Etsy Growth Hacks: Using Chat GPT (free AI) to Create Unique Product Descriptions and Designs

How to Use Chat GPT for Explosive Etsy & Amazon Merch Growth

Of all my online side hustles, selling merch (mostly shirts and mugs) on Etsy and Amazon has been the most lucrative and consistent income stream. But every once in a while, I wind up taking a huge break. Usually, it’s because I can’t get the creative juices flowing for any aspect of the process. I sometimes get hung up on things like new niche ideas, design ideas, or just coming up with short descriptions. But my Etsy and Amazon Merch has just reached a WHOLE NEW LEVEL thanks to Chat GPT.

What’s crazy…is somehow this service is FREE!

I think the reason it is free right now is because they are still in beta and trying to get people to use it. The more it is used, the more it learns, and it gets better. That makes me think that when it is done, they’ll start charging…and probably a lot. So, while it’s free to use, I’m going to use it as much as possible, and you should too! I wrote this quickly to give you all a heads up about Chat GPT and how you can use it.

I’m super excited about this and will be writing more posts soon in the future, like in-depth instructions. So, make sure to either subscribe to my mailing list or bookmark this page so you don’t miss those. In the meantime, read on to see how you can start experimenting with Chat GPT and see how it can take your Etsy and Amazon merch game to the next level.

First step…go sign up for free – ChatGPT

What is Chat GPT and How Can I Use it for Etsy and Amazon Merch?

Chat GPT, short for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer,” is an AI-based language model that can help you generate unique and engaging product descriptions, designs, and ideas for your novelty shirts on online marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon. It can help you with understanding your target audience, providing specific and creative prompts, and optimizing the generated output. 

With Chat GPT, you can easily generate product descriptions that are tailored to your target audience, making your listings more attractive and increasing the chances of sales. You can also use it to come up with new and unique design ideas for your shirts, and even generate prompts for image-creating AI services.

Understanding the audience

Creating effective product descriptions for your merch on Etsy starts with understanding your target audience. Who are they? What are their interests and hobbies? What kind of humor do they appreciate? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you create product descriptions that will resonate with them. 

Chat GPT can help you with this by providing context and prompts that are relevant to your target audience. For example, if your target audience is people who are into outdoor activities, you can provide prompts to the model with phrases related to outdoor activities, such as “camping” “hiking” “mountaineering” and “climbing”. This will help the model generate descriptions that are more likely to appeal to those people who are into outdoor activities.

Generating product descriptions

I can be pretty lazy, especially when it’s something boring and monotonous, like coming up with unique product descriptions for each design I post. Instead of racking my brain to think of something to fill in the blank space, Chat GPT does it for me in seconds once I give the right prompt.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of the model:

• Provide clear and specific prompts: The more context you can give the model, the more accurate and relevant the generated descriptions will be. For example, if you have a shirt with a design of a popular meme, provide the model with the name of the meme and a description of the design.*
• Be creative with your prompts: Chat GPT is a powerful tool that can generate a wide range of descriptions. Experiment with different prompts and see what works best for your audience.
• Use the generated descriptions as a starting point: The descriptions generated by Chat GPT are not always perfect and may require some editing to make them more polished and effective.
• You can keep asking for new versions of a description, so keep trying until you get something good. It’s also conversational so you can just tell the AI what you like/dislike about the description and if there is anything you’d like to add, take out, or elaborate on. 

*Chat GPT is completely text based, so you can’t upload any design files. You’ll have to get descriptive with your designs even if you’re just saying “it has bold white text that says ‘keep on truckin’”

Optimizing product descriptions

Once you have generated product descriptions using Chat GPT, it’s important to optimize them for maximum impact. I’ve actually been going back to some of my older live listings that are pretty weak and using Chat GPT to spice up the content. Here are some tips for doing this:

• Edit for grammar and spelling errors: Make sure the descriptions are free of errors that could detract from their effectiveness.
• Use persuasive language: Use persuasive language and techniques to make the descriptions more compelling and encourage shoppers to buy your shirts.
• Use formatting to make the descriptions more readable: Break up the text into short paragraphs and use headings and bullet points to make the descriptions easier to scan.
• You can tell Chat GPT to optimize for certain keywords, but if you forgot to or if the software didn’t do a great job, you should try and fit that in here.

Design ideas with Chat GPT

Chat GPT can also be used to come up with new and unique design ideas for your shirts/merch. By providing the model with prompts and context related to your target audience’s interests and hobbies, you can generate a wide range of ideas that are likely to appeal to them. 

You can also use Chat GPT to generate ideas for slogans and text-based designs. For example, if you want to create a shirt with a pun or a witty phrase, you can provide the model with prompts related to the topic you want to address and it will generate several options for you to choose from.

Writing Chat GPT Prompts for Merch Design Ideas

Creating new design ideas for your novelty shirts on Etsy and Amazon is always tough, but with Chat GPT, it’s easy. One of the key elements to generating new and unique design ideas is the prompt you provide to the model. Here are some tips for coming up with the perfect prompt:

• Be specific: The more specific the prompt, the more accurate and relevant the generated ideas will be. 
• Be creative: Don’t be afraid to experiment with different prompts and see what works best for your audience. For example, if you want to create a shirt with a design related to a particular hobby, you can provide the model with a list of different hobbies, and ask it to generate ideas for designs that can be relevant for those hobbies.
• Use keywords: Use keywords related to the topic you want to address, this will help the model to generate more accurate ideas.

