad maximum exposure, you can use ChatGPT to build a list of job ad platforms to use.
Use cases:
In this example, I asked ChatGPT to “I'm interviewing the CEO of Jungle Scout to publish on my website. Prepare interview questions that I'll ask him about how to source products from China.”
Here’s the result I got.
Use cases:
I asked the AI tool to provide me with an offer letter for a digital marketing manager role in Ottawa, Canada, to comply with relevant local employment laws.
Here’s the outcome:
Your offer letter should include these:
Use cases:
You can find a list of important business prospects by asking ChatGPT to provide you with one.
For instance, I requested that the AI tool provide me a list of the top people in electronic gadget sourcing in South East Asia and it came back with this list:
Like any other query, you can modify your search. I modified mine and here’s what I got:
Use cases:
For example, I asked ChatGPT to provide discussion points for a meeting with a potential white label headphone supplier.
Here’s the result:
Benefits you can get from preparing your discussion points with ChatGPT:
If you’re to hold meetings with a potential business partner and you need to find talking points, ChatGPT can help you list useful talking points and even leads to use for each of those talking points.
Hey, do check this out: Hiring a CRO agency: 12 *Key* Considerations (and Expert Advice)
ChatGPT makes planning a trip easy. So, it helps in:
ChatGPT can help you plan a trip, giving you ideas on what to do each day. You can then modify and adapt them to your needs.
Here’s an example request to plan an itinerary for a business trip to find potential suppliers in China.
You can also ask ChatGPT to help you schedule these itinerary into actual calendar days if you already have a time in mind for this trip.
Here’s an example.
After I received this schedule and modified them to fit my needs, I made this request of ChatGPT:
“Schedule this itinerary to calendar days from June 18 to June 30 taking into account any holidays or off-work days in China or the cities I will be staying in China.”
Use cases:
Describe the issues to ChatGPT and it’ll offer a guide to complete the tasks or troubleshoot the issue. And if you’re unsure of the cause, you can also explain the error or symptoms to ChatGPT.
Here's an example:
Offer troubleshooting assistance and DIY (do-it-yourself) support if you sell technical products or equipment:
Some eCommerce processes like payments, shipping, and product description issues can benefit from this solution.
Use cases:
ChatGPT may not be able to offer you real-time data and you may need to use its paid version if you need more recent data, but it can offer you something to start your search.
For example, here’s a request I placed on ChatGPT to find African art suppliers in Manhattan, New York:
“List 13 businesses in Greater Manhattan area that sell West African art works to resellers”
Use cases:
With focus on specific dietary restrictions, my prompt was: “Write recipe recommendations and meal plans for lactose intolerant customers using alternatives to dairy products.”
Here’s what ChatGPT produced:
This option works for eCommerce businesses that sell foods or groceries. You can provide recipe recommendations and assist with meal planning by letting ChatGPT suggest recipes based on these criteria:
Do check out: 22 Brilliant Ways to Boost Grocery eCommerce Store Conversion Rate
Use cases:
I requested that ChatGPT plan my exhibition at the White Label World Expo in New York where I’ll be presenting our novel Samsonite competitor bags.
Use the AI tool to accomplish event planning feats like these:
More buyers are concerned about ethical issues surrounding the products they use. You can use ChatGPT to help your eCommerce business provide details on your business’s:
For instance, I asked the AI tool to “Write a sustainability statement that demonstrates we align our vitamin supplement eCommerce business to a sustainability conscious audience and committed to ethical sourcing and processes.”
It gave me this:
Deloitte study on how personalization influences buyers and business outcomes.
This point assumes you plan to integrate the ChatGPT model into your chatbot.
How ChatGPT can provide virtual shopping assistance and order personalization:
You can use ChatGPT in two ways: prompts and using the API. Here's a summary of each approach
Prompts are suitable for interactive and iterative conversations.
Both approaches mentioned have their advantages. But this AI model isn’t perfect.
Prompts are simpler and easier to use for basic interactions. But the API method offers more flexibility for advanced use cases such as maintaining context over multiple turns or handling complex conversations.
Keep in mind that the ChatGPT model can sometimes produce incorrect or nonsensical answers. So, review and validate responses for accuracy.
In addition, provide clear instructions to boost the quality of responses you receive.
You can start with simple tasks from any of the 52 options discussed here. And as you get comfortable with the tool, you can start expanding your usage of the tool.
ChatGPT is only a tool, and no tool has all the solutions. So, use it with caution. Don’t divulge trade secrets or give away personal information to the AI model.