What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) developed by OpenAI. It is designed to understand and respond to natural language text-based inputs.

Large language models are trained by feeding all the text available on the internet. These language models are not just using probability to guess what the next word will be, but the combination of predicting the next word, and the next, produces a body of text that shows a level of reasoning and intelligence that has never been seen in any other AI system before.

What is prompt engineering?

Prompt engineering is the practice of designing or generating high-quality prompts that can be used to train or fine-tune a language model to perform a specific task or answer a particular question.

In our March 8 webinar — Higher Education Marketing in the Age of AI: How ChatGPT Helps You Work Smarter, Not Harder — we explored some of the best practices for prompt engineering in the context of email marketing using ChatGPT.

In addition, we covered prompts that cover topics such as email rewriting for tone, subject line generation, email personalization, creative direction, and idea generation.

Prompt engineering use cases for higher ed

In our webinar, we dove in on how to build the most productive and efficient prompts around five topics:  

• Tone: How to adjust the tone of your email based on your audience and the desired outcome.
• Subject lines: Best practices for creating attention-grabbing subject lines that encourage recipients to open your emails.
• Personalization: Techniques for incorporating personalization into your emails to create a more engaging and relevant experience for recipients.
• Idea generation: Strategies for generating creative and effective email marketing ideas that stand out in a crowded inbox.
• Creative direction: How to develop a consistent brief and creative direction that aligns with your message and institution's brand.

Using ChatGPT in real time

We worked through analyzing tone and voice, creating captivating subject lines and the variety of outputs that ChatGPT and other generative AI models can provide.

For reference, we started with this standard email.

Generating personalized emails to reach your enrollment goals is now as easy as making a simple request with ChatGPT.

When it comes to tone and voice analysis, save this best practices prompt. 

[Return only the main response. Remove pre-text and post-text.]

As a detail-oriented content editor, your role is to review written pieces, provide feedback on how to improve the content, make edits, and revisions to ensure quality. Consider audience, purpose, and provide guidance on how to achieve these goals. Be familiar with best practices for writing, editing, style, tone, formatting. Goal: improve clarity, coherence, effectiveness of the written piece. Ask questions, fact-check content as needed. Writing style: concise, clear, to-the-point. At end of feedback, remind me of detailed feedback on: 1. Line-editing, 2. Structure and organization, 3. Tone and voice, 4. Content and accuracy, 5. Clarity and concision, 6. Grammar and spelling, 7. Formatting. Respond "Ready" to acknowledge and I will paste my first text for you to analyze.

Let’s break this down:

• [Return …. post-text.] This is your instruction to ChatGPT. Place guidance in between brackets. Here you’re asking the tool to be concise. ChatGPT has a tendency to provide overly verbose responses.
• “As a detail-oriented content editor…” The meat of this prompt guides ChatGPT and gives best practices, a goal, the intended writing style, and the feedback you want to receive.  
• “Respond ‘Ready’ to acknowledge and I will paste my first text for you to analyze.” By including this prompt, you’re asking ChatGPT to reply with “Ready” if it has successfully understood your input. You’re also letting the AI know that the next step is analysis of your text.

Here’s the output when we analyze our message from the Dean.

How to adjust the tone of your content

Whether you're shooting the breeze with a high schooler or getting down to business in conversation with their college counselor, nailing your tone and voice can solidly set up successful communication.

Put yourself in their shoes — what would they want out of this exchange? Get creative and personalize for maximum engagement.

Let’s take that same email and ask ChatGPT to adjust the tone.

Recommend some options for tone and voice. My audience is [AUDIENCE].

Recommend some options for tone and voice. My audience is high school students.

Break down the above email using that prompt to edit the tone to be more playful and funny.

Check out the considerable difference in language. While you probably aren’t sending this email from one of your Academic Deans, this example illustrates just how easy it is to rewrite content to align with your medium, sender, and more. "Just kick back, relax!”

How to generate attention-grabbing subject lines

Crafting email content is only half the battle. The real struggle lies in capturing your audience's attention — something easier said than done. Here are some prompts to brainstorm subject lines for the Dean's email.

What are some attention-grabbing subject lines for an email about [topic/activity/program]?

What are some ways to use humor or wit in email subject lines?

How can I create subject lines that appeal to my target audience's interests and needs?

What are some ways to use personalization in subject lines to increase open rates?

Can you suggest some subject lines that incorporate the fear of missing out (FOMO) principle?

What examples can we get if we ask it for attention-grabbing subject lines?

If we're hoping to get even more specific, we can ask ChatGPT to "suggest some subject lines that incorporate the fear of missing out (FOMO) principle."

Take your ChatGPT game to the next level

Using the right prompts in ChatGPT is crucial for getting the best out of this amazing tool.

By following the guidelines discussed in this post, you can easily generate responses tailored to your specific needs.

Whether you are looking for informative or entertaining responses, ChatGPT has got you covered. And so do we with these two additional resources:

1. Download the full guide — Practical ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Higher Education Marketers and recruiters — which includes prompts for tone, personalization, subject lines, idea generation, and creative direction.
2. If you're interested in learning more about the capabilities of AI language models like ChatGPT, be sure to check out our podcast, The Higher Ed Marketer’s Guide to ChatGPT and Generative AI — a special 4 part series brought to you by Enrollify and Element451, where we discuss various topics related to AI and its impact on society. Listen in as we delve into the world of natural language processing and explore the latest developments in the field. Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to learn more about the power of AI.