19. How AI Is Messing With Your Sales

I don’t hate AI – far from it! AI helps me edit this podcast, tells me the weather each morning, and even helps me plan my travels. However, it doesn’t do most of us any favors when trying to connect with real humans on our sales pages. 

In this episode of Copy And, I talk about the ups & downs of AI storytelling, and what you can do to edit what AI writes, or write your own sales copy in alignment with how people actually think. 

Key points covered in episode:

• The stories AI tells & how they are bad for sales psychology
• How to storytell for sales
• When to gut check your sales copy for AI flaw

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Transcript

0:01

Hey friends, and welcome back to Copy and the marketing podcast where I teach you how to write copy that sounds like you, but converts better. And honestly, today I thought I'd bring a little bit of levity to the beginning of the year and go on a little bit of an AI and copy rant. So buckle up because we're gonna talk about how AI tells stories. In a rollercoaster fashion. Get it buckle up rollercoaster. Okay. AI tends to, tells us stories in cycles and it is part of what makes AI copy really, noticeable. So what we really wanna do to get people to buy, when we are writing sales copy, that's what we want. Copy converts, right? So when we want people to buy, we want them to ride a high. So I'm gonna tell you a story about lumpy butts and roller coasters as an example, because I feel more like going on an early year rant than being super buttoned up today. So let's jump in. Okay, so sales copy has a flow, and I like to think of it like a roller coaster. So if you've never been on a roller coaster, go to YouTube. Those on Disney, like ride it with me type videos I think are really interesting too. Anything but copy has a flow, and I think of it like a rollercoaster. So when you get in the rollercoaster, you sit in, you buckle up, that is people clicking onto your page, they're ready. When the rollercoaster starts, you get kind of lurched forward. It's never super smooth. You get lurched forward and then always go into a dip. So I consider that like getting lurched forward is you're above the fold. Or if we're looking at other pieces of sales copy like an email, that's the part where. We're being introduced to the concept. This is the beginning of the email, so it's either you're above the folder or the beginning. You're lurched forward, then you go into a dip. This is their problems. This is where you show them that you understand them super deeply and you understand what their setbacks are. You have to understand these, and you have to be so freaking specific, especially to your niche in this place. This is the biggest area of opportunity that I see on most sales pages. This is where we say, I understand you. Not just that you're busy, not just that you're overwhelmed, but what that really presents as for you. So that's your dip. Then on the rollercoaster, they have to build momentum. That's the part that goes up the first hill. The rest of it, you just ride the high, you ride that momentum for the rest of the ride. So as we go up that ch ch, ch part of the hill, this is where you are starting to get them so excited. You are lighting up parts of their brain that feel hope, that help them see the potential. You're past the problem, you understand their problems. But this is where you're saying those, imagine if. Statements and you can, and this is entirely possible for you. You're creating open loops that people see themselves in. They are writing themselves into the story that you are taking them on. And then they ride the high. You tell them how much it costs, you tell them what's included. You give them all of the information that they need throughout the loop de loops and the this, and then that. And you're telling stories, and you're giving client examples and testimonials and answering their frequently asked questions because the only thing that's going to happen, you are making buying an inevitability. So what does AI have to do with rollercoasters? Let me tell you, and I'm gonna talk about lumpy butts. So, AI does not tell stories in a linear fashion. AI loves to negate itself, and this isn't a conversation about m dashes. However, a lot of times after or between M dashes, AI will negate what it just said. So it'll say it's this without the overwhelm. It's not this, it's that. Typically there are a lot of negation inside of a single sentence. It's making people do mental gymnastics, and what we don't wanna do is to go tumbling off the roller coaster. Absolutely not. We wanna continue the flow. So I'm gonna tell you about a friend of mine who loves using ai. She uses it for freaking everything. But we were having a conversation about these stories and I was like, you know, friend, imagine that you and I go shopping for pants. We're in the dressing room and you're trying to make a buying decision on a pair of pants. And you try them on and you say, do you like them? I think I like them. And again, we're gonna draw this back. This is her being on the sales page, making sure that it is the right investment for her. She is in the dressing room, making sure that the pants are the right investment for her. And I say, oh my gosh. They make your legs look longer. They're gonna look amazing with those sneakers. I think they're perfect for this party. It doesn't even make your butt look lumpy. You should get them. She's gonna have a pause there and say, wait a second. Do my other pants, make my butt look lumpy. Do do the pants that I'm wearing today, make it look not good. Is this a normal thing for me? Should I