Here are a few pretty basic prompt ideas, but I recommend adding more specificity on yours…

• “Create a design for a t-shirt that appeals to people who are into astrology, using keywords such as zodiac, horoscope, and stars.”
• “Generate a design concept for a shirt that targets coffee enthusiasts, incorporating keywords such as ‘caffeine’, ‘brew’ and ‘bean’.”
• “Generate a design for a shirt that caters to the fitness community, using keywords such as ‘workout’, ‘gym’ and ‘fit’.”
• “Create a design for a shirt that targets book lovers, with keywords such as ‘reading’, ‘novels’ and ‘literature’.”

Shirt Design “Brainstorm” Prompt Examples

Below is a more detailed example to show what Chat GPT can spit out in just a few seconds. When I do my prompts, I like to start out by telling Chat GPT who I am/what I’m doing so it can zero in on what needs to be done on the AI’s side. The prompt format below is a lazy way I figured out works:

ChatGPT’s Responses

• “Run like a boss” in bold, trendy font
• “26.2 and still standing” with a minimalistic image of a runner crossing the finish line
• “Sweat is fat crying” in a motivational, cursive font
• “I run because punching people is frowned upon” in a humorous, bold font
• “Run like there’s a hot guy/girl at the finish line” in a trendy, cursive font
• “Run now, wine later” in bold, minimalistic font
• “Marathon status: in progress” with a minimalistic image of a runner in motion
• “Pain is temporary, finishing is forever” in a motivational, bold font
• “One step at a time” with a trendy, minimalistic image of a runner’s foot
• “I run because cardio” in a humorous, bold font
• “Run like you stole something” in a trendy, bold font
• “I run because I really like cake” in a humorous, cursive font
• “Run like a champion” in bold, motivational font
• “I run because I’m too slow for a chase” in a humorous, bold font
• “Marathon runner, not a marathon spectator” in a motivational, minimalistic font.

I really like some of these! You obviously don’t need to stick with my format and can add different criteria that you want to focus on and different keywords.

AI Image-creating services

Chat GPT isn’t the only AI game in town!

Another way to use Chat GPT is to help you create prompts for image-creating AI services. These services use artificial intelligence to generate images based on text prompts, and can be used to create designs for your novelty shirts. 

By providing Chat GPT with prompts and context related to your target audience’s interests, you can generate text prompts that are likely to result in designs that are relevant and appealing to them. For example, if you want to create a shirt with an image of a popular meme, you can provide Chat GPT with the name of the meme and a description of the desired design, and it will generate a text prompt that the image-creating AI service can use to generate the image.

Yea, you could just come up with your own prompt for the image-creating AI, but I’ve found that Chat GPT (a computer) is more creative than me with making image prompts. 

I’m still playing around with these AI text-to-image generators so don’t have a lot to report on, but the big two right now are DALL-E 2 and Midjourney. You can also use Canva to create images now too.

Canva Text to Image Examples

I told Chat GPT to make an example of something I could use on Canva to show you all. I made a couple small tweaks and this is that I’m using for this example: “Make a minimalistic design on a transparent background with an image of a person hiking in the mountains with a sunset behind him, incorporating the text ‘Adventure awaits’ written in a modern and bold font.”

Obviously this isn’t perfect, but some of these are usable with a few edits or can at least be used to get you started with an idea. I just wanted to show an example of what I could do in 10 seconds. It seems like all of the AI image generators have an issue with adding specific text, but I still like to add it to my prompts since it gives a good idea of the font and typography to use.

Best practices for using Chat GPT

To make the most of Chat GPT when creating product descriptions and design ideas for your merch on Etsy or elsewhere, it’s important to follow some best practices:

• Be specific with your prompts: The more context you provide, the more accurate and relevant the generated output will be.
• Be creative with your prompts: Experiment with different prompts and see what works best for your audience.
• Be consistent with your brand’s tone and language: Keep your brand’s tone and language consistent when using Chat GPT to generate product descriptions and design ideas.
• Test different prompts: Experiment with different prompts and see what works best for your audience. (I have a Google Drive folder full of my prompt ideas now)
• Use the model in combination with other tools: Chat GPT can be a powerful tool when used in combination with other tools, such as image-creating AI services.
• Use the generated output as a starting point: The output generated by Chat GPT is not always perfect and may require some editing to make it more polished and effective.
• Always verify the information and check for the accuracy: Before using the output generated by Chat GPT, make sure to check for accuracy and verify the information provided.
• Check for trademarks! Chat GPT can’t connect to the internet, so even if you ask it to avoid trademarked words or ideas, it won’t be able to.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Chat GPT is a powerful tool that can help you create unique and engaging product descriptions and designs for your novelty shirts on online marketplaces like Etsy. By understanding your target audience, providing specific and creative prompts, and optimizing the generated output, you can increase the appeal of your listings and drive sales aka make lots of money!