Automatically generating content in the online store editor

Early access

Automatically generating content in the theme editor is in early access and is only available to some merchants.

Through Shopify Magic, you can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate suggestions for content in your theme editor based on details that you provide, such as headings and titles.

Caution

You're responsible for the accuracy of all the content that you publish to your store, even when you use automatic text generation to create it. Generated text can include content sourced from the AI's database that doesn't necessarily apply to your products, such as product benefits you don't list or facts about similar products. For example, the generated content for a T-shirt could mention care instructions such as "machine-washable", or product guarantees such as "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 product descriptions is currently available in the following languages:

• English
• German
• Spanish
• French
• Italian
• Japanese
• Portuguese (Brazilian)
• Chinese (Simplified)

By default, American English is the dialect used for English suggestions. The language data that the 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.

The language that's used to generate your output suggestions is determined by the default language for your storefront. If your default storefront language isn't one of the supported languages, then this feature isn't available in your admin. To use this feature, update your language settings to a supported language.

Although the list of supported languages are the languages that have been verified and tested, the text generation might work for additional languages to differing degrees of quality. If you want to try generating output in your preferred language, then generate the English output, and then use the Translate and Adapt app to translate the generated output to your preferred language. ​

Tips for improving suggestions

When you evaluate generated suggestions for your content, consider what makes a good description. Suggestions for creating good product descriptions can help to improve your suggestions, though headings and titles in your online store are generally much shorter than a product description.

The content that you create needs to communicate the benefits of your products in a non-generic way that reflects your store’s brand. When you automatically generate content, you get better results if you include more details and by carefully selecting a tone that matches your business.

Add more keywords

​ The best way to improve the generated suggestions is to provide the tool with more details about your products and brand. At a minimum, provide at least two keywords that describe the products, brand, or section before you generate content. If you add more keywords or phrases, then you receive more accurate and unique generated content. To improve results, consider adding the following types of information:

• Information about the customer: Often, the best content reflects the needs and interests of your target customer. Include some keywords about who the products would be great for, such as their demographic (young parents) or their values (eco-conscious, outdoorsy). This information is helpful for generating product benefits and determining the type of vocabulary that appears in your results.
• Specific details about materials, production method, fit, intended use: Any product specifications you provide can be turned into paragraphs in your generated content.
• Important brand keywords or terminology: While the results include different phrasing for the information you provide, special words or phrases are often kept, such as brand names or unique descriptive words. For example, if you describe your mint lip balm as mint-tastic in the keywords, then the generated suggestions will often include that term.
• Other details: You can use the details and images that you’ve added to your theme to give you ideas about what keywords to provide, such as product details like vendor, category, or collection names.

Choose 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 you generate content for your online store, 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.

After you select a tone option, the characteristics of the suggested content change to match the tone that you select. These characteristics include the kind of vocabulary, sentence structure, and punctuation of the output. The predefined tone options all produce positive-sounding content.

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 customer’s desire for high quality and taste.

You can also specify a custom tone to use in your descriptions by selecting Custom from the drop-down menu and specifying a custom tone of voice, such as Sarcastic and witty. This custom tone is available as an option for each section heading that you create, unless you replace the custom tone label with a different one, such as Confident.

Generate content for your online store

Note

Content can be generated only in specific text fields in the theme editor. If a text box doesn't have the Shopify Magic icon, then suggestions can't be generated for that field.

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online store > Themes.
2. Next to the theme that you want to edit, click Customize.
3. Select a text element in your theme, such as an image banner heading.
4. In the text box, click the Shopify Magic icon in the toolbar.
5. Enter some keywords to indicate the type of content that you want to be generated, such as headline, title, subtitle, or announcement. The more details that you add, the more relevant the suggested content is.
6. Optional: Select a tone for the generated text. You can select one of the predefined tones or add a custom tone.
7. Click Generate text.
8. Optional: To refresh the suggested text and get a new version, do any of the following:
   • To get new suggestions with the same settings, click Try again.
   • To change the tone of the suggested text, select a new tone option, and then click Try again.
9. Optional: To view different versions that you’ve generated, use the arrows below the generated text to move forward and backward through the versions.
10. Click the suggested content that you want to keep.
11. Edit the content to match your store tone and brand.
12. After you complete your edits, click Save.