Automatically generating email subject lines

Early access

Automatically generating email subject lines is in early access and only available to some merchants.

This feature uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to take details that you provide, such as campaign type and product keywords, and generate suggestions for a subject line in Shopify Email. If you have a draft of your email content written already, then keywords automatically generate based on a summary of your email content.

Caution

You are responsible for the accuracy of all of the content that you publish to your store, even when you use automatic text generation to create it. Generated text can include things like product benefits even when you didn’t list any explicitly, and facts based on other published content related to similar products. For example, the generated content for a t-shirt could mention things like care instructions ("machine-washable") or product guarantees ("guaranteed up to 1000 washes.") It’s important that you read all generated content closely to ensure accuracy before publishing. Refer to Shopify’s Terms of Service to learn more about your responsibilities for store content.

Language support

Support for automatically generated subject lines is currently only available in English.

By default, American English is the dialect used for English suggestions. The language data that AI uses is largely from North American sources, so generated content might contain vocabulary and expressions that are local to that region. You can change any part of the content suggestions to match what your customers would expect.

Tips for improving suggestions

When you evaluate generated suggestions for your subject line, consider what makes effective email content. Subject lines should be between 3 to 5 words, which ensures that readers can still read the whole subject line when checking emails on a mobile device. When you’re automatically generating email content, you’ll get better results by including keywords specific to the campaign you’re sending and carefully selecting a tone that matches your business. For example:

• 10% discount, citrus soap
• New York subscribers, best sellers, product restock

Keyword prompts can be simple or complex, and you can phrase your prompt in a sentence or just use keywords. You can also include emojis.

Adding more keywords about your campaign

The best way to improve the generated suggestions is to provide the AI tool with more details about your campaign. As an example, you can provide the campaign goal and products that you’re sharing.

To improve results, consider adding the following types of information:

• Campaign type. Any campaign specifications you provide will help generate better results. For example, product restock, spring sale, or birthday discount.

• Product keywords. If you're writing about a specific product, then try adding the name and type of product. If the product name is ambiguous, then provide keywords that describe the product or category, such as hot sauce or bar soap. Add any descriptors that highlight what makes the product unique or why someone might want to buy it. For example, Monaco is not descriptive. However, by using a set of keywords such as New arrivals, Monaco, 10% discount, and Lightweight tortoise-shell sunglasses, you can tell Shopify Magic what to write about.

• Important brand keywords or terminology. While the results will include different phrasing for the information that you provide, special words or phrases are often kept, such as brand names or unique descriptive words. If you include your brand name in your brand tagline prompt, then it will usually be included in the results. For example, if you describe your mint lip balm as mint-astic in the keywords, then the generated suggestions will often include that term.

• Other email details. Any additional details that are relevant to the type of content that you're generating should be provided. For example, if you want to create a sale message, then be sure to include the sale amount and the types of products that are part of the sale. Shopify Magic uses the details that you add to your email to automatically suggest ideas for what keywords to provide.

Choosing a tone for your generated content

​ The tone of your store’s content is how you communicate the personality of your brand, and it influences the feelings customers might have when they read your content. Tone should match the information that you’re delivering, the situation, and the expectations of the customer. The tone should be consistent with your overall approach to content across your brand. ​ When generating email subject lines, you can select from predefined tones or specify a custom tone to get content suggestions that fit with your brand. If you’re not sure which tone to use, then experiment with the tone setting to generate different versions of the text to find a good fit for your product and target customer. By default, the tone for email subject lines is set to Persuasive. ​ When you select a tone option, the characteristics of the suggested content change to match the tone that you select. This includes the kind of vocabulary, sentence structure, and punctuation of the output. All of the predefined tone options produce positive-sounding subject lines that encourage engagement with your email.

The following predefined tones are available:

• Expert: Written from the perspective of a product or industry expert, this tone sounds professional by using scientific and objective language, and statements of fact.
• Supportive: Written from the point of view of someone that empathizes with the customer and wants to help them, this tone sounds supportive, and uses language that is friendly, approachable, and straight-forward.
• Persuasive: Written from the perspective of someone who passionately believes in the value of the product, this tone sounds persuasive and inspiring, using language that appeals to the senses and inspires strong emotions in the customer.
• Daring: Written from the perspective of someone who challenges the customer to be bold and adventurous, this tone uses strong action words to motivate and inspire.
• Playful: Written from the perspective of someone who doesn't take themselves or life too seriously, this tone uses fun or quirky language, including humor and slang expressions.
• Sophisticated: Written in the style of a luxury brand selling premium products, this tone sounds sophisticated and refined, using language that appeals to a buyer’s desire for high quality and taste.

You can also specify a custom tone to use in your descriptions by selecting Custom from the dropdown menu and specifying a custom tone of voice, such as Sarcastic and witty. This custom tone will be available as an option for each product you create descriptions for unless you replace the custom tone label with a different one, such as Confident.

When you need to write a new subject line, you can use the automatically generated subject lines to help you get started. The tone for generated content is set by default to Persuasive, but you can change it before you generate new content.

Draft an email subject line

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.
2. From the Apps and sales channels page, click Email, and then click Open app.
3. Click Create campaign, and then Select a template.
4. In the subject line toolbar, click the Generate text icon.
5. Enter information about the type of email that you're sending, and add keywords. The more details that you add, the more relevant the suggested content will be.
6. Optional: Select a new tone for this subject line. You can select one of the predefined tones, or add a custom tone to use.
7. Click Generate text to generate three version of your suggested content.
8. Do one of the following:
   • Click Try again to generate 3 different results.
   • Select a different tone or modify your prompt, and then click Try again.
9. When you have a suggestion that you want to use, click the suggested text.

After you've generated and selected a suggested subject line, you can finish customizing your email message, or click the Generate text icon to access the previous suggestions and generate new ones.