be concerned it's gonna throw her off? If I want her to buy the pants, I need to tell her all the ways and that she looks amazing. They honestly, they have some stretch to'em, and she's going to an event where she needs to be sitting, so it's gonna be way more comfortable. I need to remind her of all of the reasons she should get the pants so that we can get the heck out of the dressing room and go get Chipotle. That is what AI does is it negates itself. It reminds you what it's not. It reminds you that there's no modules in this course. It reminds you that there's no one-on-one coaching, but it's just a PDF. That is what AI does when its story tells. You do not wanna throw off the flow of the rollercoaster. You do not wanna sabotage your sales. So as you're going through your copy, if AI did help you write it, I want you to check for flow. Is there a clear statement of what it is? This could be your above the fold. Are the problem sections isolated? Are we just talking about the problems once?'cause that's the goal. We don't wanna keep coming back to these problems and reminding them how awful it's gonna be. Do we lead to a direct solution? Do we ask for the sale? Do we just coast right back to the home plate or whatever it's called, where you load up on a bro on a roller coaster, smooth as butter? Have we answered all of their questions? So something you might wanna control F and look for is somewhere where it says, it's not blank, it's blank. Just tell me what it is. It's not X. It's definitely not Y, it's Z. Why are you telling me what it's not when I just wanna know what's included. The other one is where it'll say, without the overwhelm, without the fluff. I would hope that you weren't gonna add a bunch of overwhelm and fluff into what you were. Selling me. It's kind of like when a person says, okay, not gonna lie blank. Were you usually lying to me? Why are we insinuating that there was a lie or that there was overwhelm or that it was gonna be fluffy before I sold you this? So then I say, it's not about blank, it's about blank. And these are usually really catchy terms, but again, it's saying what it's not. It's not about predictions and trends. It's about being cool. It's about focus in 2026, right? It's gonna tell you about what it's not in order to frame up what it is. It's not about doing more, it's about doing better. It's not about ai. It's about writing great copy, right? I want you to write copy that sells. So this was my rant on what I have seen recently with ai, where people are launching in Q1, which I love for you. I want you to launch. I want you to sell, and I want you to do it confidently. And sometimes when we don't feel confident about how we sell, we outsource those thoughts to ai. If that is you and you are outsourcing to ai, I hope that you can go through and control F and look for it's not, or it's not about or no or whatever, and that you can take a look and make sure that your sections flow and that even within those sections, we are continuing with the flow. This has been a super short episode, but I'm about to kick off a series. We are going to talk about what goes in each of the parts of your funnel. I'm anticipating some pretty short episodes here because your funnel is not just an opt-in page sales page and a couple emails. There's a whole lot more to it than that. Am I ai? Did I just say it's not this? It's a whole lot more than that. I swear I came up with that all by myself. We're gonna start with what goes into your ads and talk about what goes on the opt-in page that your ads or that your organic marketing has sent people to. Then you send people to a thank you page. So we're gonna have an episode specifically dedicated to what goes on Thank you pages. And if you're thinking, Sam, I'm not selling anything. They just bought something. That's why they're on my sales. That's why they're on my thank you page. You're half right, but you can inspire action on a thank you page. In fact, you could have an upsell, a trip wire, or inspire action for them to go take the first step that you need them to take. I have a lot of people come to me and say, Sam, my people join my thing, but they never fill out this one form. That is inspiring them to take action. So we're gonna talk about how to use your thank you page to get people to take action. So we've got ads, opt-in pages, thank you pages. We're gonna talk about what goes in that very first email. We're gonna get so specific here. What goes in the initial welcome email or delivery email. Then we're gonna talk about the rest of those emails. We have plenty of content here about sales pages, but I'm sure we'll end up digging more into that, nurture emails, et cetera. If there is something specific that you would like me to cover on the podcast this year, please reach out and let me know. Once I've got this series handled, I am still looking to see what you want me to talk about. So if you have suggestions, I am all ears. I'm the one who answers my dms. I'm on Instagram at nomad dot copy. I am online@nomadcopyagency.com. And if you're looking at all of this stuff and thinking, Sam, I do not wanna write this myself. Great. I've got VIP days and projects. VIP days are exactly what they sound like. You get my brain on your copy all day long. I will write as much as I can and it's more about volume. My lead time right now for a start date is about two weeks out, so feel free to reach out on my contact form on my website@nomadcopyagency.com slash contact to tell me what you're working with and to get your schedule. Have a fantastic week. Thanks for listening, and be sure to like and subscribe so that you continue to get updates on this podcast.